The Favourite

The Favourite is one of those rare movies that features unarguably queer female characters yet describing it as a lesbian or WLW movie wouldn’t be accurate. There’s a great deal of things that happen in The Favourite. Some of it is queer love, some of it is politics, some of it is unknowable to me because director Yorgos Lanthimos is a weird dude. All of it is very, very good.

The Favourite is a biopic of Queen Anne. Anne gets advice, comfort and intimacy from Sarah Churchill, her longtime friend and lover. Enter Abigail Hill. Eager to improve her standing, Abigail plays for the Queen’s attention. Anne is enraptured by Abigail’s presentation of being selfless as well as less blunt and negative than Sarah. This begins a battle for Anne’s affections and all the benefits that comes with such.

It is rare to see a movie with such amazing depictions of women. It can be frustratingly rare to find a movie that has one female character that is three-dimensional, well-realized and generally as well-written. The Favourite has three. Especially because this is a period piece, The Favourite is so exceptional in its depiction of not only female characters but female relationships and power dynamics. The men in this movie are wholly secondary and man, I love that.

And the performances from Olivia Colman, Emma Stone and Rachel Weisz match the quality of characters they’re playing. These are three truly exceptional pieces of acting. Olivia Colman is absolutely fearless and fully leans into this over-dramatic, unpleasant, thoroughly un-glamorous role. Rachel Weisz really commands the first act of this movie. She’s spectacularly conniving and there’s always a feeling with her character of so much going on under the surface. Emma Stone also does exceptionally well, playing a woman whose scheming involves her acting like someone too naive and kind to know the word scheming in the first place.

The dynamics between these characters is delightful to watch play out. The Favourite is more than a simple “love triangle.” On each side there’s aspects other than sexual interest that play into their interest in Queen Anne. For both Sarah and Abigail, it is perhaps more political than sexual interest they have in Anne. BUT Queen Anne has sex with them both so this is definitely a WLW movie! It’s just one where motivations for hopping into bed with another woman are more elaborate than just physical want.

The Favourite is also a rare movie in that its attractions are based not in the physical. In a movie featuring Emma Stone and Rachel Weisz competing for the affection of another person, it would be easy to hinge said affections on the fact that both of these woman are extremely beautiful. The Favourite is better than that, though. And thank god. I’m not going to say this movie is devoid of women using sexual manipulation, but Sarah’s relationship with Anne stems from them having a long history together. It’s that history even more than Sarah’s abundance of power top energy that keeps Anne in her thrall. Similarly, it’s not Emma Stone’s incredibly beautiful face but Abigail’s youthful energy and willingness to indulge Anne in innocent activities that draws Anne to her.

A small scene that I absolutely adored is a scene with Anne and Sarah in a bath. More often than not, bathtub scenes in WLW movies are meant to titillate the viewer more than anything else. It’s an excuse to get two ladies wet and naked. Even when the reasoning behind a bathtub scene in a movie isn’t so crass, it’s almost always used to depict physical intimacy between the two partners.

The Favourite is different. To be begin with, the bathtub in question is fulled with mud which is both opaque and sort of gross. So it’s not a sexy scene. And the intimacy being established while Anne and Sarah share this non-sexy bath isn’t physical, it’s mental. Sitting on opposite sides of the tub, they basically do a bad comedy bit that shows their shared history nd sense of humour. What an absolutely delightful subversion of expectations for what a bath scene in a WLW movie accomplishes.

There’s a lot good to be said about The Favourite and this review is already too long. But one last thing about this movie that really works is that as a period piece, it seems alive. There seems to be a belief in so many period pieces that its characters can’t have fun. So as an audience member, I don’t have fun either. The Favourite, by contrast, is a lot of fun.

While still being at least 20% less weird than any of his other films, The Favourite still keeps director Yorgos Lanthimos’ penchant for quirky characters an unusual dialogue. This makes the characters feel less like the same dour period piece characters I’ve seen so many times. Beyond this, The Favourite is incredibly adept at physical comedy. Lanthimos knows what far more directors of period dramas should understand; there’s nothing funnier than someone in full period regalia saying fuck or getting pushed down a hill.

The Favourite is a truly exceptional piece of work. You really can’t beat it in regards to depictions of well-rounded, well-acted female characters. It’s also one of the most enjoyable period pieces I’ve ever seen. Part of me does wish it was weirder than it already was. But if I need very weird, very good movies with WLW characters but a plot too complex to accurately call it just a WLW movie, I’ve still got Mulholland Dr. The Favourite is perfectly great exactly as is.

Overall rating: 9.4/10

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