The Favourite (2018) ****

What to write about The Favourite that has not already been written? I am late to the game on so many acclaimed films of the last few years, and so I do not necessarily have anything new to add to the conversation. The Favourite is like other films you may have seen, but it's also very different because it is very much its basic description: Yorgos Lanthimos directs a costume drama. But that very basic description should also convey just how complex the film is, and in many ways the material and the director are a perfect match. Lanthimos's previous films could easily be described as baroque in the sense that they are grotesque, excessive. But here we have a story that takes place just after the actual Baroque period, and has the opulence and over indulgence baked right into the setting of the film and the lifestyles of its characters.

The most enjoyable aspect of the film really is just the audacity of Lanthimos as a director, and the audacity of the characters in his film. The entirety of the film is a vicious competition between Lady Sarah (Rachel Weisz) and her cousin Abigail (Emma Stone) to be the favorite of Queen Anne (Olivia Colman), a position which comes with a lot of influence. At the start of the film Lady Sarah essentially is the queen, as Anne is incapable and uninterested in making even the most basic decisions on her own, never mind important matters of state. To say anymore about the competition that ensues would be to spoil the plot and the thrill of watching these characters behave badly.

The camerawork, the score, the writing are all excellent and entire essays could be written about each, but I think so much hinges on the three central performances here. All three characters illicit sympathy even though they probably don't deserve it. Emma Stone provides such nuance to a character who easily could have been a one-dimensional social climber. Rachel Weisz is warm, yet terribly intimidating at the same time, and brings this palpable tension to each scene. Olivia Colman plays a physical and emotional wreck, and I think the genius of her performance is that she pushes back against the notion of Queen Anne as the most sympathetic character. Also, Rachel Weisz has this beautiful, beautiful voice that I never fully appreciated before watching this film.

It's just the kick in the pants the period drama needed.

4/4