The Favourite - not quite my favourite

Earlier this year Olivia Coleman won an Oscar for her performance as Queen Anne in The Favourite.  She has been a stalwart of British TV and transatlantic film for years, and rightfully was honoured for the work she has been involved in.  It feels like there is a limit number of female actors who are allowed to be big stars as they age, Coleman is only 45, but the industry appears to be grooming her as the next Judi Dench.  Why else would she be cast as two versions of the British monarch in two years (she has since been cast as our very own Liz in the 4th series of The Crown)?  Watching The Favourite reveals why she was the Academy's choice this year, her character swings from the regal to the mad, from isolation to outrageous expressiveness, and crucially goes through a decent into weakness and madness that bares her inner self.  It's a classic Oscar-bait role.

The Favourite puts a 17th century spin on both the class and gender differences that lie at the heart of Western society.  Starring alongside Coleman is an actress who matches her step for step - Rachel Weisz is outstanding as Anne's confidant, secret lover and #1 adviser Sarah Churchill.  It's a story about how throughout history there have been women as powerful, driven and Machiavellian as any men in the modern era, and men as vain and love-stricken as any doting 1950s wife was expected to be.  The plot focuses on intrigue at court as Queen Anne's health fails and war in France comes to its final stages.  Churchill attempts to run the country and military over the lesser-qualified heads of the simpering men of parliament.  Into this lands Churchill's cousin Abigail Marsham (Emma Stone) - vying to regain influence in the only way a woman in the 17th century could rely, through the favour of a man (or perhaps woman) of power and wealth.

Filmed on site at Hatfield house in Hertfordshire, the production team have gone to extraordinary lengths to capture the location on screen.  The cinematography makes liberal use of a fish eye lens, often sitting in one locations and pivoting around to follow movement - bringing to the attention of the viewer the fact this is very much not a set.  Extensive use of candle light necessitates expert lighting to keep everything as dark as possible while picking out facial detail - perfectly executed here.  The film rightly won Oscars for both production design and costume.  Black and white costumes feature strongly amongst its female protagonists, emphasising their role as central power-brokers as opposed to simpering extras.

All this praise, and yet The Favourite didn't completely grip me.  Perhaps it was the niggling feeling that the use of the fish eye lens was mostly to show off Hatfield House rather than an artistic decision?  Perhaps 'intrigue at court' plot lines featuring British monarchs have become so commonplace that they bore me?  Perhaps there's a subconscious part of my brain getting discombobulated by the lack of patriarchy (all those simpering make-up-wearing idiots chasing adoringly after partially-interested women - is this what it is like to watch most films as a woman?).  Whatever it is, I'm sure it will recede upon a second viewing - there are simply too many good things to say about this film.  The Favourite is obviously a film I will recommend.