"It is fun to be Queen sometimes."
"Hmm, one can only imagine." Yorgos Lanthimos’s deliciously
odd The Favourite throws out all the rules
when it comes to the “period piece,” and reinvents the form
with a farcical, punk spirit. This showcase for three stellar actresses
is full of clever symbolic storytelling and wry observations about our society. "But favor is a breeze
that shifts direction all the time, then in instant you’re back
sleeping with a bunch of scabrous whores wondering who’s finger is
in your a[bleep]." Underneath the comedy, The Favourite
is a commentary on power- the screenplay was originally titled
“The Balance of Power.” "No, take the day off, I command it!"
"Someone must run things." Here, history is
just raw material- a jumping off point,
to explore contemporary and timeless dynamics like
how inequality breeds vicious competition, "Oh dear, the servant is dressed
in the clothes of a lady." and how the intimate,
behind-the-scenes relationships of leaders impact the lives of regular people. "We should ask people, get some people
in from the villages and ask them." "That is not how matters
of state are dealt with. People are led.
They do not lead." So here’s our take
on how The Favourite is a sophisticated meditation
on power, class, and love. If you're new here, be sure
to subscribe and hit the bell to get notified about
all of our new videos. One of the first things you’ll notice
about the visuals of The Favourite is that it’s shot wide. Very wide. Cinematographer Robbie Ryan, who’s known for
his work with Andrea Arnold, including another period piece
that doesn’t feel like one - Wuthering Heights, said here they even used
a 6 millimeter fisheye lens, which is about as wide as it gets. The wide view means we’re always
seeing the characters in their space. Lanthimos said, quote, “From the beginning,
I had this image of these lonely characters in huge spaces.” So the visuals express the loneliness, isolation, and fear of these people
at the top of society. "But I must be ready,
and yet how to be ready when I do not know where my enemy is." We see the characters frequently
traversing these long hallways sometimes from the ultra-wide angle emphasizing that getting around this palace
is a long journey during which the characters are
surrounded by an emptiness- and exposed and visible to the court
as if they’re on stage. Production designer Fiona Crombie
said the movie’s color palette came from the black-and-white marble floor
of Hatfield House, the English manor where the film was shot. Three-time Oscar-winning
costume designer Sandy Powell dresses
the upper-class ladies and the Queen in that
black and white of the floor- so it feels as if they are part of the palace,
merged with this opulent yet terrible environment they can’t escape. Ryan elaborated that the claustrophobic effect
of seeing the whole room at once makes us feel the characters
are imprisoned by this space. Constant camera movement is also central
to the visual approach- Lanthimos wanted the camera
to always be fluidly moving, almost like a character itself. The film has a lot of whip pans, but whereas a whip pan on most lenses
just looks like a blur, as Ryan explained, when you do a whip pan
on a very wide lens, quote, “You’re seeing the whole room
move around.” So again through the style
of this moving camera, Lanthimos is making us aware
of a continuous world pressing in on these characters,
allowing them no way out. “My life is like a maze
I continually think I’ve gotten out of,
only to find another corner right in front of me.” The ultra-wide shots
also visually support the comedy of the film
by making the space look strange, altered - absurd. The lens of absurdity
applied to the period drama feels appropriate, because we can only imagine
that the lives of these wealthy court aristocrats
were absolutely mad. They had little to do
with their time but scheme, backstab, and live outrageously
decadent lives of luxury. So, of course they’re going
to spend their time on pointless things
like obsessing about ducks, "Horatio is a prize worth stealing.
He does not leave my side." "Keep him away from me, or I will pull his
liver out and eat it with a cornichon." and throwing oranges at this guy. Which brings us to one of
the subversive strengths of The Favourite’s
not getting too uptight about period details. This is a film that clothes
the low servants in recycled jeans. But The Favourite is probably
more true in spirit to what it would have felt like
to be part of the inner circle of a royal 18th century court-
to live this over-the-top luxurious, sensuous, wild lifestyle. The orange-throwing sequence
has a brutality to it- so the sequence captures the violence
that underpins this frothy, mannered society, in which pleasure is derived from hurting
and humiliating those who have less. "It is important to make
new friends, is it not." "Yes, if that's what's
actually happening here. Not veiled threats
under the guise of civility." In the costumes Powell said she cut out
a lot of period appropriate elements, but kept the “silhouettes
and shapes” of the time. And that’s exactly what the film
as a whole is doing- getting rid of historically
accurate surface details, to zero in on
the deeper spirit of the times. There’s also an aspect of The Favourite
that is playfully revisionist history- it's gender dynamics.
The way the film sidelines the men “I apologize but do shhh when I’m thinking" turning them into puppets and afterthoughts "Congratulations on your wedded bliss."
is a fun kind of wish-fulfillment. Case in point: Anne’s husband was actually
living for most of the time we see, but he’s completely left out of the film. While we’re generally used
to seeing females done up in extensive makeup and hair styling, here it’s the men
who look like- as Powell said, quote “Ridiculous-looking peacocks.” “What an outfit.”
“Thank you. I thought it might be too much." "Your mascara is running. If you'd like to go fix yourself
we can continue this later." She said Lanthimos wanted
the women to have “a natural, raw look.” While here, for once, it’s the men
who are the background decorations. “This wig’s ridiculous.”
“A man must look pretty." These women compete
through a combination of the stereotypically
masculine and feminine. One wears masculine riding gear,
plots wars, and loves shooting a phallic gun. "Let's shoot something." The other is the image of feminine honey,
using mock weakness as a weapon. Still, while it might be tempting
to search for messages here about what women in general are like in power. "I do not know of women and their feelings,
but I know they nurse their hurts like whaling newborns." "Godolphin, I feel a surge of
desire to see your nose broken." Lanthimos’s point isn’t that
these three people stand for all women. He said, “what we tried to do
is portray them as human beings... Because of the prevalent
male gaze in cinema, women are portrayed as
housewives, girlfriends... Our small contribution is we’re just
trying to show them as complex and wonderful and horrific
as they are, like other human beings.” The battle between Sarah Churchill,
Duchess of Marlborough, and Abigail Hill yields three stunning performances by Olivia Colman, Rachel Weisz,
and Emma Stone. We enter this world through Abigail,
encouraged to side with the underdog. "I hoped I might be employed here,
by you, as something." "A monster for the children
to play with perhaps." "Yes, if you'd like.
[Imitates monster] Grrrr." And even as she reveals more and more
of a cold-blooded ruthless nature, and supplants Sarah as the favourite,
we might be tempted to think at least not much has changed - that one tyrannical favourite
has replaced another “Do it again!” But in fact, Abigail is worse
than her predecessor in a significant way. As she tells us, she is only
for herself, “I am on my side, always.” But Sarah is for a cause. "The French are chastened,
but not defeated, Harley. We must destroy them. And she serves that cause even
when it costs her, "There's always a price to pay.
I am prepared to pay it." Historically, Sarah’s Whig party
were against absolute monarchy- they were crucial in establishing
constitutional monarchy and expanding the power of the parliament. And likewise, Sarah loves her Queen,
but she loves her country more. Early on, she tells the Queen, "If you love me-
[interrupts] "Love has limits." "It should not." Then she tells Harley,
leader of the Tories, "There are limits." "The love of your country?
To me, there is no limit on that. The Queen sees this as disloyalty-
as she feels she is the country "She has been unavoidably
detained with business of state, but will be here posthaste." "It's my state. I am
the business of the state." And Sarah’s downfall is that, in single-mindedly pursuing
her strategic vision for the country, she overplays her hand,
overestimating her control over the queen. "Do not shout at me. I am the queen.
Then for once act like one." and forgetting that at the end of the day
she’s still only “the Favourite,” dependent on the Queen’s favor
to retain her power. "Might I remind you
you're not the Queen." Abigail doesn't care how her country
is indirectly affected by her machinations. "The country’s future
hangs in the balance." "Mhhmmm, my thing is
what I wish to talk about." She frequently tells us
she's a good person, "Even if I were the last one left
in this retched place, I would remain a lady." and delivers delirious monologues about how she doesn’t want to
sacrifice her morals. "I will need to act in a way
that meets with the edges of my morality." Yet, she decides she can only
win this game by playing dirty. "When I end up in the streets
selling my a[bleep] to syphilitic soldiers steadfast morality will be a f[Bleep] nonsense
that will mock me daily. Throughout the film,
we get deceptively pretty visuals of Abigail like this -
at first they look like a classically beautiful frame,
only to play on and reveal an underlying perversity
or manipulation to the situation. And this reflects Abigail herself,
[Coughs][Coughs] "I'm sorry your majesty. I think I caught a chill picking
the herbs for your leg." The way she appears as the innocent flower, "So you are perhaps too kind
for your own good." "It has been said." but is truly the viper.
"She is a viper." "I think you are a pretty little liar
that I have misjudged." In this scene, when Abigail
dances with the Queen, we hear the sounds of the shooting - signaling to us, while
the visuals show sweet fun, Abigail’s showing her killer’s instinct-
making a violent play for Sarah’s position. "Perfect! We'll make a killer of you yet." Meanwhile, Sarah is happy
to present herself as cruel and hard, "Sometimes a lady
likes to have some fun." but in the end, she won’t stoop
to Abigail’s level to win this game. She does almost sacrifice her integrity
when she threatens to blackmail the queen with her letters, "You have no idea what I would
do for my country... and for you. but then she immediately burns them,
unable to betray her friend and sovereign. Though sarah apparently “loses” this battle,
we get this enigmatic exchange as she’s about to leave the palace. “Oh my god you actually
think you have won.” "Haven’t I?"
"We were playing very different games.” Abigail may have dominated- but for what? She has no vision, no greater purpose
than her own comfort or pleasure. The final imagery as Abigail kneels
visually equates Abigail with the bunnies. So this image leaves us with a question,
what has she really won? What is it worth to be the Queen’s Favourite,
when at the end of the day you’re still just another ridiculous royal
pet- vulnerable to the Queen’s tiniest whim, easily replaced by the next bunny, and in the meantime, you spend your days
looking up at this view of a gout-ridden, emotionally disturbed, aging monarch? In history’s eyes,
if she lost this series of battles, Sarah still won the war-
as she came to dominate the narrative of Queen Anne through her harsh writings,
and her legacy was carried on through some pretty influential descendants-
Winston Churchill and Princess Diana. So embedded in this contest for power
we find a subtle moral- that without a larger vision
to use our power toward, the victory is empty. In this dancing scene,
the way the sound is timed to match the Queen’s fall
tells us something else, too: that in this shooting competition, the queen is the game-
so it foreshadows that Abigail is happy to destroy the queen in order to win. Sarah makes a point
of reminding Abigail that the Queen isn’t just
a prize - she’s a person. "The queen is an extraordinary person.
Even if it’s not readily apparent." Anne may appear ridiculous as a monarch, "I looked like a fool. They were
all staring weren't they? I can tell even if I can't see,
and I heard the word "fat." but as a person she’s incredibly human-
as Coleman put it, quote, “she sort of feels everything,” and her life has been an experience
of bottomless grief- "I lost some 17 children." This grief is illustrated
in Coleman's performance whenever the Queen hears music - "Stop it! [Yelling] Enough! Stop! Be done! She can't stand it because
the beauty opens up her feelings, and there is just
too much hurt and loss there. "Some wounds do not close
I have many such. One just walks around with them and sometimes one can feel them
filling with blood." The Queen’s rabbits represent
all the children she’s lost. "Today is Hildebran's day.
The day you lost him." "Yes. Each one that dies,
a little bit of you goes with them." but they also embody her need
to substitute relationships for those children she so badly wanted and couldn’t have. She passionately needs
to feel loved, to mitigate in some small way her
unbearable, incurable pain. "It hurts everything hurts.
Everyone leaves me." The worst thing about being the head honcho
is that you can’t know if anyone is telling you the truth. The queen is tortured by not knowing
if anyone loves her or they all just want something from her. Abigail understands this- so her strategy
is based on making sure the Queen never feels she wants anything. “I do not want her to ever think
I want anything from her.” "Do you not wish to know
what I have decided?" "I wish to know that you are happy,
and that your spirit will lighten once this is done." Meanwhile, Sarah bosses the Queen around, "You will pronounce the tax in parliament.
I will set the date." making open demands for her cause. "She wants nothing from me unlike you." "She wants nothing from you, and yet,
somehow she is a lady with 2000 a year." In this pivotal scene
where Sarah makes her final plea, we're placed in the Queen's perspective, feeling the tension of
not knowing if Sarah is genuine "She does not love you."
"Because how could anyone?" But here Sarah voices the deepest point
of the film- that love is honesty. "No, sometimes you look like a badger,
and you can rely on me to tell you." "Why?" "Because I will not lie.
That is love." Sarah may not always be nice, "Aim for the flagstones.
The lawn might break your fall." but we see her display
loving tenderness for Anne, push her out of her funks
to make her go do things, and curb her self-destructive
habits with tough love. "I am not food,
you cannot just eat and eat" It is far easier to lie and please,
than it is to love and be honest. "I wish you could love me as she does."
"You wish for me to lie to you?" Abigail would offer the Queen wine,
though it’s bad for her, "You should have some. I'll get you some
it would ease you." "No." while Sarah would rudely deny
the Queen hot chocolate, for her own good. "None for the queen."
"What?!" "You cannot have hot chocolate.
Your stomach." Eventually, the Queen must choose
between a woman who presents meanness, "You are too sensitive." "And you are too mean
and uncaring some days." "Some days I’m quite lovely though
let’s think on them." and a woman who presents sweetness. "Your hair is so lustrous...
something people in Court comment on." One puts her down. "You look like a badger.
Are you going to cry?" The other flatters her.
"You're so beautiful..." "Stop it you mock me." "I do not, if I were
a man I would ravish you." In the end the Queen
chooses flattery over love and she’s heartbroken the rest of her days. So the tragedy of the final image
isn’t truly Abigail’s- it’s the queen’s. Sarah wasn’t a bunny like the rest- as symbolized by her
disgust for the creatures. "Sarah, you must say hello
to the little ones.""No." Anne sent away the one person who
treated her like a real person and an equal, instead of cowering to her
like a trapped, scared rabbit. The Queen knows that she gave up
her one honest relationship for a lie. The Favourite is transplanting
something current onto Queen Anne’s England
to speak about our own time. It’s exploring contemporary issues
like the way that sexuality factors
into relationships between a more powerful
and less powerful party. How big state decisions
can come down to which private parties
have the ear of the leader. "Is it a bit like going late your party?"
"It is not like a party." "I'm sorry Prime Minister,
a passing thought." "I think it is a like a party.
"A perfect analogy." The toxicity of a polarized
political environment. And the ways that women can find power
within a male system. "Have you come to seduce me or rape me?
“I am a gentleman.” “So rape then.” A central commentary we can see in this film
is warning about the dangers of inequality. "You have fallen far." As Ryan observed,
“Life was so polarized— the poverty was extreme,
and the rich was extreme... You can say that about nowadays,
but I don’t think it’s even touching the levels of what society had back then.” Even though they’re related,
an important class difference separates Sarah and Abigail. In a way, Sarah’s
freedom to fight for a cause is a luxury born
of her life of privilege. Abigail's traumatic past,
means she feels she can’t afford to worry about more than herself. Her first hand experience
of how the world treats its poor and its nobodies means she’ll
do anything to feel secure and comfortable. "You are of a sweet disposition
and have suffered blows, so desire safety and favor above all else." Look how happy she is
when she gets her own room. She’s fueled by a desperation
not to end up back out on the streets. "I must take control of my circumstance." No matter how powerful Abigail gets,
"I have won. I am safe." She never truly feels safe. "Now that she is gone, I find myself
more concerned than when she was here." When Abigail comes into this environment, she perhaps is the sweet-hearted lady
she keeps claiming to be. "I am a person of honor
even if my station is not." "I'm still the lady I was, in my heart." She actually seems to surprise herself
with the vicious acts she's capable of for self-preservation. "As it turns out I am
capable of much unpleasantness." So this character is a warning that,
when you have a vastly unequal society, the fear in the lower classes for survival, and the fear in the upper classes
of losing their status, creates savage competition all around. "I could not just stand by
and let you destroy me." The Favourite takes
after Stanley Kubrick’s Barry Lyndon in some visual choices,
like using natural light, which in night scenes meant
shooting by candlelight. And on a deeper level,
both are stories about opportunists who are hurt in their early life. "When I was 15, my father
lost me in a card game." They climb the social ladder
and adopt the hedonistic, lavish lifestyle of their former oppressors, yet their feeling
that they don’t belong never goes away. Images like these express
Abigail’s insecurity that no matter how high she rises
she’ll be called out as an imposter. On the surface this looks like
just a stunning tableau of a lady from the past. Yet, as the camera pushes in
inviting us to look closer, we notice that she’s uncomfortable, afraid. She doesn't fit with this backdrop. After Abigail rises in status
Powell said she gave her clothes “the vulgarity of the Nouveau Riche.” to make her look like
she was “trying too hard.” The mistake these characters
make is to imagine that rising up in the ranks
will free them, and the biggest idea
The Favourite leaves us with is that in any grossly
unequal social system where ultimate power is concentrated
in the hands of a few- all people are trapped. This is encapsulated in the final scene when Abigail crushes
one of Anne’s pet bunnies under her heel,
just for the hell of it. And it's no coincidence, by the way,
that some of these bunnies are distinctly black and white- looking a lot like the ladies of court. Through her haze of advancing illness-
Anne registers disgust at the true nature of this pretender, and she asserts her power,
to remind Abigail who’s boss. "How DARE you touch the Queen like that." Yet, being the boss is
no fun either- as we’ve seen, no one in this film is
sadder than the Queen. It's a deep dark truth about human nature
that when we can't address or retaliate against the true cause
of our frustration, we take it out on somebody
who has it worse. "Look at me, how dare you!
Close your eyes!" "Incompetent!" So what the Queen
does to Abigail here, is the same as
what Abigail did the bunny. This unhappiness trickles down
from the top to the bottom of society, as each dissatisfied person cruelly
punishes the one beneath her, until everyone is miserable. "All I know is your carriage awaits, and my maid is on her way up with
something called a pineapple." Hi guys, it's Susannah,
and Debra, and we are The Take. If you like what we're doing
and you're new here, please subscribe. And if you have the means,
and you want to, please consider
supporting us on Patreon. And there's also a new feature
here on YouTube where you can hit that join button
and become a member right here. Thank you so much for watching.
