Rich People Are People Too

Rating: 8/10 (23 January 2019)

The Favourite takes place in the 18th century England, a time period film that I usually check out of about ten minutes in. However this movie was captivating and surprisingly funny by some of its absurdities and witty dialogue. Olivia Colman plays a sickly Queen Anne with her Lady in waiting Sarah seemingly running the government from behind the scenes. Enter in Emma Stone's Abigail - Sarah's down on her luck cousin who Queen Anne takes a shine to and you have a power struggle that can affect the future of the country.
If you have yet to see the film, I would stop reading here because I am about to get into some major spoilers. I planned on making a spoiler-free review but there is too much to unpack. The film sets the tone from the start with a man masturbating to Abigail on a stage coach; revealing this isn't going to be your typical run of the mill royalty film. Then the shocking twist that Queen Anne and Sarah are in a sexual relationship with one another is revealed, throwing the entire plot on upside down. I have to applaud whoever put the trailer together, because they put in enough to intrigue you, but left out that one major detail.
This film reminded me of BlacKkKlansman as in I was surprised by how humorous it turned out to be. The ballroom dance scene is brilliant and I feel is the core of the absurdity this film portrays. Sarah and Masham dance in a way that would make you think they were time travelers; sporting moves that were way ahead of their time with their b-boy moves. With the physical humour aside, the films dialogue is sharp. An example of this is when Masham meets Abigail in the middle of the night in attempt to court her:
Abigail: "Are you here to seduce me or rape me?"
Masham: "I am a gentleman."
Abigail: "Rape it is."
Everyone involved in this film had a tremendous performance. Emma Stone was able to make us empathize with her, only to despise her by the end; Rachel Weisz able to seemingly do the same, but vice versa, with Olivia Colman portraying the vulnerable and lonely Queen Anne with compassion. This is a film that leaves you unsure who to root for because both characters are just as vile and manipulative as the other; created by the outstanding chemistry between Stone and Weisz whose characters are willing to bend and break their own morality for the slightest glimmer of power. Showing the battle within the Queen's chambers is just as important to the country as the battle miles away with the French. I'd also like to give quick props to Nicholas Hoult who under all of that makeup forced me to look up on IMDB to make sure that was who it was; he makes up the majority of the humour within this film and absolutely nailed the role.
I wanted to discuss the ending momentarily and my interpretation of it, because director Yorgos Lanthimos is apparently known for his ambiguous endings and this film is no different. The final moments we see Abigail seemingly victorious on her knees as Queen Anne presses down on her head for balance; regret depicted on her face as the screen is overlapped with her rabbits. I believe this is reminder that Queen Anne got these rabbits in attempt to fill the void of her seventeen unborn/dead children. They'll never be able to replace the real thing; in which Abigail is nothing more than another one of her rabbits. A cheap imitation of the woman she truly loved and cared about Sarah. Sure, Abigail filled her lonely void at the time, but banishing Sarah was like losing a piece of her as shown by her struggling to run the government in her absence and now she is forced to live with the consequences of her decision.
I was planning on giving this film a lower rating because after watching it, I wasn't overwhelmingly enthralled by it. However the more I thought about it, the more I liked it; it was a slow burn for me. I found myself thinking about this film the next morning; small little details that had only come back to me after reflection. This movie can be picked analyzed and picked apart in many different ways and that is the best thing about it; no answer is wrong because it is all a matter of interpretation by the viewer. I believe this film was a top notch for the fact it was funny, intense and was in a genre that usually doesn't intrigue me, but still found myself hanging on to every word and action. The Favourite may not be my favourite of the year, but it is well worth the watch - yeah I did the stupid pun.