Tied with Roma at the front of the pack with 10 nominations, The Favorite would seem to be a strong candidate for Best Picture in any other year. With three prestige acting nominations, one for each of it’s leading ladies, plus a whole host of technical nominations to boot, the only thing holding The Favorite back is that its artsyness borders on pretentiousness. It might not be shot in black and white the way Roma was, but make no mistake, this is an art film.
I’m sticking to my guns on this point: The Academy wants to appeal to general audiences this year, and giving Best Picture to an art film is not the way to do it. The Favorite has an engaging enough plot that it might not bore people the way Roma would, but I still think your average movie-goer would bail on this one. For starters, the cinematography is abrasive throughout. Unusual camera angles, lengthy multiple exposures, and a bizarre fixation on fisheye lenses conspire to create a visual style that fails to compliment the subject matter.
The plot and the camerawork are not in dialogue with each other. It’s like reading a story that was written in green ink. The green ink doesn’t change the story at all. All that’s changed is that the reader is spending half their concentration asking themselves, “Why was this written in green ink?” No answer from the film is forthcoming, leaving me to conclude that this was art for art’s own sake. I love visual creativity, but I only love it when it is in service to the story (like it was in La La Land for example). When a style starts to feel self-indulgent, it becomes distracting, and it detracts from what could otherwise be a more enjoyable cinema experience.
That’s not to say that The Favorite doesn’t have good bits. All three lead actresses are phenomenal. I’m not convinced of a Supporting Actress win for either Stone or Weisz (Stone because she already won an Oscar in 2016, and Weisz because, of the three, I found her a shade less compelling), but Olivia Coleman is my new pick for Best Actress. Her mercurial, slightly unhinged portrayal of Queen Anne stirred feelings of both pity and disgust in equal measure.
The writing is similarly strong. Character dialogue abounds with double meanings, with venom often laced within the words of upper-class, British propriety. As characters vie for the Queen’s favor, on-screen actions and images metaphorically mirror their respective rise and fall from grace. Anyone who enjoys plotting, scheming, backstabbing and court intrigue will find much to love in The Favorite.
My overall feelings on this film are mixed, to slightly positive. It’s more abrasive elements were not so overbearing that I couldn’t derive some entertainment from it’s fantastic performances and top notch writing, but my enjoyment of those aspects was cut short by an abrupt, unsatisfying conclusion. I didn’t dislike this movie, but it certainly wasn’t my favorite.
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