The Favourite, by Deborah Davis and Tony McNamara - Eight out of 10

The Favourite, by Deborah Davis and Tony McNamara

Eight out of 10

The Favourite is…The Favourite to win the golden Globe for Best Screenplay – motion Picture – in a few hours actually, as this note is written on the day when the awards will be announced – having been nominated for another four major Globes:

Including for Best Performance by an Actress – Olivia Colman, Actress in a Supporting Role – Emma Stone and Rachel Weisz and for Best Motion Picture – Musical or Comedy.

This is a very provocative, original film, as it is to be expected from Yorgos Lanthimos, the director of such outré, acclaimed works as:

Dogtooth, The Lobster and The Killing of a Sacred Deer

The Favourite is not inflammatory in the manner of the aforementioned features, given that the action takes place in early 18^th century England, it is a period motion picture, without contemporary rock music and flamboyant, modern takes on history as is the case of Marie Antoinette.

However, the main character, Queen Anne, is presented in a manner that may have some base on historical documents, but the script is surely fictional to the point where only names may coincide.

The Queen could have loved the duchess of Marlborough, Lady Sarah aka the Golden Globe nominee Rachel Weisz, but it is not in any way a sure thing, demonstrated by texts, letters or anything.

Furthermore, in the screenplay, the original love story – which looks more like a Sado masochistic affair – develops into a ménage a trois, wherein the sovereign prefers from one point on a younger woman.

The Academy Award Winner Emma Stone portrays Abigail, a young woman that arrives at the royal court with the intention of getting a job from her wealthy, aristocratic cousin, Lady Sarah.

She arrives by coach, where she would recount that a man was masturbating and after that he is thrown out in the mud and she presents herself in a distraught condition, causing the hilarity of those present.

The story of the poor girl is sad, for she had been lost at cards by her ignoble father, forced to face a German with a thin (was it?) cock, then travel in the hope that the duchess would offer her help.

She is hired as a servant and the other women working at the palace mock and abuse her, giving her the task to clean the floor to perfection and for that, she receives a very dangerous, damaging mixture in which she hurts and wounds her arm.

We will see that this is a gritty, ruthless, cruel, creative, immoral, vicious young woman, whose first step is to sneak into the queen’s bed and secretly use a mixture on the wounds she has on her legs.

When caught by Lady Sarah, she is sent to the kitchen to be punished with six willow blows – to the chagrin of the cook who refuses to accept this on her premises – but she is saved the remaining four, when it is discovered that the sovereign feels better.

Queen Anne is nevertheless convalescing for most of the time, suffering from a disease that is confirmed historically, presenting herself as a feeble, dominated, weak monarch, totally controlled by the Duchess of Marlborough.

It could be pure artistic license, but The Favourite proposes a version of events where Lady Sarah is the actual leader – indeed, in a scene where the leader of the opposition to the ruling Tories mentions the queen, the duchess says, “here I am”, only to have the reply:

“May I remind you that you are not her majesty…?”

Furthermore, the two women are lesbians, enjoying sex together, although in a perverted manner, in the sense that the Duchess appears to be abusive, talking ruthlessly to the monarch, even grabbing her throat and apparently using physical violence, on top of the psychological kind.

On the other hand, it is also true that the sovereign is unstable – when the opposition uses the ruse of applauding a decision it wants, that the queen had not taken, but the shrewd politicians use, the queen faints, not knowing what to do.

This is fertile territory for Abigail, that sneaks again into the royal bedroom, takes all her clothes off and when the alleged lesbian monarch enters her room and is flabbergasted, the mischievous, false young woman offers a tall tale in which she came in, it was such a splendid room that she wanted to get in bed, fell asleep…

When Lady Sarah comes later and sees the naked servant sleeping in the bed with the queen, she is furious and from thereon, a massive battle of will is launched between the two Favourites- the present and the aspiring one.

Abigail pours a substance into the tea of her then mistress and when the Duchess takes her horse and rides it, she is nearly killed by the potion and the result it has, making the now former Favourite fall and is dragged by her horse.

An excellent film, although I would prefer The Ballad of Buster Scruggs and see no reason why it is not there, along with The Favorite, being somehow better.