Business for the sake of pleasure

Rating: 8/10 (7 April 2019)

"The Favourite" can be a strange film at times, specifically during a few montage-like scenes joined by a repetitive pumping sound. They are not going anywhere dramatically, so its a bit uncalled for. Luckily, most of its strangeness is welcoming and reinvigorating and its coming from the self-parodying soap opera of the political leaders of the United Kingdom during the war with the French in the early 18th Century. These are people with responsibilities, but they only use business as a means of self-pleasure and satisfaction.
Yorgos Lanthimos plays with subconscious-driven characters whose problems never leave the walls of the Court. The war never feels like a threat and the outside world is nonexistent. Queen Anne (Olivia Colman) is completely ignorant to the political on-goings taking place right in her home, as she is more concerned for the well-being of her "children", some dozen of rabbits and she is too absorbed by the tragedies of her past and by the controlling nature of her closest associate Lady Sarah (Rachel Weisz) who is, technically, the Queen, taking full responsibility. She seems like the only one who cares about her country as she often states. But her motives are more power-driven and of a dominant nature, more to spite the opposition led by the equally-cunning Harley (Nicholas Hoult). Then there is the newcomer, Abigail (Emma Stone), Sarah's cousin, sold by her father at a poker game and coming as a servant.
One of the things this film does best is shift the roles of hero and villain between characters as it goes on. Lanthimos and his fellow writers Deborah Davis and Tony McNamara carefully assign losses and gains, both political and personal to their characters and slowly moves the viewer's empathy among them. Not that you can feel a strong-enough emotion for any of them as, despite their past, they are too pompous, sometimes childish for you to properly connect with them. As a viewer, I felt a bit left out as they rumble along back and forth, driven crazy by the aristocratic maze of the palace and by the exclusive nature of their circle.
Despite that, though, "The Favourite" does an amazing job at humanizing and then straight-up dehumanizing characters of a predetermined level of standards. I loved the in-your-face primordial moments of pleasure, hate, lust, sloth, gluttony which beyond unexpected felt fascinating. Despite its beautiful aesthetics, or maybe because of them, "The Favourite" feels refreshing with every disgusting turn it takes. I often looked at the palace during the few scenes taking place outside, and was amazed at how monolithic, grand it looked, only to be exposed in the next scenes to its unstable inhabitants--people charged with history-impacting decisions, yet people who engage in sexual taboos and childish games.
Among these characters, Abigail stands out through her emotional and social transformation from a maid sleeping in a room huddled by dozens of other maids to a true Lady, now taking the side to Queen Anne. But Anne is not stupid, she is the Queen after all. The final scene, in which she calls for Abigail to rub her leg is a symbolic scene. The Queen takes a formal stance, unexpected to Abigail and it goes on for over three minutes. She will never let her power be dwindled again.