It was a slow day yesterday, work- and project-wise. So I lay on the couch with one ankle resting next to my sleeping cat and read the screenplay for THE FAVOURITE.
SLog Time!
**SPOILERS**
THE FAVOURITE
2018 (Film Released)
2017 (Final Shooting Script)
Written by: Deborah Davis and Tony McNamara
Directed by: Yorgos Lanthimos
Read: 4/7/2021
Sarah is a lifelong friend, confidante, and secret lover of Queen Anne. She dictates policy from her position and tries to convince the Queen to push forward in England’s war on France. Meanwhile, Abigail, Sarah’s cousin and a lady who’s fallen from her station, shows up at the castle. She works as a lowly servant until Sarah promotes her to lady’s maid. Abigail schemes her way up from the bottom, seducing the queen and getting a noble to marry her. She ends up taking Sarah’s place and convincing the Queen to banish her from the castle. By the end, Abigail has everything she wants and perfunctorily performs her role as the Queen’s lover (and she’s terrible at running the household). Sarah and her husband are exiled from England, and the Queen loses the woman she loves.
I really like this movie. The way you slowly learn what’s really going on in the castle – the audience is realizing it right along with Abigail. I like how the script builds sympathy for Abigail and really shows why she’s so desperate to rise from her low station (the awful conditions, the punishments, the horrible treatment by the other maids). I also like how the script lobs these little shockers into the midst. Example:
The writers are not afraid to go for the jugular. Abigail sticks her hand in lye. Sarah gets dragged by a horse and picked up by a brothel. Period dramas are so often pristine and proper. It’s wild and fun to have one that’s bawdy and dark like this one is. I’m going to rate the script lower than I do the final movie because while the script is good, the direction, scene design, and especially acting put the movie over the top.
Rating: ★★★1/2
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