The Reel Easy Review

THE FAVOURITE: And my favourite review so far!

      Here’s my review on ‘The Favourite’ and hold on to your butts cos this may be my first positive review!!

      So the history of the English Monarchy isn’t exactly a strong subject for me and the main reason I saw this film was for one, the extraordinary cast and two, the Oscar buzz this film had created even before its release. 

      The star of the film, and now budding national treasure, Olivia Coleman, was the biggest pull for me and man did that talented lady deliver. A brilliant blend of her raw acting talent showcased in TV shows such as ‘Broadchurch’ and her natural comedic flare in ‘Peep show’ and ‘Green Wing’ made this performance a real spectacle for me and I truly admire this lady in all she does. Dame Olivia (almost) played Queen Ann with a childlike Naivety that masked a very dark and tortured soul and she glided between the two contrasting characteristics beautifully and heartbreakingly. 

        Rachel Weisz played her domineering childhood ‘friend’ with sharp reverence. Her powerful manipulation of the Queen made for uneasy viewing and her veiled intentions kept you guessing throughout the film. These were most apparent when acting along side the innocent and sickly sweet Emma Stone, a former lady of a disgraced family, whose character you follow throughout the film. Her intentions far clearer to us as the viewer enabled the audience to ‘pick a side’ only to have you doubting your opinions of her character at the end. The ‘Game of Thrones’ style power play between these three women was fascinating to watch and the most interesting thing of all was that the male fringe characters barely had any influence over the plot at all. The director Yargos Lanthimos has made an interesting standpoint here choosing for the fantastic, incredibly influential women in this male dominant period of English history to remain at the forefront, in an industry that still struggles to represent female led narratives. In my opinion, the film would be pointless without it. 

       Something else that I really enjoyed was the script and performances allowed us to see the silliness of humans even in serious situations and large parts of the film had a lovely lighthearted tone; especially in the scenes with the fabulous Nicholas Hoult who’s character could be cold and calculating in one instance and then so enjoyably flamboyant, over the top and eccentric in the next. 

       I liked the use of the fish eye camera lens in some transitional scenes when the characters were walking through corridors. These scenes were shot from ‘the wall’ making it look like CCTV in 18th century England which was a nice modern touch. This technique made it feel like we were spying on the characters lives, giving the cloak and dagger edge to the film more credence. 

       A few negatives as it really wouldn't be a Chris Whitmore review with out some scathing remarks would be; some of the more abstract moments grated on me a bit including the never ending final sequence of rabbits filling the screen with a bleed of Olivia's face over the top in turmoil, and then switching to Emma's in equal distress. I understand what the director was implying here suggesting the characters have found themselves in a perpetual cycle of behaviour that no matter what they do they can't shake the tragedies of the past, but for me it was a bit much.

      Overall I would give this film 8.3/10 and would thoroughly recommend as a nice trip to the cinema.

      If you enjoyed this review please like and comment below and feel free to disagree.

     I've been Christopher Whitmore, thanks for reading.