Now, like probably many of you, I saw the trailer for “The Favorite” starting Olivia Colman, Emma Stone and Rachel Weisz when it came out back in September. I remember it looking amusing, and loving the cast. But I also remember being a little concerned about the aggressive women-on-women rivalry aspect. Like, oh great, it’s about women but all they do is fight.
But, seems the trailer left out a key piece of information. According to The Hollywood Reporter, this isn’t just an “female-fronted absurdist period piece.” This is a female-fronted absurdist royal lesbian love triangle period piece.
See, now, doesn’t that pique your interest a tad more?
So here’s the rundown. Olivia Colman (who you mat recognize from “Broadchurch” and will soon recognize as The Queen in “The Crown”) plays Queen Anne, who reigned over England, Scotland and Ireland in the early 1700s. Rachel plays her longtime, close personal adviser Sarah Jennings Churchill (yes, great-great-grandmother to thatChurchill). And then enters Emma as Abigail Masham, Sarah’s cousin with an eye at becoming The Favourite instead.
Now all these women are real and really existed and had real power struggles. But the movie’s story is called “partly true, partly made-up.”
Now I don’t know if it’s the lesbianism that was made up or not. (hey, English history scholars, wanna help me out here?) But I do know that the accompanying THR article doesn’t get into exactly how much lesbian is in this royal lesbian love triangle. Like, um, how gay are we talking here, folks?
One tidbit does say Emma’s character Abigail is discovered naked in bed with Olivia’s Queen by Rachel’s Sarah. And, you know, boobies are flashed. Also, adding to its lesbo street cred, before Rachel was cast as Sarah, the role was offered to Kate Winslet and Cate Blanchett. Yeah, I know.
So thoughts? Concerns? Pretty much it sounds like a lesbian All About Eve for the 18th Century to me. And, I’m not mad at that. Not at all.
4 comments:
"Partly made up" is, umm, generous? There definitely was an intense relationship between Anne and Sarah, but it didn't end because Anne fell out with Sarah and in with Abigail.
On the whole the Anne/Sarah angle is a complex one, and political differences were mostly to blame for their split. Anne supported the Anglican Tories and Sarah was a fan of the Catholic Whigs. Sarah was loud and proud about that and dared to try push her opinions on Anne. That eventually backfired, but not before years of Sarah having her say and being told by Anne, in more words, "Yes, dear."
To give you an idea of how important Sarah became: Anne made her Keeper of the Privy Purse, which is like Chief Financial Officer of the Royal Household. Sarah was meant to know about every penny spent, but Anne managed to spend some of that money without Sarah finding out.
Enter Abigail Masham, nee Hill, one of Sarah's cousins. Abigail was Sarah's opposite, and being quiet and not-at-all interested in politics probably made for a lovely change. Anne helped the kid out when she fell in love with Samuel Masham-- Anne helped them to wed secretly and gave Abigail a dowry of 2,000 pounds (like half a million bucks in today's money). And guess where she got the money? From the Privy Purse.
Sarah was upset about that. Also pissed off about Anne mourning her husband (IDEK, man. That level of insensitivity is *nuts*). Added to that, their political differences just got worse and worse, until Sarah slipped up and basically told the Queen to STFU, and Queen Anne said, "O rly? You're fired, and your hubby the Duke of Marlborough is fired, too, unless he's smart and resigns real quick. Toodles!"
In the end, while Sarah was dismissed for her increasingly aggressive behavior, Abigail took over various appointments (Keeper of the Privy Purse being one) and generally just stuck around and was dependable, even when Anne's general disposition became depressed and her famous beauty faded, both thanks to serious ill health (she survived small pox and no fewer than 17 pregnancies, most of which ended in miscarriages and still-births).
Today we use the word "favorite" too broadly in re: royal relationships, and the supposition is that "favorites" were all of the same kind. In this case, Sarah was definitely a favorite, in the sense of affection that might've stretched to romance. Abigail was a favorite in the sense that Anne's fondness for her was similar to that shown to an adopted child.
But hey, those facts are old'n'moldy facts. 1683 to 1720-something was a long time ago, and that leaves a little room for poetic license :-P
Ok I’m sold, will be watching
Thanks for bringing the whole thing to my attention
I *love* that DS's power and influence are so pervasive that she asked for a scholar on the wee small hours (in my tz anyway) and got a thoughtful, nuanced answer from an expert before the sun even rose. All hail Dorothy Snarker! This might be the best corner of the internet now that the-toast closed shop.
It sounds pretty damn gay according to this review:
https://womentainment.com/the-favourite-2018-review/
A few quotes:
"It could easily be described as a royal lesbian drama because, well, it is!"
and
"... every sexual encounter with any real meaning or intensity is between two women."
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