Spellbinding and alive

Rating: 9/10 (9 February 2019)

I must admit I was a bit apprehensive about watching this film. After Mary Queen of Scotts I felt no desire to see any more Royals and their Courts with all their scheming and self importance making it impossible to feel for them. But The Favorite proved to be a different kind of a movie. It has a Royal alright, and her Court, and lots and lots of scheming. But the alchemy between acting, direction, and writing conjured up characters that are living, breathing human beings. Every single one of them, even men in those ridiculous wigs and, in case of the character played by Nicholas Holt, ridiculous makeup.
But of course, the film belongs to its three female leads. Olivia Coleman plays a heartache of a Queen - increasingly unwell, depressed, and lonely, belittled and down right bullied into believing herself incapable of governing on her own. She is the most sympathetic character in the film, but Coleman makes sure she's not too sympathetic. Sarah (Rachel Weisz) is the Queen's childhood friend as well as her lover. Weisz has perfected playing characters who may or may not be what they seem (Oz The Great And Powerful, My Cousin Rachel). Here she often appears to genuinely care for the Queen. But at other times she acts like a manipulative bully. Is her loyalty really to Queen Anne? Or is she in it for herself and her husband's advantage? Maybe both? And finally Abigail (Emma Stone) - a scrappy little upstart with an almost unbelievable gift for scheming. This one states openly that her loyalty is only to herself. She seems to be a mean creature with no morals, yet I couldn't help feeling sympathy for her. Determined to never go back to what she came from, she is stuck in a permanent survival mode and quite miserable.
Add to these three brilliant characters creative use of musical score and editing and the movie is so mesmerizing, I didn't want it to end, and so spellbinding, I didn't care if it took creative liberties with history. I still haven't looked any of it up. Don't want to break the spell.