Mesmerizing and hypnotizing

Rating: 9/10 (28 December 2018)

"The Favourite" combines an everwinding script with technical excellence and powerhouse acting, making for an overwhelmingly positive, almost hypnotic experience. It's easily Yorgos Lanthimos' most accessible movie, which still makes it very absurd and satirical by you average movie standard, but storywise feels more conventional than his previous outings, which I consider to be a positive thing. Whereas for instance "The Lobster" felt a little absurd for the sake of being absurd, the absurdity in "The Favourite" comes from its absurd settings and characters, inspired by real life British politics and the monarcy in the 18/19th century. It is absurdity that makes you think 'Man, life was weird back in the day', rather than 'Look at that character doing silly things because the writer wrote them as silly'. It's exaggerated but still largely believable.
There are a few areas in which "The Favourite" excels beyond its overall solid script. On a technical level, the camera work is top notch, constantly twisting and turning, making use of all sorts of different camera tricks to highlight the absurdity of the setting. I especially love what they did with the lighting, constantly making use of natural candle light to only focus on the characters' faces and drown out the dark background. There's an especially beautifully shot scene between Emma Stone and Nicholas Hoult's characters taking place outside at night entirely in the dark, seemingly only lit by old school braziers. It gives the movie a much more authenthic feel.
Musically, it's pretty great too. There's your average choiry, organy score that you'd expect from a period piece, which is executed very well. More impressive are the moments where the music becomes very minimalistic, nothing more than a constant rhytmic drum, which gives off an incredibly hypnotic vibe that could last for 10 minutes at a time. It does a great job in drawing you in.
However, it's the acting which truly makes this movie stand out. The main trio of actresses are all exceptional in their own very distinct way. Rachel Weisz plays the more distant, seemingly harsh and coldhearted character who you believe can turn to murder at any time. Emma Stone on the other hand plays the instantly loveable, somewhat clumsy and endearing character that only Emma Stone can play. What's great about these two performances is that over the course of the movie they become much more layered and there's more than meets the eye for both characters. Your sympathies constantly shift between the two, which is a testament to both the writing and the versatility of the actresses.
As amazing as Weisz and Stone are, it's Olivia Colman that truly steals the show, like she does in anything she is in. It helps that she gets the more meaty scenes in which she can let loose and go all in, but it's her quiter moments and her subtle facial expressions that truly sell her performance. She can go from absurd, childish, and over-the-top, to heart-broken and introverted and back all in the course of a single scene. She has the most absurd things to say and do, but she's also the most human and loveable of them all. I'm stoked that Colman's finally getting the recognition she deserves, because I genuinely believe she is the best actress working today.
Despite me being overwhelmingly impressed, there are some flaws that I need to address. In particular, the movie struggles in its third act to come to a conclusion. The story seems to fold onto itself a few times, and extend beyond a natural ending point, making the movie seem longer than it truly is. At the end, I thought I had watched a 2,5 hour long movie, when in reality it was under 2 hours long. The script could have used a little thightening up in that regard, particularly because it also loses some of its trademark absurdity by the end, making you slightly lose some interest.
These minor storytelling faults not withstanding, I did genuinely love this movie. It may not be for everyone, and that's entirely fair since Lanthimos' previous movies weren't really for me either, but the combination of technical excellence and superb acting alone makes this movie a must-see in my book.