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Rating: 4.5 out of 5
Oooooooh! You know how much I love me some British royalty dramas. You don’t know until you watch an excellent British royalty drama. They have some major drama. Need an example? Bridgerton. I love me some Bridgerton, and that show is filled with endless amounts of drama. Need another example? How about the Crown? When I watch drama going on now with the Royal family, I’m like, “You should’ve watched the Crown.” That is some awesome drama right there, and I want more of it. Ladies and gentlemen, I have another drama-filled movie. Welcome to The Favourite. This movie right here has all the tea that you can drink and then some.
Almost presented as a Shakespearean play, the film examines the relationship between cousins Sarah Churchill, Duchess of Marlborough, and Abigail Masham, who are vying to be the court favourite of Queen Anne. In 1711, Great Britain was at war with France. Even with the war, the nobles don’t seem concerned as they partake in duck-racing and pineapple-eating. Queen Anne (Colman) sits on the throne but is in poor health. She seems to not care about governing the country and rather spend her time with her 17 rabbits, her surrogates for the children, as she miscarried or lost in childhood. Standing by her side is her close friend, confidante, and lover, Lady Sarah Churchill (Weisz), who governs the country on her behalf while tending to Anne’s ill health and volatile temper. Sarah’s efforts to control Anne are undermined by Robert Harley (Hoult), the Leader of the Opposition, who argues against a doubling of property taxes proposed to fund the war. Abigail Hill (Stone), Sarah’s impoverished younger cousin, arrives in search of employment and soon charms her way to Sarah. Sarah takes Abigail under her wing, and Abigail sees a chance at a return to her aristocratic roots. When the politics of war pulls Sarah away from Anne, Abigail slides into Sarah’s role and soon becomes the Queen’s companion. With her eyes set on returning to her family’s glory, Abagail will stop at nothing to get what she believes is hers.
Once again, I love me some British royalty drama, and this one is just as good. For one, the story is almost factual as in all the characters are real, and the situations are real with Queen Anne, Sarah, and Abagail. Even if a lot of it is for entertainment purposes, it is still a freakin good movie. Stay with me with this because I’m about to make a comparison to another movie. You know what this film reminds me of?? All About Eve. That classic film, and as Margo stated, “Fasten your seatbelts, it’s going to be a bumpy night!”
The dynamic of the drama and relationships is mind-blowing. Sarah is the “ruler” and the lover of Queen Anne. Those two get it on, even though Sarah is married, and Anne tried to have kids. You can really tell they care about each other. Sarah takes major care of Anne as her health deteriorates and even rubs her legs as she has gout. Sarah is the ultimate ride-or-die chick.
Then Abagail, Sarah’s cousin who has fallen from grace, moves in because she needs a job. Her trifling ass soon slithers in and sets up her plan to be Anne’s favourite. First, just like Eve, she seems to want to help and gets herbs. Hell, Sarah orders her to be lashed and then stopped it for some odd reason. Sarah showed care and concern for Abagail as she took her under her wing and even shot pheasants. One night after a party, Abigail witnesses Sarah and the Queen have sex. She sneaks out of the room only to be confronted by Harley, who asks her to spy on Sarah and the Queen, hoping to circumvent Sarah’s authority. Abigail rebuffs the claim and tells Sarah by saying her secret is safe but almost blackmailed her also.
From this point, this is when shit hits the fan, and the rivalry begins. As Sarah has to go handle those pesky politics, Abigail slithers her way and starts hooking up with Anne. Sarah marries the colonel and then drugs Sarah as she is out for a ride. Sarah hurts her face so bad that the queen rebuffs her. I tell you, it was all so trifling. Everyone backstabbing everyone. Lord, do I love me some British royalty drama.
This movie is carried by the performances of Colman, Weisz, and Stone. First, Colman is entertaining as Queen Anne. I honestly don’t know how Colman won for Best Actress. She should’ve won for Best Supporting Actress. Now I’m not saying it is any less. The film seemed to make the Queen second and show the feud between Sarah and Abigail more. This doesn’t take away from Colman because it was priceless when she yelled at the kid for looking at her. Her ending scene was spot on.
Rachel Weisz as Lady Sarah Churchill was elegant and seemed so in control. I loved Weisz in this role. She had everything under control, and her mannerisms never seemed to waver even when she got blood on her or was found in a brothel. I honestly felt bad for her character at the end.
Lord have mercy on Emma Stone as Abigail Hill. Straight up trifling like the character Eve. She wiggled her way into the lives and messed it all up. For once, I didn’t like Stone. When she got married, she neglected the queen. Also, how are you going to pick on a bunny? A special place in hell for people being mean to bunnies.
The Favourite is one of those movies that, if you love the drama, it has plenty of it. If you’ve seen All About Eve, this is just the royal version of that film. Everyone is trifling in this film besides the queen as she is losing her mind. Colman, Weisz, and Stone are fantastic in their respective roles. Watch this film, and make sure you have some tea to watch the drama unfold.
