The Favourite

Dir: Yorgos Lanthimos

2019

*****

The first film of 2019 (at least in the UK anyway) might just end up being the year’s best as I cannot find fault with Yorgos Lanthimos’ period-drama comedy. Historical reconstruction of any time point is a game, particularly times before living memory, and to pretend otherwise is ridiculous. To ignore fact can be harmful but to ignore certain unimportant truths isn’t always a bad thing. A historical film that wants to make a point and educate needs to be as factual as possible so important lessons can be learned but to explore the relationships of historical figures, under no illusion that know knows for sure, is one of the basic pillars of theatre. Lanthimos runs with this idea and addresses many contemporary issues along the way. The original screenplay for The Favourite was actually written two decades before the film was released. Deborah Davis had written the script in 1998 after studying history at university. Davis became fascinated with Queen Anne and her relationships with Sarah and Abigail after stumbling across their story of power and a love triangle – not the sort of thing taught in history lessons. Davis researched the letters written by Queen Anne, Sarah, and Abigail as well as the book about the relationships written by Sarah’s most famous descendent, Sir Winston Churchill. The key research came from Sarah’s memoir where she wrote in detail about how she was replaced in the Queen’s favor by Abigail and how Abigail had become the ‘absolute favorite’. Davis went to night school to learn how to write a screenplay and then took her first draft to producer Ceci Dempsey who was immediately interested in making the film. The reason the film took so long to get financed though is because of the lesbian content and the lack of male representation. Financiers wouldn’t touch it will a barge pole. It wasn’t until a decade later when producer Ed Guiney got hold of the script and was similarly attracted to the complicated plot and relationships of the three women, did the project start moving. He knew the film should be contemporary, relevant and vibrant and not something out of a museum and after watching 2009’s Dogtooth, he knew Yorgos Lanthimos was the best director for the job. Tony McNamara was hired to freshen up the script and filming started in the beginning of 2017. I think the reasons why the film took so long to make are outrageous and unfounded but for once I’m gald for them. The film may well have been great had it been made in 1998 but I don’t think it would have been anything like the finished piece. I have no idea who could have directed it or who would have played the three lead characters but I have a feeling it would not have covered the important elements. I doubt we would have seen three women in the lead roles, I doubt the script would have been allowed to have been so bold and I think the film would have been lost in the deluge of samey period dramas of the era. It wouldn’t have been made by anyone quite as charismatic as Lanthimos and it wouldn’t have stared either Olivia Colman, Emma Stone or Rachel Weisz – three actors who were made to play these characters. I love Kate Winslet but to think that Rachel Weisz has been second choice to so many roles that she has declined is puzzling, and to think anyone could play the character of Sarah Churchill quite as devilishly brilliant as Weisz is absurd. Like I say, I love Kate Winslet but her loss here is everyone’s gain. Emma Stone is fast becoming known as an actor who can do anything, she took on the challenge, got the accent right and mastered the mannerisms and made it look easy. However, the wonderful Olivia Colman steals the show and I find it impossible to think of anyone who could have played the part better. It was the perfect role for her, as not only is she a brilliant straight actor, but she also has perfect comedy timing. She started in Footlights along with Mitchell and Webb and was soon in all the best TV comedies of the early 00s. Her ability to switch from drama to comedy is remarkable and everything she is in is brilliant because of her. I have to say I was also most impressed by Nicholas Hoult’s performance as Robert Harley, 1st Earl of Oxford and Earl Mortimer but the film belongs to the three female leads. The idea that three women couldn’t lead a film is and always has been preposterous, The Favourite proves this effortlessly, and yet it is something we still find ourselves talking about. Hopefully the film goes a long way in solving this ridiculously out-of-date debate. I loved the simplicity of the story as it heightened the script and the performances – both of which are perfect. I loved the use of fisheye lenses and the general direction that was classically static but then full of movement when necessary. It made the film a period drama with flesh and bones. The Lanthimos-esque final scene, a bizarre, nightmarish and hilarious collage, is one of my favourite conclusions of all time and the best use of a herd of rabbits since David Lynch had his way with them in 2002. It certainly isn’t the first period piece to be declared a masterpiece and to win loads of awards but it is the first of a kind, the likes of which I hope we see again soon.