My Weekend Crush

“The Favourite” isn’t necessarily a lesbian movie. Yes, it is a movie with probable lesbian characters and plenty of lesbian activity. But there is no coming out scene. There is no gay panic tragedy. There is absolutely no queer agenda. This is just about three extremely complex women who are doing everything they can to navigate their lives – and really an entire country – without a single worry about the feelings of the frivolous men who surround them. It’s in short, pretty freaking amazing. And, actually when you think about it, plenty gay where it counts.

What “The Favourite” really is a celebration of the cunning – and cunnilingus (please, you knew that joke was coming) – power of women. What it is also is tons of wicked, perverse fun and another reminder that movies without a typical strong male leads are really rather good. In fact – in many ways, they’re favorable. (Not to mention more profitable.)

Olivia Colman, Rachel Weisz and Emma Stone have created characters in their real-life roles (with much creative license and Sapphic historical reimagining, of course) that are neither likeable or unlikeable. They are, instead, just riveting. You simply can’t stop watching – and why would you? These are actresses biting down hard into the juiciest, ripest of cinematic fruits. Here is a film that doesn’t insult their intelligence or exploit their sexuality.

It lets them be scheming, without being stereotypically scheming. It lets them be vain and ridiculous, without pigeonholing all women as vain or ridiculous. It lets them be smart – because surprise women are really fucking smart. In short, it lets them be the sorts of things men have been in films forever without a second thought – but it does so while still being true the very foundation of our feminine uniqueness. There’s a pathos to it that lingers long after the wild ride is done. All three women find themselves at destinations they hadn’t necessarily planned for. But then, as the saying goes, it’s the journey – not the destination. Happy weekend, all.