The Favourite Review - A Delightful Film That Benefits From Its Depiction Of Crazy.

I’ll admit it - I saw The Favourite well after Olivia Colman’s legendary speech at the Oscars. I wondered, how could somebody so lovely and warm, play such a vile and bipolar creature on screen? That is just one of the many questions I have for director Yorgos Lanthimos, who revels in this unholy world he’s created. The Royals seem to be in heat - they’re always either crying, plotting to kill each other, or having ferocious sex. There is no chill. Which is why, when it opens with Queen Anne getting the disturbing revelation that she can’t build her mistress a palace because her country as at war, I settled comfortably. I knew I was in for a treat.

A treat doesn’t even begin to describe this film. Also starring Emma Stone, Rachel Weisz and Nicholas Hoult, it tells the delightful story of the manic, needy and insecure Queen of England - Anne. She gets stuck in an ambitious lesbian love triangle - with a Lady who likes the influential position she wields in the administration, and a mere maid-servant, who rises from the ranks, learning how to fend for herself. For two hours, we watch as these two fight for their object of desire - an almost caricaturish bipolar old woman. In one scene, she’s revelling in the fact that her makeup looks good, and a minute later, she’s screaming at her footman.

Just as interesting is Lady Malborough, also known as Sarah. Sarah is an ambitious woman, who is the stand-in queen. She’s positioned carefully as Anne’s trusted confidante, but in reality, she’s just using her because she lusts for power. This relationship, fuelled by Anne’s clinginess and lust - Sarah’s for power, and Anne’s for her - is carefully constructed. Until the first forty or so minutes, Lanthimos does drop hints about their love, but the reveal is absolutely glorious. Their equation is turned over on its head, when Abigail, Sarah’s disgraced cousin, comes home, only to be welcomed into the scullery.

But, methodically, masterfully and manipulatively, Abigail wins over Anne’s trust and her feelings. In whatever ways Sarah cannot please Anne, Abigail overcompensates. The writing is especially crisp. The film always stays smarter than us. Until that climax, I didn’t truly understand what the director was going for. The dialogues are peppered with abuses, that are sure to be butchered in the Indian cut. I never thought I’d see a Downton Abbey-esque character say, “I like how deep her tongue feels inside me.” It’s risqué, vulgar and magical. But, this film is driven by these three women. Rachel Weisz is especially good.

On paper, Sarah is a despicable character. She is greedy and makes her motives very obvious from the beginning, even to the Queen, who just enjoys her company. But Rachel layers Sarah with much insecurity, therefore humanising her. Emma Stone has this one standout scene, where she tries to pleasure her newly-wed husband, all while scheming to kill somebody. She performs this with such a vivacious audacity, that it almost makes her endearing. Both she and Weisz have maximum scenes with each other and play off of each other, nicely.

But, The Favourite belongs to Olivia Colman. Anne is a lethargic monarch, who seems bored of just being. She’s easily one of history’s most fascinating characters. She screams, she cries and she fumes, but Colman never lets her tip to the point of being comical. She’s brought back with a sturdy resolve. There’s genuine shades to her performance. We’re told that Anne lost seventeen children, and therefore has seventeen little rabbits prancing around her room. It’s littler moments like these that make The Favourite seem more personal and up close.

It also helps, that we all have grown up on the pretext of stuffy costume dramas. Think Sanjay Leela Bhansali post-Ram Leela, the recent Mary, Queen of Scots, or even Manikarnika: The Queen of Jhansi. The Favourite is delightfully vulgar. It challenges our pre-conceived notions of both women, now and then, as well as the idea of period film. Lanthimos’ approach is absolutely spot on. The film is divided into eight chapters, with delightful titles like “What an Outift!” And “I Dreamt I Stabbed You In The Eye”, taken from key dialogues within each chapter.

It’s smart, provocative and charming. The last film that broke this mold was Sofia Coppola’s 2005 Marie Antoinette, but that didn’t really hit the mark. It was almost exhilarated by how groundbreaking it was. The Favourite carries itself with the same nonchalance as its characters. It never takes itself too seriously, so what ends up on screen is true magic.

Did you ever think a period drama would contain the lines, “When I end up on the street selling myself to syphilitic soldiers, steadfast morality will be a nonsense that will mock me daily.” Well, The Favourite contains a vulgar variation of that dialogue.

My sentiments exactly.