Look, I just had a problem with the kerning, ok?
In The Favourite, the spacing of the main title, individual chapter names, and credits are all set up to fit the same width, resulting in sometimes ridiculous, always slightly-more-difficult-to-read-than-it-has-to-be text.
I suppose the spacing achieves what it sets out to do in that it’s very memorable — this and the image of Emma Stone casually crushing a bunny’s spine will probably be what stick with me the most from this experience. I guess it also evokes the time period and all that. I don’t know, it just got me heated. According to this article I can’t believe I actually read, “The result is text that — with a wink at the viewer — presents itself as a little fussy and absurd, just like the characters in the movie.” Okay. I’ll accept that. But I don’t like how difficult it made it for me to find “Best Boy Grip” during the credits. I always like finding that guy.
The movie itself was great, and I see the appeal — though I won’t pretend I loved every minute of it. We were in a theatre full of “reactors” — you know the type. And not the fun kind that enhance a movie-going journey — the kind that inhibit it. I myself have been known to gasp overly dramatically or laugh too hard at inappropriate times, but having a group of people behind you doing it repeatedly definitely changes how you experience a film. Hearing a lady give a knowing “it happens!” stage whisper to her friend when Random Carriage Guy #1 starts jacking off to Emma Stone really set the tone for that whole experience.
I guess this fundamentally feels like a film about a woman who has never needed to mature, the people around her who scramble for her affection and thereby power, and the lengths they will go to get what they want.* Lady Sarah refuses to relinquish the power she’s spent decades nurturing and building — at least not without a fight. Abigail weaponizes sex as a means to an end in a variety of situations — that end being, ultimately, status. Queen Anne craves attention and love [side note — are those the same thing? Don’t get me started @Lady Bird], looking to fill the void of 17 miscarried children. In the end, there are no winners in the sick, twisted game that the three of them play. Lady Sarah is exiled, Queen Anne is loveless and at death’s door, and Abigail, her true nature revealed (see above re: casually crushing a bunny’s spine), is left in a position that bears no semblance to the power she so artfully sought.
Real cheery ending. Humans are trash and this certainly wasn’t the film to convince me otherwise.
*This could be a whole map-to-current-political-climate rabbit hole (pun intended) but I’m not gonna go there.
