Ryan McNeil
Yesterday in this space, I wrote about THE WIFE and how slanted the story seemed thanks to a man telling a woman’s story. If there is a counterpoint to that film, it’s THE FAVOURITE – a film nominated for ten Oscars this year.
It’s the story of Queen Anne (Olivia Colman) ruling The British Empire in misery and isolation while two handmaidens fight for her favour. One of the women is Lady Sarah (Rachel Weisz) – Anne’s longtime servant and emotional tether. The other is Aibgail (Emma Stone) – a stranger at the gates who happens to be Sarah’s cousin. The title of “The Favourite” is up for grabs as Sarah and Abigail plot against each-other, and play tug-of-war with Queen Anne’s affections.
What makes THE FAVOURITE such a counterpoint to THE WIFE is how far the film is willing to take us into the psyche of its three leading women. Whether it’s Anne’s self-loathing, Abigail’s machinations, or Sarah’s survival instincts, the wants and worries of these three women is palpable in every frame. There are men in this story, and yet they by-and-large seem almost incidental.
Instead, these women and their complexities are what take centre stage. THE FAVOURITE doesn’t just pass The Bechdel Test, it clobbers it. Director Yorgos Lanthimos seems like he hasn’t come to tell the story so much as he has come to serve it. The story by Deborah Davis is absolutely illuminated with patience, scale, scope, and absurdity.
While I would always prefer that stories about women like these get told by women behind the camera, it’s encouraging to see men like Yorgos show-up and pull focus on it, rather than undercut it.
The film is indelible, does an amazing job of pulling one over on its most unassuming audiences…but still might go home with very little to show for it on Oscar night.
Nearly every one of its ten nominations face some serious competition – to say nothing od Best Supporting Actress where Weisz and Stone are competing against each other, and thus likely to cancel each-other out. To that end, it’s curious that the film didn’t have the confidence to put all three women up for Lead Actress – which they certainly are by weight and billing.
So instead of losing one category for its players, it shall likely lose two.
The bad news is that Oscar history is littered with films like this – pictures that execute on every level, are widely lauded with nominations, and go home empty-handed. In 2018, THE FAVOURITE will earn that honour.
The good news is that the film is so well-constructed, so timeless, and so nuanced, that it is bound to earn itself a special place in film lore of the decade…and perhaps even the century so-far…Oscar or no-Oscar.