“The Favourite”, du réalisateur grec Yorgos Lanthimos

“The Favourite”, du réalisateur grec Yorgos Lanthimos, ouvrira la 56e édition du festival du film de New York qui débute le 28 septembre 2018. Deux mois avant sa sortie officielle américaine, le long métrage qui réunira Emma Stone et Rachel Weisz sera présenté en avant-première au public du festival new-yorkais, a fait savoir son organisateur, le Film Society of Lincoln Center. Son réalisateur Yorgos Lanthimos y avait déjà proposé son film “The Lobster” en 2015.

“The Favourite”, qui sortira en janvier 2019, nous plonge dans un XVIIIe siècle secoué par la guerre de Succession d’Espagne. Au milieu de ce drame, la duchesse de Marlborough Sarah Churchill (Rachel Weisz) et sa domestique, Abigail Hill (Emma Stone), bataillent pour obtenir les attentions de la reine Anne (Olivia Colman).

Ca promet.

Vivement que ce soit sur les écrans !!!!

Tout cela a l'air de bien déménager.



Au début, ça va, mais ne vous y fiez pas.







Et le meilleur pour la fin !

Spoiler:

The Favourite director Yorgos Lanthimos on why his films aren’t as mean as people say



The Favourite is a wickedly delightful stew of palace intrigue, sex, skeet shooting, revenge, and duck-racing. The latest film from Greek writer/director Yorgos Lanthimos, it’s less stylistically off-putting than some of his grimmer, more mannered fare — like The Lobster or Dogtooth, both of which netted him Oscar nominations. But The Favourite’s soul feels Lanthimosian to the core, with a dim view of human nature and the sense that human relationships are always, at root, about power.

It’s also the first of his films that he didn’t write himself, although he worked closely with screenwriters Deborah Davis and Tony McNamara to develop the project. The Favourite is based, very loosely, on the story of Queen Anne (Olivia Colman), the 18th-century English queen who ruled while her country was at war with France.

In The Favourite, Anne’s health is failing both mentally and physically, and the true ruler is her close friend, confidante, and lover Lady Sarah (Rachel Weisz). Or at least that’s the case until a new servant named Abigail (Emma Stone) — who comes from aristocratic roots but had her station ruined by a dissipated father — arrives at the palace. A power struggle ensues.

The film is set centuries ago, and its lush, rich visuals frame the tale, while leaving room for some elements that are obviously not from the 18th century. (The Favourite contains the greatest dance scene of the year, for one.) It’s a strange, funny, and devastating movie about the lengths to which humans will go to gain power, and what happens to us along the way.

I met with Lanthimos in Manhattan in September, the morning after his film had its North American premiere as the opening night selection of the New York Film Festival. We discussed whether or not his films hate his characters, why he doesn’t want to watch his own movies for at least a decade after they come out, and why he decided not to worry too much about historical accuracy in The Favourite.

Our conversation, lightly edited and condensed for clarity, follows.
Alissa Wilkinson

You often write your own screenplays, and they’re often noted for being bleak and darkly comedic, with distinctive deadpan dialogue. But you didn’t start out as a writer on this screenplay. What drew you to the project?
Yorgos Lanthimos

I came across the existing screenplay and I felt that it was a very interesting story, with very interesting characters. It was about three women, which is something you see rarely on film. It was a period film, and I was intrigued to make something like that, which I haven’t made before. I knew that I was going to develop it and become very involved with the writing of the screenplay, and make something that would feel mine the same way that I’ve made my other films.

After a while the way I worked on this film wasn’t very different from how I worked before on my other films. We spent more time writing this, getting the script right, than I’ve ever spent on the other films I’ve made. In the end it was exactly the same.
Alissa Wilkinson

Where in the writing process did you come in?
Yorgos Lanthimos

There was an original script by Deborah Davis, who had done tons of research. It’s a very interesting, complex story. But that script concentrated on very elaborately representing the politics and the actual, [historical] story in minute detail.

I felt that I wanted more to focus on these three women, to simplify the politics and the specifics of it so that we would work through the prism of the characters, the relationships between these women. So I worked with Deborah initially in order to create a structure that was more focused on the women and simplified the politics.

Then I knew that I was looking for a very specific tone for this film. We started looking for a writer who could bring that kind of voice. We read hundreds of screenplays and plays from English writers, American writers, and an Australian, who ended up being the voice that we were looking for.

It was very evident from the beginning, as soon as I read Tony [McNamara]’s work, that it was what I was looking for. It was very easy to start working on it. We didn’t have to explain much to each other. He seemed to understand. I was very confident by reading his work that he had the voice that we were looking for.

We spent a lot of time researching, discussing, writing, rewriting, trying to figure out the right balance: what we keep from the history and the things that we invent; the story we want to tell and where we want to focus; and how we are going to simplify the politics so that it is evident it’s affected by the women’s relationships but also feels relevant to any period. It was a long process to get there. But I think we managed at the end.
Alissa Wilkinson

The politics of The Favourite are especially funny — a war is happening somewhere, but it doesn’t seem all that consequential to anyone, except in how it relates to the chess game of power that’s happening inside the palace. Those power dynamics in little groups of people feel like something you’ve always been interested in, in your movies. In The Favourite in particular, the men are almost totally off to the side, being useless, while the women are running things entirely.
Yorgos Lanthimos

That was one of the things that I was interested in. It seemed like at that point in time, there were these women, especially Sarah, who had this power. Queen Anne had been through a lot, and had some weaknesses, and was trying to figure out her way. It was so tiring, seeing all these films about men and politics and people that run things. So it just felt like a fresh thing to do.

In paintings and drawings from the period, women were portrayed as simple and natural, the way they were dressed, and their hair, and their make-up. But you’d see all these men being dressed up with wigs, and make-up, and breeches, and high heels and all that, it all just felt like things we needed to pick up on and enhance to create this world. It’s an enhanced version of that world. But it felt interesting to show that contradiction. It’s different from what we’re used to seeing.

Alissa Wilkinson

The world you created inside the palace is kind of surreal. There are all these rabbits and ducks running around. The men play strange games. The dancing is definitely not accurate to the period. What was your approach in designing it all?
Yorgos Lanthimos

We knew early on that we wanted to use various elements that would make the film feel more contemporary, in a sense — more relevant to today. We tried to use language that felt contemporary, and we didn’t try to imitate the way we thought people spoke at the time. For costumes, we kept the shapes of the period, but we used a lot of contemporary materials. We used everything from denim to leather to plastic fabrics and laser-cut fabrics. The music was the same. We used music from the period, but also very contemporary music as well.

Physicality was also something that I felt it needn’t be what we’re used to seeing in period films, as if people in the past were more poised and walked in a certain way and spoke in a certain way. I wanted to do something different with that. I felt that physicality would play an important part of it, from violence to dancing to choreographing all that activity.

It’s a common thing, in my approach, to think, like, Why is it like that? and Why can’t we do it differently? and Why can’t we have people dancing like that? and Who said? If we’re making a fictional film, and we’re creating a world, why can’t we have our own rules about this world? That’s what we tried to do.
Alissa Wilkinson

Some filmmakers have tried a similar approach; while watching The Favourite, I thought about Sofia Coppola’s film Marie Antoinette. Were there any specific films that you used as a touch point, or watched during production?
Yorgos Lanthimos

We were inspired by great filmmakers, and we certainly never tried to imitate things. But we watched things to be inspired by the freedom that certain filmmakers had in creating very unique work.

Ingmar Bergman’s Cries and Whispers centers on three women in a house. Its color palette is very limited; they only wear black and white. Of course, it’s in red rooms mostly, which wasn’t the case with ours. And it’s a very dark and dramatic film — there’s that aspect of drama in our film as well, but we were mostly making it a comedy with a tragedy interweaved in some parts of it.

Peter Greenaway’s Draughtsman’s Contract was very striking visually, and there I think they used a lot of simpler fabrics while retaining the shape of the period. They used fabrics that weren’t that elaborate. The way that they used the wigs was maybe an exaggeration, but maybe not so much, because as we were researching we discovered that there were versions of peoples’ wigs that were so extravagant.

Then we watched completely different films from these. For the camera work, we watched stuff from Zulawski’s Possessions to Juraj Herz’s The Cremator and other contemporary stuff that just felt inspiring to what we were trying to do. There’s [Nicholas Hytner’s] The Madness of King George, for instance, which I think is a great period film with a lot of humor and amazing performances. And I watched Amadeus. Films that really stood out to me as inspiring for trying to do something different with the genre.

Alissa Wilkinson

You’re also taking this historical story and changing it up to make it your own as well. Were you trying to say anything in particular with it?
Yorgos Lanthimos

I never try to say anything with the films that I do. I think that’s not my thing to do.

For some reason, we all get interested in certain stories. I think it’s because they make us start thinking about things — especially when it’s a historical, period story, you start seeing parallels between the story and what’s happening today, and you realize maybe that things haven’t changed so much.

With films, I want to expose certain situations, ask questions, and have people engage with those stories in order to think for themselves, according to their sensibilities and background and culture.

I want them to understand the film in their own way. It’s not something that you [as filmmaker] can control anyway. Cultures and people are so different. You can only go by how you understand what you make and then put it out into the world. You hope that there’s going to be all these different views and interpretations of it.
Alissa Wilkinson

When you watch the finished film, is there something that you particularly see in it?
Yorgos Lanthimos

I don’t watch it. I’ve watched it enough when I was making it. I try to not watch it. What I do is maybe watch my films like 10, 15 years later and just see things.
Alissa Wilkinson

Like what?
Yorgos Lanthimos

[Dry chuckle] I don’t know — well, first of all, I’m quite critical of the stuff that I make. You know every stitch and every little bump and all the things, especially when you’re that close to the process after you have just finished a film.

It’s when you have the distance of years, and you forget the actual process, that you’re just able to maybe appreciate certain things more. You go, This kind of works. It makes me laugh or moves me or something like that. It’s not possible for that to happen to me right now, watching something that I’ve made, but when I’m a different person 15 years from now, there is some kind of distance that allows you to appreciate certain things.

Alissa Wilkinson

I can’t say I particularly agree with this criticism, but I’ve heard people say that your films have a very low view of humans, or that there’s not—
Yorgos Lanthimos

Is that a criticism, though?
Alissa Wilkinson

For me it’s not! But would you say your movies have tenderness toward the characters?
Yorgos Lanthimos

Not at all. I think the reason why we’re making it is the love of these people. And the hatred. And all of it. It’s only human that we feel all these different things about these people.
Alissa Wilkinson

In The Favourite in particular, because it’s women, and they’re pretty complicated women, were you kind of—
Yorgos Lanthimos

Complex, instead of complicated. Though they are complicated as well, that’s true.
Alissa Wilkinson

We’re seeing them be good, and be bad, and also just kind of disintegrate in front of us. How do you approach characters like that?
Yorgos Lanthimos

Well, it was very important for me from the beginning to create these characters so that they wouldn’t be able to be figured out in a second or in a scene. You can’t go, “Okay, so this person is like that and the other person is like this, she’s bad and she’s good.” It was very important to create the characters so that they go through a journey in different times during the film.

As you understand their lives, you see that they would react in different ways. Sometimes you could sympathize with one of them, and then you could sympathize with the other one. Even if they did terrible things, you could kind of understand why they’re making those decisions and those actions. It was important that they are complex, as you say — and of course they are complicated as well.

I think that’s the only way to show people in a film, and it didn’t make any difference to me that it was women. It was just exciting, because you haven’t really seen it a lot. You don’t need to make films about women just idealizing them. They’re human beings, and there are all kinds of women, as there are all kinds of men. There are horrible women. There are women who have terrible moments, and wonderful moments — like every human being. That is, I think, the only way to represent people in films. Not black or white.

The Favourite opens in theaters on November 21.
https://www.vox.com/2018/11/21/18069744/yorgos-lanthimos-interview-favourite-lobster-history-costumes-dancing

Autre avis de spectateur :

• When I finished watching The Favorite I said out loud, “King Lear rewritten by Roald Dahl, but lesbians.” By which I meant: uneasy monarchy and palace intrigue; twisted, psychedelic, surreal humor and horror; but gaaaay. And that’s not wrong, but it’s not exactly right either. While Greek director Yorgos Lanthimos’ third English-language film will certainly be compared to others — Sofia Coppola’s Marie Antoinette and All About Eve are the main ones that spring to mind — it is, quite frankly, peerless. You might be tempted to call it a farce or a pantomime or even a satire, but doing so would require you to ignore that the actions of the multi-layered women at its center aren’t held up to scorn or to ridicule, but to expose the quagmire of misogynistic buffoonery they’re forced to navigate with unfeeling precision to survive. Oh, it’s very funny, but the humor teeters on the edge of a knife.
  
  Olivia Colman, who will likely and deservedly win every acting award on earth for this role, is the mercurial, embattled, gouty Queen Anne who, through failing health, is trying to navigate the domestic politics of Great Britain’s lingering war with France. Rachel Weisz and Emma Stone, who will also surely add to their Academy Award nominations for these roles, play Lady Sarah Churchill and Abigail Hill, respectively. Lady Churchill is Queen Anne’s longtime friend, constant companion, trusted advisor, nurse, riding companion, ruler-by-proxy, and secret lover. Abigail arrives on the scene covered in horse manure, well-educated and speaking multiple languages, fallen from noble grace by her father’s gambling addiction. She finds Lady Churchill (a distant cousin) cold and harsh but ultimately willing to make her a lady in waiting.
  
  It would appear, on the outside, to be all lavish parties and indoor duck racing and cartoonish powdered wigs: Queen Anne ruling, Lady Churchhill following Queen Anne’s orders, and Abigail following Lady Churchill’s. Really, it’s an all-out war to become Anne’s most trusted ally; to be the once-powerless woman who, by proxy, now wields the authority of the crown.
  
  That may sound like a pretty standard period piece but Deborah Davis and Tony McNamara’s script is anything but well-trodden. It’s sharp to the point of stinging, cunning to a Machiavellian degree, and quirky as what the literal fuck. Cinematographer Robbie Ryan zig-zags seamlessly through common camera work to odd and uneasy angels to wide-lens fishbowl framing like a funhouse mirror. Sandy Powell’s costumes are somehow so modernly familiar yet so classically baroque. The score is Bach with a beat that sounds like night terrors closing in. Lanthimos rose to prominence in the United States with Dogtooth (2009), The Lobster (2015) and The Killing of a Sacred Deer (2017), and while The Favourite has more life and color (literally) than his previous films, his trademark cut and clipped dialogue and refusal to pan away from wounds (literally and physically) remains.
  
  Of course, the main thing that makes The Favourite more than your standard period piece is the fact that it’s anchored on the actions and motivations of three women. Three queer women. I was thinking, as I watched it, about how every Queen Elizabeth II biopic, even Netflix’s The Crown, is, at its core, about how Elizabeth the woman has to disappear into Elizabeth the monarch, how her job is to hold fast and stand still while the men around her scurry and plot and connive and act. That’s not any more historically accurate than this film, but it says so much about how we like our fictional women characters and how we like our real life women leaders. Elegant, clear eyes, clean hands, above the fray, quiet most of all. Colman’s Queen Anne shrieks. She screams. She sobs and wails and moans and mourns. Sometimes for no apparent reason, at a string quartet practicing on the lawn. Sometimes because her body is covered in oozing, festering sores and she has no relief. Sometimes because of the anguish she constantly carries of having lost 17 children, either in childbirth or not long after. She acts. Sometimes of her own volition, sometimes at the pleading or discreetly planted ideas of the two women vying for her affection and trust. She’s an active player in her own welfare and in the welfare of the state.
  
  Abigail and Lady Churchill, too, are constantly in motion — dancing around each other, shooting for sport and for pleasure, weaving through the men seeking to seduce and coerce, soothing the Queen, empowering the Queen, bending to the Queen, laughing with the Queen, sleeping with the Queen. Their strength and wits and willpower are matched only in each other. Neither of them have the luxury of hope or empathy. Men live; they survive.
  
  The most stunning thing about The Favourite isn’t the dialogue, which features the word “cunt-stuck” more than once; or the improvised break dancing to Handel; or the cheeky camera work; or even the dazzling acting. The most stunning thing about The Favourite is how it slices open three queer women and lets their messy humanity bleed all over you, the way it adamantly refuses to allow you to love or hate any of them.

et autre trailer :


https://www.autostraddle.com/

Ne comptez pas sur Yorgos Lanthimos pour offrir un drame historique classique à la britannique. Et c'est bien tant mieux. Le réalisateur grec, révélé à l'échelle internationale grâce à son puissant Canine (Dogtooth) il y a près de 10 ans, n'a rien perdu de son identité de cinéaste singulier, même s'il tourne désormais ses films ailleurs et en anglais.

The Lobster et The Killing of the Sacred Dear ont en effet confirmé la réputation d'un cinéaste qui, cette fois, nous présente un pan de l'histoire de la monarchie à sa façon.

Portant pour la première fois à l'écran un scénario qu'il n'a pas écrit, Yorgos Lanthimos plonge le spectateur à l'époque du règne d'Anne, la toute première souveraine d'un nouveau pays nommé Grande-Bretagne, qui a siégé sur le trône au tout début du XVIIIe siècle.

Les personnages autour desquels l'intrigue de The Favourite a été construite ont réellement existé, mais une fois passés par le prisme imaginatif du cinéaste, ils prennent une dimension pour le moins originale et inattendue. Lanthimos n'hésite d'ailleurs pas à leur mettre parfois dans la bouche un langage très contemporain.

La cour sera pourtant transformée le jour où arrive Abigail Hill, une jeune servante issue d'une famille aristocratique déchue, que sa cousine Sarah prend d'abord sous son aile, croyant s'en faire une alliée. L'ambition de la jeune femme conduira pourtant cette dernière à devenir la nouvelle confidente de la souveraine. Et ce, au grand dam de celle qui occupait la fonction jusque-là.



Olivia Colman et Rachel Weisz



Tragique et loufoque

Lanthimos a cette extraordinaire capacité de faire exister le tragique et le loufoque dans une même scène. Et il a eu le flair, non moins extraordinaire, de faire appel à Olivia Colman pour interpréter une souveraine qui ne sort pratiquement jamais de sa chambre, constamment entourée des 17 lapins qui lui rappellent ses 17 grossesses dont aucun bébé n'a survécu.

Attendez-vous d'ailleurs à entendre très souvent le nom de cette actrice au cours des prochaines remises de récompenses. Son prix d'interprétation à la Mostra de Venise pourrait avoir un effet d'entraînement.

Mais outre l'éclat de son trio d'actrices (Rachel Weisz et Emma Stone offrent aussi de remarquables performances), The Favourite se distingue avant tout grâce à son style, sa mise en scène, très fébrile, ses angles de caméra inusités, sa direction artistique somptueuse, ainsi que par la qualité de ses dialogues et l'humour qui en émane, parfois frontal, parfois plus diffus.

Même si le dénouement laisse songeur (amateurs de conclusions bien ficelées, soyez prévenus!), voir ces trois guerrières qui se débattent à leur manière dans un monde «viril», où les hommes sont cependant réduits à des rôles d'abat-jours, est une pure jubilation.
https://www.lapresse.ca/


Oui, ça laisse songeur.

Peut-on comparer The Favourite au Marie Antoinette de Sofia Coppola ?

• Il peut sembler facile de dire qu’un cinéaste a fait son film le plus accessible à ce jour, mais ce n’est définitivement pas le cas lorsqu’on parle de Yorgos Lanthimos. C’est encore plus jouissif de le voir confronter un public bien plus large à son univers pervers et tordu, public qu’il aura leurré avec la promesse d’un film d’époque soigné où s’opposent de fabuleuses actrices au firmament de leur talent. Un piège habile à l’image de la sournoiserie de ses personnages auxquelles les hyènes de son sublime The Favourite ne font décidément pas exception.

• Les films d’époque ne sont pas toujours obligés de suivre les règles de l’art. Sofia Coppola l’a appris à ses dépens avec son déchirant, quoique mal-aimé, Marie Antoinette et Whit Stillman a fait tourner les têtes avec son désopilant Love & Friendship, qui donnait une nouvelle vie à l’œuvre de Jane Austen. Lanthimos, toutefois, voit décidément plus loin.
  
  Oui, le film est admirablement bien foutu. Les décors sont magnifiques, le soin au détail est incroyable, les costumes sont sublimes.. Bref, tout y est pour les amateurs de films d’époque et de reconstitution soignée.
  
  Il y a un peu de politique, beaucoup de potinage, une réflexion sur les classes sociales et un jeu de pouvoir fascinant lorsqu’une cousine éloignée s’invite à la cour de la reine, chamboulant tout le désordre établi pour y insuffler ses propres aspirations.
  
  Prémisse classique et interchangeable, oui, mais le traitement et le scénario vont décidément ailleurs. Moins intéressé à la précision de l’histoire avec un grand « H » que le sort de ses personnages (on ne s’étale jamais trop longtemps sur les faits pour donner pratiquement des airs fictifs à l’ensemble, bien qu’on se soit inspirés de véritables événements), Lanthimos adapte son premier scénario qu’il n’a pas écrit avec un panache déstabilisant. Cela expliquerait peut-être qu’on retrouve son film le plus « vivant » jusqu’à présent, amenant une animosité délirante dans les dialogues et le sens incroyable de la répartie de l’ensemble, et délaissant sa monotonie singulière habituelle pour ramener à la surface ses plus grands tourments, tout comme son rapport unique entre l’homme et la bête.

• Plus ou moins classique au départ, le temps d’installer les personnages et l’histoire, le film immisce ensuite lentement, mais sûrement, ses multiples perversions et les rouages troublants de son histoire, ramenant à l’avant la fascination malsaine du cinéaste pour la lutte de pouvoir, du contrôle et du bourreau face à l’humiliation de son opposant. Évoquant les noirceurs sinueuses de l’esprit humain et sa compétition féroce entre la lâcheté et l’audace, au-delà de bizarreries qui clochent dès le départ pour s’assurer de constamment déstabiliser, le film joue toujours plus avec notre esprit et s’assure de nous accompagner bien longtemps après son hypnotisante finale.
  
  Il faut admettre, aussi, que de demander au brillant directeur photo Robbie Ryan, à qui l’ont doit Slow West et American Honey, d’ainsi venir s’amuser avec les focales et les prises de vue, était toute une décision qui s’avère immensément gagnante au final. Le tout donne un look singulier au film lui permettant de balayer l’espace avec le brio qu’on lui connaît, en plus de s’assurer de décontenancer de toutes les façons possibles.
  
  Bien sûr, les acteurs se lancent avec un bonheur palpable dans une telle proposition, alors que le jeune Joe Alwyn continue de surprendre et que Nicholas Hoult aura rarement semblé aussi à l’aise, mais c’est certainement le trio principal qui en impose. La grande Olivia Colman est carrément démente et abasourdissante dans le rôle de la reine alors qu’à ses côtés, les délicieuses Emma Stone et Rachel Weisz se livrent un duel sans pitié qu’on savoure avec beaucoup, beaucoup, beaucoup de bonheur.
  
  Le jeu nuancé, imprévisible, rythmé au quart de tour des comédiennes est en osmose avec les désirs du cinéaste et elles brillent les unes après les autres, créant des flammèches avec leurs partenaires, jouissant de personnalités distinctes selon leurs aspirations singulières. Comme quoi bien que leur talent n’est décidément plus à prouver, elles continuent indubitablement d’épater par l’étendue apparemment sans fin de leurs capacités.
  
  Mieux encore, The Favourite se savoure divinement, le spectateur se voyant noyé dans un capharnaüm unique, mais maladivement contrôlé, comme seul Lanthimos en a le secret. Rien n’est laissé au hasard, de la trame sonore rapidement et volontairement insistante, si ce n’est irritante, jusqu’aux joutes de dialogues truculentes qui défilent si vite si elles ne sont pas enterrées par tout le reste, que plusieurs visionnements s’imposent pour en apprécier chaque recoin.
  
  Voilà une œuvre immense, forte et brillante qui ne laissera personne de glace et gâtera tous les cinéphiles les plus aventureux. Un bijou. Il y a aussi un duo de danse mémorable qui restera certainement dans les gros moments de cinéma de cette année.

Pae Jim Chartrand
http://www.pieuvre.ca/

How Marie Antoinette Paved the Way for The Favourite

In The Favourite, Queen Anne (Olivia Colman) stuffs a piece of cake into her face, then promptly vomits it back into a bucket. Despite this setback, she continues to eat it. Her favorite, childhood friend and lover Sarah (Rachel Weisz), is not afraid to point out that the Queen of England is stupid for doing this. This darkly funny scene isn’t something that would normally be found in a royal drama. Movies of this genre are known for being stately, nearly devoid of humor and full of long monologues.

At its core, The Favourite feels modern. The cold ambition and greed are relatable in our time. Sofia Coppola’s Marie Antoinette (2006) focuses on a different aspect of royalty, but it feels accessible in the same way. Coppola took one of history’s most absurd queens (played by Kirsten Dunst) and made her seem like a real, flawed human while also making fun of the actions that led to her downfall. Marie Antoinette was the royal drama that paved the way for Favourite director Yorgos Lanthimos dark comedy of manners.



There are a lot of rituals, items of clothing, and ways of thinking in history that just don’t make sense now. In many period dramas, the audience is expected to suspend their disbelief and just go with it. Coppola doesn’t do that, which paved the way for Lanthimos to ignore this genre trope as well. Both directors lean into the absurdity and sometimes even the grotesqueness of old royalty. In Marie Antoinette, Coppola emphasizes how ridiculous the rituals were at Versailles. During Antoinette’s first morning in France, she stands naked and shivering, waiting to be dressed by the highest ranking woman in the room. Unfortunately, high-ranking women can stroll in and interrupt the routine. If that wasn’t enough, her sister-in-law takes a long time to pull off her gloves. “This is ridiculous!” Antoinette says.



Lanthimos doesn’t focus on the routines of the monarchy as much, though there is a great scene showing courtiers throwing fruit at a naked man, which brings to mind some of Marie Antoinette’s hard-partying friends. Versailles was notorious for insane rules as King Louis IV thought protocols would keep the gentry distracted. The most ridiculous figure in The Favourite is Queen Anne. She’s like a petulant child who needs to be simultaneously bossed around and soothed. “Did you just look at me? Did you?” Anne bellows at a poor servant boy. “Look at me. Look at me! How dare you?!” Anne seems unhinged, and that’s why the people around her believe they can control her. The Favourite shows how crazy it would be to have to move your entire life around someone else’s mood.

Both movies treat their subject matter irreverently. Instead of orchestral music, Marie Antoinette incorporates rock ’n’ roll and modern pop hits into the soundtrack. Coppola very famously layered “I Want Candy” over one of Antoinette’s shopping spree montages. The Favourite uses dry one-liners and physical humor, as when Abigail (Emma Stone) is pushed unceremoniously into a ditch by Harley (Nicholas Hoult) after she refuses to give him inside information about Queen Anne’s policy decisions.

But despite ridiculing Marie Antoinette, Coppola makes the argument that the audience should feel a little sorry for her. Antoinette was stripped of her Austrian identity as she stepped into France, and was alone in a place where the courtiers openly mocked her. After she became Queen, she retreated into her own palace, the Petit Trianon, because she felt safe there away from all the pomp and ceremony. In the last third of the movie, one of her children dies. Yes, she should not have spent an ungodly amount of money while her subjects were starving, but she was ultimately a silly girl who wasn’t taught any better. When the mob is outside Versailles, Antoinette is quiet and tearful. She goes to the balcony to see the mob, and even lays her head down, like she would on a scaffold, which silences them. The Queen knows her fate. Coppola constructed a complex character when she could have just had Antoinette say, “Let them eat cake!” and cruelly laughed as she walked by dying peasants. Some critics didn’t believe that the French queen should have gotten such a sympathetic portrayal. Antoinette was flawed and that wasn’t something Coppola shied away from, which was something filmmakers still, unfortunately, struggle with when putting female characters onscreen.



Lanthimos takes a page out of Coppola’s book. He makes all three of his female leads three-dimensional. He handles Queen Anne’s backstory especially well. Queen Anne is clearly fragile. She’s constantly bedridden due to her very painful gout and weak stomach. Her physical ailments occupy most of her time, and when she isn’t dwelling on that, she’s caring for her 17 rabbits. They just aren’t any pets though. They’re named after the 17 children she lost to miscarriage, stillbirth, or illness. The tragedy of that is nearly unfathomable. The rabbits mean a lot to her, which is why it’s so disturbing when Sarah doesn’t respect them. The Favourite doesn’t shy away from uncomfortable and awful realities that these characters face, but that doesn’t mean the three leads are good people. They’re difficult to root for and very fun to watch.

The Favourite took tropes and concepts that Marie Antoinette introduced. Lanthimos elevated everything to insane levels and dug deeper into the characters than Coppola originally did. The Favourite is probably going to be more successful during awards season than Marie Antoinette was, but modern films about monarchies and history really owe a lot to the irreverent Marie Antoinette.
https://crookedmarquee.com/how-marie-antoinette-paved-the-way-for-the-favourite/

Still want to watch it ?

Je suis très mitigé.

Voici également un avis sur ce film.

The Favourite, de Yorgos Lanthimos: jeu de massacre

Yorgos Lanthimos s'invite à la cour de la reine Anne d'Angleterre pour signer un film acerbe et acéré autour de la rivalité entre deux courtisanes. Brillant.



Sorti il y a un peu plus d'un an à peine, The Killing of a Sacred Deer, le précédent opus de Yorgos Lanthimos (lire son portrait en page 4), laissait craindre un relatif essoufflement dans le chef du cinéaste grec, qui semblait y ériger en système les figures qui avaient fait sa singularité, de Canine à The Lobster. À cet égard, et tout en restant du pur Lanthimos, The Favourite traduit une évolution sensible de son cinéma, ne serait-ce qu'en raison du fait que, délaissant le théâtre contemporain, le réalisateur s'y frotte au drame historique en costume, revisité à sa grinçante manière s'entend.

L'action se situe au début du XVIIIe siècle, à la cour de la reine Anne d'Angleterre (Olivia Colman), souveraine lunatique à la santé fragile vivant en compagnie de ses 17 lapins (un par enfant qu'elle a perdu), et laissant pour l'essentiel la conduite des affaires, et notamment de la guerre avec la France, à sa conseillère et amante, Lady Sarah (Rachel Weisz). Moment où débarque, guère à son avantage, Abigail Masham (Emma Stone), cousine de la précédente et aristocrate déclassée. Laquelle, enrôlée comme domestique et vouée aux tâches les plus ingrates, ne manque toutefois pas d'aplomb ni d'ambition. Un cocktail explosif, puisqu'elle réussira bientôt à s'attirer les faveurs de la reine, devenant à son tour sa favorite, confidente privilégiée et plus encore. Et attisant, ce faisant, la colère de Sarah...


© DR

Farce sinistre

Rivalités exacerbées entre courtisanes, complots d'alcôves, manipulations, luttes de pouvoir et trafics d'influence -la guerre avec la France et les débats entre bellicistes et partisans de la paix servent d'arrière-plan au drame: la suite tient du jeu de massacre, résolument jouissif dès lors que Lanthimos opte pour un traitement voisin de la farce. Et de livrer, portée par un rythme soutenu et des dialogues assassins, une comédie humaine acerbe et acérée. À quoi, fidèle en cela à sa marque de fabrique, le réalisateur ajoute une mise en scène vertigineuse -jusque dans ses mouvements de caméra à l'ostentation volontiers déstabilisante, on ne se refait pas, il est vrai.

Soit une brillante réussite, plébiscitée lors de la dernière Mostra de Venise, où le film a obtenu deux distinctions, le prix d'interprétation pour Olivia Colman, "impériale" reine Anne (le jury aurait pu y associer Emma Stone et Rachel Weisz, pas moins convaincantes) et le Grand Prix pour un Yorgos Lanthimos à qui cette excursion hors de sa zone de confort aura permis, l'air de rien, de se réinventer. Drôle et sinistre à la fois, le premier choc esthétique majeur de l'année, à voir absolument.
https://focus.levif.be/culture/

madame antoine

Encore un !

Aux courses de homards et de canards d'Anne la folle

J'adore le titre.


©Photo News

Personne ne s’attendait à ce que le déjanté Yorgos Lanthimos s’attaque à un film d’époque. Avec "La favorite", il élève le genre. Baroque, loufoque, drôle et cruelle, voici l’histoire de la folle reine Anne d’Angleterre.

On sait que le Grec Yorgos Lanthimos affectionne le bizarre-étrange. "The lobster" et "Mise à mort du cerf sacré", ses précédents films – primés à Cannes – en ont fait l’ample démonstration. Avec l’histoire vraie de la reine Anne d’Angleterre, dernière de la dynastie des Stuart qui régna au début du XVIIIe siècle, il trouve une formidable matière première. Monarque moins célèbre qu’Elizabeth I, Anne avait certes moins de panache.

Aussi, c’est bien la première fois qu’elle est le sujet d’un film. Fragilisée par dix-sept grossesses consécutives et affaiblie par la goutte, sa majesté vivait quasiment recluse dans son palais. Pour l’égayer, sa cour organisait des courses de canards ou de homards. Et ça, le homard, depuis "The lobster", on sait que Lanthimos aime ça… Le film démarre donc avec cette hallucinante réunion de courtisans emperruqués s’enthousiasmant pour le marathon des canards.

Combat de femmes

"La favorite" est, au-delà de cette parfaite description d’une cour royale méconnaissant et dédaignant totalement ce qu’il se passe à l’extérieur, le récit d’un duel entre deux femmes pour le titre de favorite. La favorite en place, Sarah, impeccable Rachel Weisz, facilite la carrière de son époux et favorise le parti des Whigs. Elle compte, en outre, anéantir l’armée française. Ne doutant jamais de son ascendant sur la reine Anne, elle accueille Abigail, une petite-cousine pauvre venue de sa campagne.

Interprétée par la surprenante Emma Stone, elle découvrira la véritable nature des liens entre la favorite et la reine. En effet, les deux femmes entretenaient secrètement une relation homosexuelle. Habile, la petite-cousine réussira à gagner les faveurs de cette reine démente. Le talent du réalisateur est de conter cette rivalité entre dames avec subtilité et une certaine drôlerie. Sa mise en scène n’est jamais pesante, ni conventionnelle. Elle est même parfois punk! Un peu comme si l’excentricité de ces nobles Anglais du dix-huitième avait trouvé un écho dans la punkitude de ce cinéaste qui refuse toute catégorisation.

Trash flamboyant

La cour d’Anne d’Angleterre était d’un trash flamboyant. Les rares moments de pure tendresse consistaient pour la reine à prendre dans ses bras l’un des dix-sept lapins qui vivaient dans ses appartements. Dix-sept lapins soit le nombre exact de ses enfants morts. Car aucun de ses enfants n’avait survécu. Olivia Colman confère à cette reine méconnue une dimension aussi tragique que loufoque. Cette actrice anglaise a fait jusqu’ici l’essentiel de sa carrière dans des séries télés. Elle reprendra d’ailleurs le rôle d’Elizabeth II dans la suite de la série "The crown".

Sa prestation dans "La favorite" lui a déjà valu d’être récompensée à la Mostra de Venise et, ce dimanche, aux Golden Globes. La voilà sans doute dans la course aux Oscars!

SOURCE

Après le succès en salles, l'avalanche de récompenses ?

The Favourite, brillante satire historique post-#MeToo, impose un trio d’actrices au sommet (Rachel Weisz en tête) et enchaîne dix nominations aux Oscars 2019.



"L’amour a ses limites. - Eh bien il ne devrait pas”. Dès les premières répliques giclant entre deux éclats de boue, le ton est donné. The Favourite (La Favorite) ne cesse de jouer avec les limites : du cadre, de la bienséance et du cinéma.

Présenté à la dernière Mostra de Venise, le dernier film du Grec Yórgos Lánthimos, recourant volontiers au bestiaire pour explorer l’humanité dysfonctionnelle (The Lobster, Mise à mort du cerf sacré et ici dix-sept lapins en guise de fœtus royaux), dissèque un trio particulier, celui que formèrent au début du XVIIIe siècle la reine Anne d’Angleterre (délirante Olivia Colman - qui est aussi la Elizabeth II des saisons 3 et 4 de The Crown sur Netflix), la duchesse de Marlborough (Rachel Weisz, de plus en plus belle) et la jeune Abigail (énergique Emma Stone), aristocrate déchue que son père a jouée au jeu, prétendant elle aussi au titre de favorite (dans tous les sens du terme) que Lady Sarah détenait jusque-là sans partage.

Huis clos de palais serti dans les jardins royaux, les couloirs secrets et les chambres tapissées de la cour britannique alors dépourvue de guerriers (lancés contre la France) mais bourrée de courtisans-prédateurs prêts à usurper le pouvoir de ces femmes qui s’agitent comme des pantins, la farce surprend et éblouit. Prises dans l’étau d’une caméra anamorphique qui distord le cadre, les trois actrices livrent une performance d’un grotesque assumé et inouï (les crises de goutte soignées à la viande crue, les scènes d’amour lesbien sadomaso), inversant les codes du masculin et du féminin dans un retournement formaliste brutal, absolument décadent et réjouissant.
https://www.moustique.be/

Je n'ai pas encore eu l'occasion de voir ce film, mais la lecture de cet article m'inspire une réflexion : pourquoi tant de lesbianisme dans ces films ? Est-ce une mode ou le reflet d'une réalité ?

Chère Airin, il est difficile de répondre clairement à votre question, d'autant plus que les deux éléments ne s'en excluent pas, l'homosexualité féminine ayant constitué une mode très en vogue au sein de l'Aristocratie des Cours d'Europe.

Bien à vous

madame antoine

Amusant ! Et pas faux. Je reviendrai peut-être sur le sujet après avoir vu le film.

Coucou les amis !

J'ai enfin eu l'occasion de voir cette Favorite qui m'intrigue depuis des mois... et je ne regrette pas ma sortie ! Très beau film, qui nous plonge vraiment dans une étrange Angleterre à l'aube du XVIIIe. Sombre de couleurs, cru dans ses images, foisonnant dans ses dialogues et les impressions qu'il nous envoie.

J'ai beaucoup aimé, même si j'ai été désarçonnée. Je veux dire que, certes cette oeuvre est iconoclaste, mais si vous venez pour vous payer un bon trip fluo comme dans le Marie Antoinette de Sofia Coppola, allez voir ailleurs ! Rien de léger en effet à descendre dans les marécages d'une cour frelatée et dans les méandres d'une femme habituée à perdre tout ce qu'elle aime...

L'atmosphère est pesante, carrément maléfique, rythmée par les exigences d'une guerre extérieure et les caprices de la reine. La psychologie des personnages nous tient en haleine. Chacun poursuivant ses intérêts particuliers, que devient le sens de l'Etat ? La loyauté ? L'amitié ? L'amour ? Tout est dans tout, les sentiments se mélangent, emportant le spectateur dans une vénéneuse confusion.

Au coeur domine Anne, la reine qui incarne de façon poignante la solitude du pouvoir. Et celle de la maladie... Je ne m'étendrai pas davantage, pour ne pas spoiler votre plaisir. Juste que cette femme m'a bouleversée. Est-ce le personnage ? L'actrice ? Olivia Colman habite tellement son rôle qu'on ne peut que sombrer avec elle.


Scène du film de Peter Greenawey The Draughtsman’s Contract (1982)

Petit plus perso... les cinéphiles aux goûts pointus retrouveront avec bonheur dans The Favourite comme un parfum du magistral Draughtsman's Contract de Peter Greeneway... la lumière, les costumes, la diction pointue, les perruques virevoltantes, le jardin... et... un personnage qui vous paraîtra aussi nu que déplacé... mais chttttt !  

Bonus ! Ces interviews des protagonistes. Vous verrez à quel point Olivia Colman s'est métamorphosée pour le rôle.  

Beau film et belles actrices !
La petite Emma Stone, là

Merci pour ce fil.....J'ai failli passer à côté de ce film, et HONTE à moi, j'avoue découvrir seulement là, ce réalisateur.....

Les photos sont splendides, et les critiques passionnantes ( et passionnées ) !

Pour ma part, je vais attendre la parution de DVD sous-titré, ayant des difficultés à bien entendre, à moins que je déniche un VO sous-titré français en salle......
Mais le DVD sur l'immense écran que m'a offert mon fils serait


Je vais peut-être aussi, re-regarder le Coppola, l'ayant trouvé un peu sucré/indigeste à la sortie.....( PAS TAPER, merci !!! vieille spectatrice difficile à satisfaire avec les reconstitutions historiques..... )


Merci de votre compréhension.....

ARTE consacre un petit bonus à ce film (que je n'ai toujours pas vu ).

• Avec dix nominations aux Oscars 2019, "La Favorite" est une production anglaise qui apporte une pierre essentielle au débat sur la parité à l'écran : plutôt que de représenter plus de femmes à l'écran, il les représente mieux.
  
• Il met en scène l'histoire vraie, au début du XVIIIe siècle, de deux femmes de tempérament qui ont secondé la reine Anne d'Angleterre, et créé un trio de pouvoir féminin rare avant le Siècle des Lumières. Le film est signé de Yorgos Lanthimos, cinéaste grec exilé en Angleterre qui poursuit une œuvre en forme de réflexion sur le pouvoir.
  

N'oubliez pas d'aller voir la vidéo.
https://www.arte.tv/fr/videos/087507-000-A/le-pouvoir-au-feminin/

Merci, Airin ! je vais aller regarder tout ceci......

En attendant, je vais signaler The favourite sur mon forum de lecture......

Nous sommes gâtés cette année, avec Mademoiselle de Joncquières, Un peuple et son Roi , Edmond, et L'empereur de Paris .......

J'apprécie les films ? d'époque, en costumes.....aucun terme ne me convient......

Justement, y a-t-il un fond de vérité historique dans The Favourite ?
Il y en a qui se le sont demandé avant nous.





Bluffant
Et ils vont plus loin.

QUESTIONING THE STORY:

• When did Anne Stuart become queen?

The Favourite true story reveals that Anne Stuart became Queen of England, Scotland and Ireland following the death of King William III in 1702. William's wife (who was also his first cousin), Queen Mary II, had died eight years earlier in 1694. William and Mary were not Anne's parents. Anne's father, King James II, had been removed from the throne in 1688 by William of Orange, his son-in-law, during the Glorious Revolution.

King James II was deposed on religious grounds. He had been previously converted to Catholicism by his wife, Anne's mother. After her mother's death, James married the catholic princess Mary of Modena and they bore a son, James. This changed the line of succession from Jame's daughter Mary, a protestant, to his newly born son, a catholic. The protestants of England saw this as a threat that would inevitably lead to the formation of a Roman Catholic dynasty across the kingdoms. Anne defied her father and took the protestant side of William and her sister, Mary. Upon his removal, James fled to France with his wife and son, and William and Mary ascended to the throne. Anne was next in line.


The real Queen Anne (left) and actress Olivia Colman (right) as Anne in The Favourite movie.

• Was Queen Anne sick and mostly bedridden?

Yes. A fact-check of The Favourite movie confirms her battle with gout caused her a great deal of pain, and she put on weight due to her sedentary lifestyle. She was eventually carried around the Palace in a wheelchair or sedan chair. Like in the movie, this proved to be difficult for her since she had taken an active interest in foreign policy and affairs of the state. She also suffered from an eye condition that caused excessive eye watering. (Mirror Online)

• Had Anne been pregnant 17 times?

Yes, and tragically, 12 of the 17 times she was pregnant she either miscarried or had stillborn births. Of her five children who survived birth, four died before their second birthday and her only remaining child, Prince William, Duke of Gloucester, died in 1700 at age 11. (Mirror Online)

• Did Queen Anne really have bunnies in her bedchamber?

No. The real Queen Anne didn't keep 17 pet rabbits as stand-ins for the children she lost due to miscarriages, still births and premature death. The movie's historical consultant, Hannah Greig, has admitted this is fiction, stating, "Pet rabbits would never have been found lolloping around a royal bedchamber: They were an early 18th-century foodstuff and pest." (History Extra)

• How did Lady Sarah and Queen Anne meet?

Anne met Sarah Churchill (née Jennings) in the court of Anne's uncle, King Charles II, when she was around the age of 8 and Sarah was 13 (Vanity Fair). Sarah's father had been friends with Anne's father, James II, when he was still Duke of York. Sarah, Duchess of Marlborough, was maid of honor to Jame's second wife, Mary of Modena. Not long after, Sarah became close friends with Anne in 1675.

They remained close and Sarah became Lady of the Bedchamber when Anne married Prince George of Denmark in 1683. After Anne's ascension to the throne in 1702, their friendship deepened and Lady Sarah was made Mistress of the Robes (the top rank for a woman in the royal court), Keeper of the Privy Purse, Groom of the Stole, and Ranger of Windsor Great Park. By that time, the pair had long referred to each other by pet names. Sarah was "Mrs. Freeman" and Anne "Mrs. Morley".

• Did Lady Sarah really have that much influence over Queen Anne?

Yes. The Favourite true story confirms that not only did the attractive Sarah control Queen Anne's finances and circle of friends, she had a reputation for being brutally honest with Anne. Sarah's advice was sought regarding everything. This may have been in part due to the fact that Anne's education was "astonishingly inadequate", according to one biographer. Anne was also shy and found impromptu conversation a challenge, unlike the more outspoken and intelligent Lady Sarah (It was even said that when Anne found herself out of her element in a conversation, she would sometimes move her lips and pretend to continue speaking). It is believed that Sarah largely used her friendship with Anne for personal gain more than anything else. She once commented that she'd rather be "in a dungeon" than in a conversation with the tedious royal. (Vanity Fair)

Queen Anne's reign was marked by three major developments: the establishment of a two-party Parliamentary system, England's role in the War of the Spanish Succession, and the 1707 Act of Union which unified England and Scotland as one kingdom under the name "Great Britain". The last development is not depicted in the movie.


Like in the movie, the real Sarah Churchill (left) was domineering and exuded a great deal of control over Queen Anne.
Actress Rachel Weisz (right) portrays Sarah in The Favourite. Portrait by Charles Jervas, post 1714.

• How did the rift between Queen Anne and Lady Sarah begin?

Queen Anne was a strong supporter of the Tories, who backed the Anglican Church and supported the landed gentry. Lady Sarah, on the other hand, had become an advocate of the the Tories' rivals, the Whigs, in part due to their support of Britain's role in the War of the Spanish Succession. Sarah's husband, the Duke of Marlborough, was Captain-General of the army and had emerged victorious in several key battles.

Sarah, the second most powerful woman in the country, often chose not to attend court, which aggravated Anne even more. The schism between them was made worse by Anne's growing fondness for Abigail Hill, a servant who had been brought into the household by her cousin, Sarah, and was appointed Lady of the Bedchamber around 1704. Anne had come to prefer Abigail's more flattering gentle approach over Sarah's tell-it-like-it-is demeanor. However, Sarah believed that Abigail's flattery was more a strategy to manipulate Anne, rather than something genuine.

• Is the clothing seen in the movie accurate to the period?

No. Our fact-check of The Favourite movie revealed that costume designer Sandy Powell's stunning outfits are not typical of the era. In the film, the leading ladies wear monochrome popping with vivid patterns and African-inspired prints. Court servants are dressed in recycled denim. It's not accurate historically and is symbolic of the film's tendency to paint outside the lines when it comes to the truth. "Some of the things in the film are accurate and a lot aren't," director Yorgos Lanthimos told The Hollywood Reporter.


The costumes seen in The Favourite are not historically accurate.

• Had Abigail really been poor?

Yes. Born Abigail Hill, her family had gone broke because of her father's gambling. Sarah likely helped her get a job in the Queen's service more out of embarrassment than the goodness of her heart. (Vulture)

• Were there sexual relationships between Anne and Sarah, and Anne and Abigail?

No, this is highly unlikely. While there have been rumors of sexual relationships between both Queen Anne and Lady Sarah, and Queen Anne and Abigail Hill, most historians and biographers reject this notion. The movie uses the fictionalized love triangle to heighten the drama and add another dimension to the rivalry between Anne and Sarah. It also omits Anne's husband, Prince George of Denmark, with whom she had a prolific sexual history that resulted in 17 pregnancies, which are noted in the movie. Biographers cite that Anne was a woman with a strong sense of Christian morality who was devoted to her husband. She shared a room with him and did not ever leave his bed in all his years of dwindling health. Thus, it would have been logistically very difficult for Anne to carry on extramarital affairs.


Anne's husband, Prince George (left), is not included in the movie.

Lady Sarah was the wife of John Churchill (aka Lord Marlborough), who she married out of love in a secret ceremony in the winter of 1677-78. Lord Marlborough is portrayed in the movie by Mark Gatiss. In real life, they had seven children together. Sarah did come to court and reportedly circulated a risqué poem believed to have been written by Whig propagandist Arthur Mainwaring, which suggested that there was a lesbian relationship between Anne and her chambermaid, Abigail Hill. Historians largely believe that Sarah circulated it out of jealousy rather than truth. The ballad read:

• When as Queen Anne of great renown / Great Britain’s sceptre swayed / Beside the Church she dearly loved / A dirty chambermaid
  
  O Abigail that was her name / She starched and stitched full well / But how she pierced this royal heart / No mortal man can tell
  
  However for sweet service done / And causes of great weight / Her royal mistress made her, Oh! / A minister of state
  
  Her secretary she was not / Because she could not write / But had the conduct and the care / Of some dark deeds at night

Sarah could see that she was slowly being replaced as the favourite and such an accusation would hopefully cause Anne to cut ties with Abigail, or even lose the crown, which would benefit Sarah politically as well. In a letter to Anne, Sarah told her that she was hurting her reputation by developing "a great passion for such a woman ... strange and unaccountable." Writing further about Abigail, Sarah stated, "I never thought her education was such as to make her fit company for a great queen. Many people have liked the humor of their chambermaids and have been very kind to them, but 'tis very uncommon to hold a private correspondence with them and put them upon the foot of a friend."

Some modern commentators and filmmakers choose to conclude that Anne was a lesbian, but that's more an embrace of today's social movements than it is a reflection of historical fact. The real Sarah never mentioned that Anne had ever been attracted to her and she struck down any notion that her own relationship with Anne had ever been sexual, which would have given more credence to the suggestion of an affair with Abigail, given that Sarah's friendship with Anne was more intense than Anne and Abigail's. In addition, the film not treating such relationships as taboo is unrealistic for the time, something director Yorgos Lanthimos admitted to approaching with little regard for historical accuracy. (IndieWire)


The movie's love triangle between Queen Anne, Lady Sarah and Abigail Masham is fictional.

• Is Nicholas Hoult's character, Robert Harley, portrayed accurately in the film?

No. For one, Tory leader Robert Harley was not an attractive young 20-something during the reign of Queen Anne. He was instead a somewhat morose-looking man in his early 40s. While it's true that Harley became Abigail's confidant, the two were actually related in real life. They were cousins on her father's side. It's possible that along with Sarah, Harley helped Abigail get the job in the Queen's service. (Vulture)

• When did Lady Sarah realize she was being supplanted by Abigail as the Queen's favourite?

Sarah (aka the Duchess of Marlborough) realized she was no longer Queen Anne's favourite in 1707 after she learned that Abigail had married Samuel Masham, a groom in the bedchamber of Anne's husband. The once-destitute Abigail had become Lady Masham. Sarah was furious over Anne and Abigail's closeness, and became more upset after she learned that the Queen had attended her chambermaid's wedding and gave the couple a dowry of £2000 paid from the Privy Purse, which Sarah managed. (Mirror Online)


Abigail married Prince George's attendant Samuel Masham, portrayed by Joe Alwyn.

• Did Sarah threaten to expose letters that Anne had written to her?

Yes. In researching The Favourite true story, we learned that Sarah threatened to blackmail Anne by exposing the most provocative of Anne's letters to her. They included excerpts like, "I hope I shall get a moment or two to be with my dear…that I may have one embrace, which I long for more than I can express," and "I can't go to bed without seeing you…If you knew in what condition you have made me, I am sure you would pity." Though it would be uncommon for two straight women to exchange such letters today, deeply affectionate language between friends of the same sex wasn't uncommon in that era. Such friendships between women were typically referred to as "romantic friendships."

• Did Sarah try to force Queen Anne to dismiss Abigail from the court?

Yes, but it was attempted more for political reasons than personal ones. Sarah, who had aligned herself with the Whigs, wanted to remove Abigail and her Tory sympathies from the court, knowing they would influence Queen Anne. Sarah treated Anne's emotional defense of her chambermaid Abigail as an indication of a lesbian affair, which made Anne even more upset. Sarah hoped the rumors she was spreading would cause the Queen to remove Abigail from her service, realizing that it threatened her reputation. It instead did the opposite and led to Sarah's falling out with Anne. When asked what ended their friendship, the Queen would later say that the main reason was Sarah "saying shocking things" about her and to her. (Vulture)


The Favourite: The Life of Sarah Churchill and the History Behind the Major Motion Picture
by Ophelia Field offers an inside look at the relationship between Sarah and Queen Anne.

• When did Queen Anne's husband, Prince George, die?

Prince George, who became Lord High Admiral when his wife Anne became Queen, died in 1708, six years into her 12-year reign. Anne's husband George is not included in the The Favourite movie. Yet, in real life, his death deepened the rift between Lady Sarah and Queen Anne, as Sarah refused to wear mourning clothes, which implied that she thought Anne's grief was fake. Sarah indicated this in the hours following George's death, by stating, "[Although Anne’s] love to the Prince seemed . . . to be prodigiously great . . . her stomach was greater, for that very day he died she eat [sic] three very large and hearty meals" (Private Correspondence of Sarah, Duchess of Marlborough).

Sarah was cold with the grieving Anne, who preferred Abigail's compassionate and comforting disposition instead. Sarah further upset Anne by suggesting that Anne switch palaces to avoid reminders of her husband. She also had a portrait of George removed from Anne's bedroom. (Mirror Online)

• Did the rivalry between Lady Sarah and Abigail Hill really become as heated in real life?

No. In exploring The Favourite true story, we discovered that the rivalry did not reach the life and death stakes seen in the movie. Much of the rivalry was born out of the fact that Sarah and Abigail opposed each others politics. As Abigail wielded more influence over Queen Anne, she started urging the Queen to embrace her natural Tory inclinations. The Whig-minded Sarah saw Abigail as a threat to the political agenda of the Whig Party.

• Did Abigail ever poison Sarah?

No. A fact-check of The Favourite movie reveals that this is fiction. There is no historical evidence to suggest that Abigail poisoned Sarah. (Vulture)


The real Abigail Masham (left) and actress Emma Stone (right) as Abigail in The Favourite movie.

• Did Lady Sarah and her husband leave England?

Yes. When the War of the Spanish Succession (largely seen as a Whig project) fell out of favor with the British public, the Whigs in turn lost the election of 1710, which we see in the movie. Queen Anne dismissed Sarah's husband, the Duke of Marlborough, on trumped-up embezzlement charges. This was at a time when the Whigs were losing influence and the Tories were gaining more control. As Whig supporters, Sarah and her husband were a point of contention for the Tory-minded Queen.

Sarah's final encounter with Queen Anne took place in 1710 when Sarah attempted to mend their ailing friendship. According to Sarah's accounts of the meeting, Anne coldly cast her off. Sarah responded by telling Anne that God would judge her for the way that she had treated her. Sarah knew that attacking Anne on a religious level would upset her, which it did.

In 1711, the Queen stripped Sarah of her roles in the royal court. Abigail, who had become Baroness Masham, replaced Sarah as Keeper of the Privy Purse. Public funding for Blenheim Palace, the Queen's gift to Sarah and her husband following his victories in the War of the Spanish Succession, was halted. They left England for the courts of Europe, where Sarah's husband found success. She, however, mourned the position she had lost. (Mirror Online)

• Did Lady Sarah ever return to England?

Yes. Lady Sarah and her family returned to England on the afternoon of Queen Anne's death on August 1, 1714. It was rumored that Anne had asked for them to come back. With Anne's passing, the Tories fell from power, and the Whigs, including Sarah's husband, became the ruling majority again.

Queen Anne was succeeded by George of Hanover. King George got along splendidly with Sarah and her husband, and they became great friends. Sarah passed away in 1744 at age 84, but not before she had again become a favourite of a Queen, this time King George II's wife, Queen Caroline. However, Sarah's fiery disposition led to a falling out with them too.

• What happened to the real Abigail Masham?

After Sarah was removed from the royal court, Abigail took her place. Anne was more cautious with Abigail, not wanting to be domineered as she had been with Sarah. She didn't want to elevate Abigail's status too much, for fear that Abigail would leave her.

Upon Anne's death from a stroke on August 1, 1714, Abigail Masham and her husband Samuel were evicted from their palace homes. Abigail left the court and retired into private life. Samuel purchased a manor house not far from Windsor. They were by no means poor. Abigail lived in their country house until her own passing in 1734. (Vanity Fair)

• Is Sarah Churchill related to Winston Churchill?

Yes. Lady Sarah Churchill's lineage guaranteed an enduring foothold in British politics. Her most famous descendant is Winston Churchill, who helped to save Britain from the hands of the Nazis during World War II. Sarah is also related to Lady Diana Spencer (Princess Diana) through her daughter, Anne Churchill, whose married name was Spencer.
http://www.historyvshollywood.com/reelfaces/the-favourite/

Bon boulot ! Ils citent leurs sources et tout.

Olivia Colman est pressentie pour la récompense suprême !



Olivia Colman, c'est elle la favorite à l'Oscar de la meilleure actrice

L'aura ? L'aura pas ? En attendant, ces plans sur la comète nous offrent l'occasion de mieux connaître cette comédienne incroyable.  

En lui offrant le rôle de la reine folle, le réalisateur Yórgos Lánthimos a sublimé le talent de cette actrice de 45 ans, cantonnée jusqu'ici à la télévision anglaise.

Elle a déjà le Golden Globe (de la meilleure actrice dans une comédie) et la coupe Volpi (le prix d'interprétation remis à la Mostra de Venise). Bientôt, elle foulera les tapis rouges des Bafta (le 10 février) et des Oscars (dimanche 24 février), avec pour seule raisonnable concurrente Glenn Close, au sommet de son art, c'est vrai, en épouse sacrifiée dans The Wife. Les autres, Lady Gaga, Melissa McCarthy et la certes bouleversante Yalitza Aparicio, n'y pourront rien. En lui offrant le premier rôle dans sa comédie noire La Favorite, le réalisateur grec Yórgos Lánthimos a donné à Olivia Colman, tout juste 45 ans, la partition de sa vie. Celle d'une reine désaxée et vulnérable dans l'Angleterre du début du XVIIIe siècle, nous entraînant dans les plus obscurs recoins de l'âme humaine.

Le personnage est librement inspiré de la reine Anne, dernière souveraine de la maison Stuart aux 14 grossesses infructueuses, 2 enfants morts en bas-âge et un fils mort à 11 ans ; l'histoire, de l'âpre bataille que se sont livrées Lady Marlbourough et sa cousine Abigail Hill (magnifiquement interprétées par Rachel Weisz et Emma Stone) pour obtenir les faveurs de la monarque dépressive. Un Game of Thrones à la sauce post-Me Too, dans un décor et des costumes soignés au millimètre.

Royale, doublement royale



Olivia Colman, donc. Ceux qui la connaissent l'ont adorée dans la série policière Broadchurch, dans le rôle de l'empathique lieutenant Ellie Miller. Les autres ont peut-être vu son nom au casting de la très attendue troisième saison de The Crown. C'est elle, en effet, qui remplacera Claire Foy dans les tailleurs parme de la flegmatique Elizabeth II sur Netflix. Une reine aux antipodes de celle de Yórgos Lánthimos.

Jusqu'ici, la comédienne venue du comté de Norfolk, au nord-est de Londres, brillait surtout dans des seconds rôles à la télévision britannique. Dans des séries comiques comme Peep Show ou Green Wing diffusées sur Channel 4 - et peu redistribuées en France. En 2011, son personnage de femme battue et humiliée par son mari dans Tyrannosaur, de Paddy Considine, lui vaut le prix spécial du jury de la meilleure interprétation au Festival de Sundance. Quatre ans plus tard, Yórgos Lánthimos l'appelle au casting de The Lobster (elle y joue l'inquiétante directrice d'hôtel), qui remporte en 2015 le prix du jury au Festival de Cannes. Le coup de foudre est professionnel. Au point qu'elle est la seule actrice à qui il envoie le scénario de La Favorite courant 2014, soit trois ans avant le début du tournage.



Elle accepte le rôle immédiatement. Prend 15 kg pour celui-ci, sans un mot. Charme toute l'équipe du film, sans exception - «Je suis amoureuse d'elle», résume Emma Stone. Favorite à l'Oscar et nouvelle égérie Netflix, Olivia Colman n'avait pas prévu. «Je suis une sorte d'ermite en réalité», dit-elle à Rolling Stone en novembre 2018. «Ce que j'aime, c'est être chez moi avec mon mari», poursuit-elle au Guardian. Son mari, Ed, ancien étudiant en droit reconverti en écrivain, avec qui elle vit depuis vingt-cinq ans, et père de ses trois enfants.

Honnêtement, elle a toujours «rêver de tenir un oscar», mais essaie de «garder la tête froide». Se convainc qu'elle est plus que ça, «je suis une mère, une épouse, je suis une pote. Je suis autre chose. Quelqu'un de raisonnable». Attendons de voir si, comme on le prévoit, la statuette atterrira réellement entre ses mains.
http://madame.lefigaro.fr/

A suivre, donc...

Voici une légère dissonance, presque une critique.

"Sofia Coppola avait déjà proposé une interprétation anachronique et enlevée du film à costume, en dépoussiérant le genre quitte à laisser les plus traditionalistes sur le carreau. Il serait peut-être malaisé, d’ailleurs, d’affirmer que Lanthimos ne tient pas Marie-Antoinette pour inspiration, consciente ou non, tant le rythme détonant de son film rappelle le dynamisme du film de Coppola. Toutefois, quand Marie-Antoinette se faisait un plaisir de renouveler le genre par un retour sur sa forme, The Favourite diffère en proposant une analyse visant à montrer qu’au fond, les querelles mondiales et les grandes décisions des royautés sont moins le fruit d’un sentiment patriotique ou d’une volonté des figures royales de conserver le pouvoir que le résultat de querelles internes, intimes à la Cour. Il est frappant, en ce sens, de voir le portrait fait d’Anne d’Angleterre comme d’une fausse reine, incapable de représenter la Cour, totalement ignorante des conflits qui atteignent le pays qu’elle dirige, laissant tout pouvoir à la courtisanerie pour diriger à sa place. La royauté n’est pas soignée par Lanthimos, qui montre dès l’introduction la vacuité du système, par l’organisation de cette course de canards absurde.

Seulement, cette décision de traiter ces déboires personnels comme perçus au même niveau que les conflits mondiaux permet à Lanthimos d’échapper à l’anecdotique, de toucher en ce sens à l’universel. La narration choisie pour la montée en puissance de cette servante, bourgeoise déchue souhaitant retrouver sa place, fascine parce qu’elle semble montrée en lieu et place d’une guerre qui n’est que citée longuement, qu’on ne voit jamais puisque la guerre intime prend toute la place et sert au fond de transfuge, de symbole pour l’évoquer. Pour peu qu’une courtisane ou l’autre prenne la place dans le cœur de la reine, les décisions différeront, et Lanthimos montre bien en quoi cette consanguinité malsaine entre décisions publiques et vie intime mène à la dégénérescence à la fois sentimentale et politique, voir même physique pour cette reine qui ne cesse de dépérir au fur et à mesure que la lutte pour son affection avance. Sur ce point, le trio formé par Olivia Colman (la reine Anne d’Angleterre, dernière de la dynastie Stuart), Rachel Weitz (Sarah Churchill, conseillère particulière et amante de la Reine) et Emma Stone (Abigail Masham, nouvelle favorite de la Reine) est tout à fait magistral, tend elles semblent s’amuser à mettre en images cette rivalité mortifère.

Il est possible de regretter que The Favourite, toutefois, prenne des décisions presque obscures dans ses choix structurels. Ainsi, le choix de diviser le film en actes paraît assez peu pertinent, voir sur-explicatif, comme si l’on voulait être absolument certain que le spectateur comprenne bien ce qu’il y a à comprendre, à l’aide de titres tirés de répliques de chaque chapitre. On en ressent un malaise, comme si le créateur ne faisait pas confiance à son récit, ou pire, à son spectateur, alors que l’aspect justement universel de son sujet, quand ses films précédents pouvaient paraître plus inhabituels, permet bien de saisir ce à quoi touche le film. De même, on peut s’étonner d’une certaine répétition presque malvenue, parfois contre-productive, certes peu marquée mais parfois agaçante, une fois la rivalité comprise il n’était sans doute pas nécessaire d’y ajouter tant de strates. En témoignent les quelques scènes de tir au volatile, qui ne sont qu’un exemple de symboles trop appuyés, et même encore une fois paraissant signes d’une volonté d’explication et de surlignage trop importante.

Reste que le cinéma de Lanthimos semble assez essentiel dans le paysage contemporain, tant sa capacité à montrer l’étrange et le non-dit, voir non pensé, détonne de film en film. Il sera intéressant de voir dans quel mesure The Favourite pourra trouver son public, entre les quelques amateurs du réalisateur et les instruits en cinéma de costumes classique. En tant que tel, le film est proprement étonnant et enthousiasmant, comme toujours."
https://smallthings.fr/cinema/critiques-cinema/the-favourite-avis-critique/

Lucrezia P a écrit:

Voici une légère dissonance, presque une critique.

Pourtant, elle est irrésistible.

Très beau film. L'avis du Monde :

« La Favorite » : jeu de dames au palais

Bon, le titre.

Yorgos Lanthimos n’a pas pour habitude de faire des ronds de jambe à la société contemporaine. Il a pris soin, dans ses précédents films, d’en révéler les plus mauvais travers. Dans Canine (2009), The Lobster (2015) et Mise à mort du cerf sacré (2017) régnaient l’hypocrisie, le mensonge, le crime, le sectarisme. Des maux que le cinéaste grec a toujours soumis à la cruauté et à l’irrévérence, explosant tout sur son passage, la forme comme le fond.

On aurait pu craindre qu’un film historique en costumes vienne amoindrir ce caractère nihiliste et le sens de la dérision dont le cinéaste l’accompagne. On sait, après avoir vu La Favorite, qu’il en eut fallu bien plus, à Yorgos Lanthimos, que la cour du Royaume-Uni, au XVIIIe siècle, pour l’intimider et l’assagir. Nul doute, à l’inverse, qu’il ait éprouvé un malin plaisir à repousser les limites du genre et à dynamiter les figures qui ordinairement l’animent, trouvant dans les fastes d’un royaume nouvelle matière à ses impertinences.

Au château de la reine Anne (prodigieusement interprétée par Olivia Colman), dernière héritière de la lignée des Stuart, qui régna de 1702 à 1714, ce sont les femmes qui se livrent bataille. Des femmes à qui Yorgos Lanthimos ne fait pas de cadeau, les montrant entièrement occupées à satisfaire leurs plaisirs et leurs ambitions. A commencer par la souveraine elle-même, enfant gâtée, capricieuse et instable, que de violentes crises de goutte mettent à plat, et que n’intéressent guère les affaires du pays, en guerre contre la France, ou la misère de son peuple. Domaines qu’elle réserve à sa dame d’honneur et favorite, Sarah Churchill, duchesse de Marlborough (Rachel Weisz), qui, sur le terrain politique, agit de main de maître. Laquelle, dans l’alcôve, sait aussi prodiguer ses plaisirs à la reine.



Forte de ce statut, qui la fait à la fois maîtresse, conseillère et nounou, la duchesse de Marlborough demeure intouchable, jusqu’au jour où débarque à la cour sa cousine Abigail Hill (Emma Stone), déchue de son rang par un père que le jeu a ruiné. Bien que se présentant toute crottée après une chute dans la boue où l’a précipitée un gentilhomme, la jeune fille, aussi blonde que lady Marlborough est brune, semble bénéficier de bien jolis atouts. Raison pour laquelle elle est envoyée aux cuisines, où elle se voit réduite à jouer les Cosette et à obéir aux ordres d’une grosse matrone.

La pauvre fille, qui a cependant de la volonté à revendre, ne désespère pas de gagner les salons d’apparat et de s’y faire une place. Une décoction de feuilles préparée par ses soins sera son sésame. La mixture soulage la souveraine, dont les faveurs ne tardent pas à se diriger vers la nouvelle recrue. Laquelle, passant à son tour dans le lit de la reine, entame son ascension en même temps qu’elle œuvre à la chute de sa rivale.

Trahisons, manipulations, empoisonnements

Pendant que les hommes, fantoches à perruque, s’adonnent, pour passer le temps, à des occupations absurdes – courses de canards, lancers d’oranges –, les femmes se livrent à des intrigues dont dépend leur survie. Trahisons, manipulations, empoisonnements et autres actes criminels servent leurs victoires comme leurs disgrâces. Dans La Favorite, la course au pouvoir vire au jeu de massacre. La mise en scène s’y emploie autant que les personnages. Prenant le parti de dérégler le ballet qu’il orchestre par des plans distendus, des alternances de plongées et de contre-plongées, des mouvements rapides de caméra, Yorgos Lanthinos mène l’histoire à la folie, en accentue la férocité, prépare à sa chute.

Au fil de ses chapitres aux titres dérisoires – « Cette boue empeste », « Une tenue étonnante », « Et si je coulais en m’endormant »… –, La Favorite fait tomber les masques, retrousse les jupons, retourne la bienséance avec un aplomb qui se rit du pouvoir, de ceux qui le convoitent comme de ceux qui l’exercent. Estimant que, au fond, peu de chose change d’une époque à l’autre, le cinéaste agit dans le huis clos d’un palais de la même manière que dans celui d’un appartement bourgeois. A la différence que les ors et les tentures lui offrent un décor propice au spectacle. Un spectacle où le grandiose s’accorde au grotesque et la trivialité au raffinement. Mais où s’opèrent aussi des glissements que l’on ne sent pas venir. En sourdine, ils sapent néanmoins l’édifice sur lequel sont posés les personnages.

Car Yorgos Lanthimos – qui a travaillé avec Tony McNamara à l’écriture de La Favorite (à partir d’un scénario de Deborah Davis) – sait ruser, explorant la nature humaine, là où il fait croire à un divertissement. Ainsi nous fait-il prendre conscience seulement à la fin que son film visait avant tout à nous raconter une tragique histoire d’amour. Celle unissant une reine tour à tour poupée désarticulée, despote autoritaire, petite fille vulnérable à une duchesse que l’intelligence et la dignité ne suffisent pas à mettre à l’abri de la douleur d’une séparation.

Elles ignoraient qu’à ces liaisons dangereuses elles allaient se brûler. Le spectacle qui prêtait à rire devient alors bien triste. A l’image des visages, qui, une fois le maquillage retiré, ne révèlent plus qu’une grimace.
https://www.lemonde.fr/