An artsy treatment of a small ripple in history

Rating: Null/10 (14 January 2019)

First, some background. This movie is based on a piece of mildly interesting English history. There is no sibling murder, no violent beheading, no earth-shaking war (just brief mention of one on the peripheral). Critics like to compare this movie to "All about Eve", with some justification as it is indeed about a new-comer, an initially harmless-looking young woman, usurping the place of a well-established diva of sorts. But that is where the comparison ends. In "All about Eve" there is no queen who is the focus of this vying to be the favourite.
The story is told by auteur-in-the-making, Greek director Yorgos Lanthimos, in neat little chapters with titles taken from the dialogue in the chapter ("A minor hitch", "I dreamed I stabbed you in the eye" etc etc). The narrative comes in crisp, short scenes creating a pacing that compensates somewhat for the lacking in real excitement (the aforementioned absence of true violence and death).
The artsy direction is right away clearly noticeable: generous use of fisheye lens shots, contrasting light and shadow, heavy use of sustained powerful strings and rhythmic piano. There are also cross-cutting montages such as the one accentuating the queen's excruciating pain from gout with the enterprising newcomer's venture into the woods to look for a cure. A dialogue between the two competing women has them filmed as silhouettes against a large, bright opaque window. A very slow-zoom closeup to the queen's face finally leads to her outburst of a yelled: stop! Everywhere you look, throughout the movie.
The duration of the movie covers a bit less than a decade of Queen Anne's (Olivia Colman) reign up to three years before her death in 1714. It starts by showing Duchess Sarah Churchill (Rachel Weisz), childhood friend of Anne, now in formidable control of state affairs through her intimacy with Anne whose psychological age is probably that of a young teen. Furthermore, Anne is plagued by poor health, particularly painful gout. The newcomer is Abigail Masham (Emma Stone), an ex-aristocrat (circumstances omitted here) coming to seek help from cousin Sarah. Initially taken as a lowly servant, Abigail impresses Sarah with her initiative in finding a remedy for Anne. Seeing her as no more than a useful aid, Sarah makes Abigail a backup in the time-demanding task of tending to Anne. Abigail's superficial innocence is disarming. Although it does not take Sarah too long to see what is coming, it is a little too late. Let the game begin.
Abigail's scheming is depicted in scene after scene meticulously crafted. While she is taken out of the lowly servant's status, Abigail deliberately stays virtually invisible but at the same time observes and listens with utmost attention, as during a confrontation between Anne and Robert Harley (Nicolas Hoult) on whether to go to war (more on this later). However, she is quick and unwavering when an opportunity arises: when Sarah, extremely busy, sends her fill in for a couple of hours, Anne quite understandably is not particularly thrilled by having this near-stranger (albeit someone she recognizes). Unfazed upon being sent away, she recognizes a sure-fire path to Anne's heart, the 17 rabbits the Queen considers her offspring. But it is far from smooth sailing for Abigail. In this movie that is virtually devoid of real violence, those that are manufactured for artistic value have Abagail as target. Harley, in trying to recruit Abagail as his spy, pushes her down a low slope, in his "persuasion". When Sarah begins to suspect something, she nearly shoots Abagail "accidentally" during their game shooting. Abagail soon gets even, during another shooting session, when she fires so quickly that the blood of the fowl sprinkles on Sarah's face. At that very juncture, a servant arrives to announce the Queen's summon. At Sarah's short pause, still thinking of the blood on her face, the servant hesitatingly adds, pointing towards Abagail, "The Queen wants HER".
The main body of this movie is a satirical, sometimes sardonic expansion of the title - the story of how the two women compete to be Queen Anne's favourite, and hence power. I wouldn't go into details. The backdrop is simple. Together with her husband, a Lord and a Whig, Sarah pushes for war with France and heavy taxes on landowners. In fierce opposition is aforementioned Tory Harley who has recruited Abagail to spy for him.
I should be very surprised if the acting does to fetch a couple of BAFTA rewards. Oscar may be a different story as there are American nominees to be considered. While all three performance are riveting, the demand on the three roles vary. Weisz's Sarah is more straightforward - upper-class, coolly in control consistently. Stone portrays an evolving Abigail, growing in menace with every scene. The absolutely mesmerizing performances however comes from Colman. With measured precision, she delivers a Queen Anne inhibited with ailment, eccentricities and neuroses. At them same time, we also see an Anne with endearing, childlike simplicity. Furthermore, there are moments when in innate monarch surfaces when, more than once, we hear her deliver a steely: "I have spoken". The ultimate cruel irony is her inability to recognize herself as the victim of manipulation by the two women who are supposed to love her. As Golden Globe has two categories for best picture as well as lead, Colman and Glenn Close triumph separately in peaceful co-existence. I am willing to bet anything that BAFTA is Colman's. As to Oscar, well.....