The Favourite
Dec. 28th, 2018 07:31 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
chris_gerribJust before going downstate for the holiday, I saw the new movie The Favourite at my local dine-and-watch AMC theater. It was an unusual and entertaining movie.
First, a bit of historical accuracy. The movie concerns machinations between Sarah Churchill (of that Churchill family) and her cousin Abigail Hill for the favor of an ailing Queen Anne. All of these people were real and did in fact have a conflict. What's not accurate is that, in the movie, Sarah Churchill is shown as waiting on Queen Anne hand-and-foot. In reality, Sarah's frequent absences from court were a bone of contention between the two.
Having said that, Sarah in the movie and in real life was very outspoken and much more involved with business and politics then a typical woman of the era. She was also quite frank with Queen Anne, another bone of contention. Finally, Queen Anne was very sick and by the time the events of the movie occured. She had also experienced 17 pregnancies and was a widow. Most of her pregnancies had ended in miscarriages or stillbirths. None of the few live births resulted in a child living to adulthood.
The movie itself was a fascinating look at a very decadent society. It was shot in several very ornate British manor houses. Notably, on multiple occasions the camera had a fisheye lens effect, giving us wide shots when typically we'd get back-and-forth closeups. It was not your typical movie.
Also notable was the sexual relations. On several occasions, women were asked if they had been raped or discussed the threat of rape with all of the apparent concern one would show for a mild headache. It was quite striking. The Favourite is not an action movie, but very interesting indeed.
First, a bit of historical accuracy. The movie concerns machinations between Sarah Churchill (of that Churchill family) and her cousin Abigail Hill for the favor of an ailing Queen Anne. All of these people were real and did in fact have a conflict. What's not accurate is that, in the movie, Sarah Churchill is shown as waiting on Queen Anne hand-and-foot. In reality, Sarah's frequent absences from court were a bone of contention between the two.
Having said that, Sarah in the movie and in real life was very outspoken and much more involved with business and politics then a typical woman of the era. She was also quite frank with Queen Anne, another bone of contention. Finally, Queen Anne was very sick and by the time the events of the movie occured. She had also experienced 17 pregnancies and was a widow. Most of her pregnancies had ended in miscarriages or stillbirths. None of the few live births resulted in a child living to adulthood.
The movie itself was a fascinating look at a very decadent society. It was shot in several very ornate British manor houses. Notably, on multiple occasions the camera had a fisheye lens effect, giving us wide shots when typically we'd get back-and-forth closeups. It was not your typical movie.
Also notable was the sexual relations. On several occasions, women were asked if they had been raped or discussed the threat of rape with all of the apparent concern one would show for a mild headache. It was quite striking. The Favourite is not an action movie, but very interesting indeed.
