‘The Favourite’ Review: Scheming for Power in a Kinky Palace Triangle
Difficulty: Hard    Uploaded: 6 years, 5 months ago by markvanroode     Last Activity: 6 years, 4 months ago
56% Upvoted
29% Translated but not Upvoted
55 Units
85% Translated
56% Upvoted
"The Favourite - Intrigen und Irrsinn" Rezension: Intrigieren um die Macht in einem abartigen Dreieckverhältnis am Palast.

Regisseur: Yorgos Lanthimos

Autoren: Deborah Davis, Tony McNamara

Darsteller: Olivia Colman, Emma Stone, Rachel Weisz, Nicholas Hoult, Emma Delves.

Altersfreigabe: R (Zugang für Jugendliche unter 17 Jahren nur in Begleitung Erwachsener); Geschätzte Laufzeit: 1 Stunde 59 Minuten

Genres: Biographie, Drama

Von A.O. Scott, The New York Times, 21. November 2018

Im Januar 1711 ernannte Königin Anne, die letzte der Monarchen aus dem Hause Stuart auf dem britischen Thron, eine ehemalige Kammerjungfer namens Abigail Hill zur Hüterin ihrer Privatschatulle, und wendete damit das Schicksal von Sarah Churchill, der Herzogin von Marlborough, die zuvor zu den Vertrautesten der Königin gehörte, entscheidend.

Dieses Stückchen historischer Arkane ist die Grundlage von "The Favourite", einer wild unterhaltenden, heftig zynischen Komödie königlicher Manieren unter der Leitung von Yorgos Lanthimos.

Für Shakespeare und die klassisch-griechischen Dramatiker war das Tun von realen und imaginären Herrschern - Staats- und Fleischangelegenheiten, die hier beide eine herausragende Rolle spielen - meist der Stoff der Tragödie. Lanthimos, ein griechischer Regisseur, der seit einigen Jahren in London ansässig ist, macht keinen echten Unterschied zwischen Pathos und Heiterkeit. Sein erster englischsprachiger Film, "The Lobster", war abwechselnd schrecklich und urkomisch, ein grausames dystopisches Sinnbild von Disziplin und Begehren. Der nächste, "Der Tod eines heiligen Hirsches", war zumeist nur schrecklich. "The Favourite", mit einem profanen, gelehrten Drehbuch von Deborah Davis und Tony McNamara, ist eine Posse mit Zähnen, ein Kostümdrama mit scharfen politischen Instinkten und einem aggressiven Sinn für das Absurde.

Annes Hof ist bevölkert von eitlen Kreaturen in himmelhohen lockigen Perücken und aufwändig bemalten Gesichtern. Zu ihren Freizeitbeschäftigungen gehören bösartiger sexueller Klatsch, Indoor-Entenrennen und das Werfen von verfaulten Früchten auf nackte Menschen. Das gilt für die Männer, die auch den größten Teil der Macht behalten. Auch wenn Anne (Olivia Colman) das Staatsoberhaupt ist, beherrscht der Partriachismus das Reich, und Frauen, die sich für die Macht, die Autonomie oder das Überleben interessieren, müssen durch das feindliche Gebiet männlicher Vorherschaft navigieren.

Dies bedeutet nicht, dass die Frauen passive oder unschuldige Opfer sind. Im Gegenteil. The busy, buzzing plot of “The Favourite” is propelled by scheming, double-crossing and manipulation among its three main female characters. Anne, von Gicht, Leid und Selbstmitleid geplagt, stellt die Hypothenuse eines diskreten erotischen und politischen Dreiecks dar, dessen beide anderen Seiten Abigail (Emma Stone) und Sarah (Rachel Weisz) sind. Sarah, die die Königin gekannt hat, seitdem sie Kinder waren, ist ihre Geliebte ebenso wie ihre Beraterin bei Regierungsgeschäften. Als Verbündete des Führers des Parlaments (James Smith) und als Frau eines wichtigen militärischen Feldherrns (Mark Gatiss), drängt sie auf einen Krieg mit Frankreich und hoher Besteuerung für Landbesitzer.

Sie ist sehr ehrgeizig, und was folgt, kann zum Teil als perverse barocke Version der Themen von "All About Eve" beschrieben werden. Abigail spielt die Rolle des naiven unschuldigen Mädchens, eine Maskerade, die ihre beachtlichen Fähigkeiten im psychologischen und physischen Kampf verbirgt. Sie pflegt eine Allianz mit dem Führer der Opposition (Nicholas Hoult), eine Verbindung, die auf gemeinsamen Interessen und gegenseitiger Abscheu beruht. Abigail kämpft mit unfairen Mitteln, weil eine harte Erziehung sie gelehrt hat, dass kein Kampf jemals fair ist. Sarah akzeptiert sie als Protegée und erkennt sie ein kleines bisschen zu langsam als Rivalin.

Ihr Wettstreit um Annes Zuneigung ist spannend und nervenauftreibend zu beobachten, ein Schachspiel mit vollem Körpereinsatz, vollem Kleidereinsatz, ohne Schiedsrichter und unklaren Regeln. Die Details der Epoche (die Arbeit der Szenenbilddesignerin Fiona Crobie und der Kostümbildnerin Sandy Powell und anderen) sorgen für mehr als nur Dekoration. Sie verfrachten den Betrachter in eine Welt, in der konventionelle Unterscheidungen - zwischen privaten Gefühlen und öffentlicher Darstellung, zwischen Ehrlichkeit und Arglist, zwishcen dem Leben und dem Theater - nicht gelten.

Jeder spielt mit den unsicheren Währungen von Status und Einfluss. Because so much depends on pomp and performance, on dignity and self-control, humiliation is an omnipresent peril and a popular sport. The most abject figure in this universe is the queen herself, whose illnesses, eccentricities and neuroses make her seem helpless and pathetic, easy prey for opportunists like Abigail and Sarah, who push her wheelchair and tend to her moods.

But it’s also true that the queen is the only person in England capable of — or entitled to — sincerity. She alone is able to mean what she says and to get what she wants. Sowohl Weisz als auch Stone sind in brillianter Art witzig und behände, aber Colmans Darstellung ist einfach nur grandios. She commits absolutely to Anne’s ridiculousness, and also to the contradictory facets of her humanity. Die Königin ist gefangen durch Trauer, durch Tradition, durch ihren eigenen unkooperativen Körper. Sie ist aber auch ein Freigeist.

Lanthimos, his camera gliding through gilded corridors and down stone staircases — in exquisitely patterned light and shadow, with weird lenses and startling angles — choreographs an elaborate pageant of decorum and violence, claustrophobia and release. Das Königreich ist durch Veränderlichkeit geprägt, gekennzeichnet durch die vielen Namen mit der ihre Herrscherin und ihre Untertanen bezeichnet werden. Sarah ist Dame Marlborough, und auch Frau Freeman. Die Königin ist Frau Morley. Abigail plant, einen gutaussehenden Idioten (Joe Alwyn) zu heiraten und einen eigenen Titel zu erwerben. Weder Identität noch Werte ist fest. Bündnisse wechseln sich ab wie das Wetter. Das Glück kommt und geht. Schönheit verwandelt sich in Hässlichkeit und wieder zurück. Liebe ist ein Synonym für Vorherrschaft, oder vielleicht für Unterwerfung.

The best — and also the most troubling — thing about “The Favourite” is its rigorously bleak assessment of human motivations and behavior. Der Palast ist eine Petrischale, in der die vertrauten Erreger des Egoismus, der Grausamkeit und der Gier herumwimmeln. Eine empfindsame Seele mag sich einen flüchtigen Blick von etwas anderem wünschen, aber gleichzeitig kann man kaum sagen, dass etwas in diesem Gemälde fehlt, welches auch ein verstörender, schmeichelnder und seltsam wirklichkeitsgetreuer Spiegel ist.

https://www.nytimes.com/2018/11/21/movies/the-favourite-review.html?referrer=google_kp
unit 1
‘The Favourite’ Review: Scheming for Power in a Kinky Palace Triangle.
1 Translations, 1 Upvotes, Last Activity 6 years, 5 months ago
unit 2
Director: Yorgos Lanthimos.
1 Translations, 1 Upvotes, Last Activity 6 years, 5 months ago
unit 3
Writers: Deborah Davis, Tony McNamara.
1 Translations, 1 Upvotes, Last Activity 6 years, 5 months ago
unit 4
Stars: Olivia Colman, Emma Stone, Rachel Weisz, Nicholas Hoult, Emma Delves.
1 Translations, 1 Upvotes, Last Activity 6 years, 5 months ago
unit 5
Rating: R. Running Time: 1h 59m.
2 Translations, 2 Upvotes, Last Activity 6 years, 4 months ago
unit 6
Genres: Biography, Drama.
2 Translations, 2 Upvotes, Last Activity 6 years, 4 months ago
unit 7
By A.O.
1 Translations, 1 Upvotes, Last Activity 6 years, 5 months ago
unit 8
Scott, The New York Times, November 21, 2018.
1 Translations, 1 Upvotes, Last Activity 6 years, 5 months ago
unit 14
The next, “The Killing of a Sacred Deer,” was mostly just ghastly.
1 Translations, 2 Upvotes, Last Activity 6 years, 4 months ago
unit 16
Anne’s court is populated by vain creatures in sky-high curly wigs and elaborately painted faces.
1 Translations, 2 Upvotes, Last Activity 6 years, 4 months ago
unit 18
That accounts for the men, who also hold onto most of the power.
1 Translations, 1 Upvotes, Last Activity 6 years, 4 months ago
unit 20
This does not mean that the women are passive or innocent victims.
1 Translations, 2 Upvotes, Last Activity 6 years, 4 months ago
unit 21
On the contrary.
1 Translations, 1 Upvotes, Last Activity 6 years, 5 months ago
unit 28
Abigail fights dirty because a hard upbringing has taught her no fight is ever fair.
2 Translations, 2 Upvotes, Last Activity 6 years, 4 months ago
unit 29
Sarah accepts her as a protégée and is a bit too slow to recognize her as a rival.
1 Translations, 0 Upvotes, Last Activity 6 years, 4 months ago
unit 33
Everyone gambles with the unstable currencies of status and influence.
1 Translations, 0 Upvotes, Last Activity 6 years, 4 months ago
unit 37
She alone is able to mean what she says and to get what she wants.
0 Translations, 0 Upvotes, Last Activity None
unit 40
The queen is imprisoned by grief, by tradition, by her own uncooperative body.
1 Translations, 1 Upvotes, Last Activity 6 years, 4 months ago
unit 41
She is also a free spirit.
1 Translations, 1 Upvotes, Last Activity 6 years, 4 months ago
unit 44
Sarah is Lady Marlborough, and also Mrs. Freeman.
1 Translations, 0 Upvotes, Last Activity 6 years, 4 months ago
unit 45
The Queen is Mrs. Morley.
2 Translations, 3 Upvotes, Last Activity 6 years, 4 months ago
unit 46
Abigail plots to marry a handsome doofus (Joe Alwyn), hoping to acquire a title of her own.
2 Translations, 2 Upvotes, Last Activity 6 years, 4 months ago
unit 47
No identity or value is fixed.
2 Translations, 1 Upvotes, Last Activity 6 years, 4 months ago
unit 48
Alliances shift like the weather.
2 Translations, 2 Upvotes, Last Activity 6 years, 4 months ago
unit 49
Fortunes rise and fall.
2 Translations, 3 Upvotes, Last Activity 6 years, 4 months ago
unit 50
Beauty transmutes into ugliness and back again.
2 Translations, 3 Upvotes, Last Activity 6 years, 4 months ago
unit 51
Love is a synonym for domination, or maybe for submission.
2 Translations, 3 Upvotes, Last Activity 6 years, 4 months ago
unit 53
The palace is a petri dish aswarm with familiar pathogens of egoism, cruelty and greed.
1 Translations, 0 Upvotes, Last Activity 6 years, 4 months ago
unit 55
https://www.nytimes.com/2018/11/21/movies/the-favourite-review.html?referrer=google_kp
1 Translations, 0 Upvotes, Last Activity 6 years, 4 months ago

‘The Favourite’ Review: Scheming for Power in a Kinky Palace Triangle.

Director: Yorgos Lanthimos.

Writers: Deborah Davis, Tony McNamara.

Stars: Olivia Colman, Emma Stone, Rachel Weisz, Nicholas Hoult, Emma Delves.

Rating: R.

Running Time: 1h 59m.

Genres: Biography, Drama.

By A.O. Scott, The New York Times, November 21, 2018.

In January 1711, Queen Anne, the last Stuart monarch to occupy the British throne, appointed a former chambermaid named Abigail Hill to be Keeper of the Privy Purse, thus decisively reversing the fortunes of Sarah Churchill, the Duchess of Marlborough, who had previously been among the queen’s most trusted advisers.

That morsel of historical arcana is the basis of “The Favourite,” a wildly entertaining, bracingly cynical comedy of royal manners directed by Yorgos Lanthimos.

For Shakespeare and the Classical Greek dramatists, the doings of real and imaginary rulers — affairs of state and of the flesh, both of which figure prominently here — were most often the stuff of tragedy. Lanthimos, a Greek director who has been based in London for the past few years, makes no real distinction between pathos and mirth. His first English-language film, “The Lobster,” was by turns ghastly and hilarious, a cruel dystopian allegory of discipline and desire. The next, “The Killing of a Sacred Deer,” was mostly just ghastly. “The Favourite,” with a profane, erudite script by Deborah Davis and Tony McNamara, is a farce with teeth, a costume drama with sharp political instincts and an aggressive sense of the absurd.

Anne’s court is populated by vain creatures in sky-high curly wigs and elaborately painted faces. Their pastimes include vicious sexual gossip, indoor duck racing and throwing rotten fruit at naked people. That accounts for the men, who also hold onto most of the power. Even with Anne (Olivia Colman) as head of state, patriarchy rules the realm, and women interested in power, autonomy or survival must navigate the hostile territory of male domination.

This does not mean that the women are passive or innocent victims. On the contrary. The busy, buzzing plot of “The Favourite” is propelled by scheming, double-crossing and manipulation among its three main female characters. Anne, plagued by gout, grief and self-pity, functions as the hypotenuse of a discreet erotic and political triangle, the other legs of which are Abigail (Emma Stone) and Sarah (Rachel Weisz). Sarah, who has known the queen since they were children, is her lover as well as her adviser in governmental matters. An ally of the parliamentary leader (James Smith) and the wife of an important military commander (Mark Gatiss), she pushes for war with France and heavy taxes on landowners.

full of ambition, and what follows can be partially described as a kinky, baroque variation on the themes of “All About Eve.” Abigail plays the role of wide-eyed ingénue, a masquerade that conceals formidable skills in psychological and physical combat. She cultivates an allegiance with the head of the opposition (Nicholas Hoult), a bond based on common interest and mutual disgust. Abigail fights dirty because a hard upbringing has taught her no fight is ever fair. Sarah accepts her as a protégée and is a bit too slow to recognize her as a rival.

Their contest for Anne’s affection is thrilling and unnerving to witness, a full-body, full-dress chess match with no referee and ambiguous rules. The period details (the work of the production designer Fiona Crombie and the costume designer Sandy Powell, among others) provide more than decoration. They transport the viewer into a world where conventional distinctions — between private feeling and public display, between honesty and guile, between life and theater — do not apply.

Everyone gambles with the unstable currencies of status and influence. Because so much depends on pomp and performance, on dignity and self-control, humiliation is an omnipresent peril and a popular sport. The most abject figure in this universe is the queen herself, whose illnesses, eccentricities and neuroses make her seem helpless and pathetic, easy prey for opportunists like Abigail and Sarah, who push her wheelchair and tend to her moods.

But it’s also true that the queen is the only person in England capable of — or entitled to — sincerity. She alone is able to mean what she says and to get what she wants. Weisz and Stone are both brilliantly witty and nimble, but Colman’s performance is nothing short of sublime. She commits absolutely to Anne’s ridiculousness, and also to the contradictory facets of her humanity. The queen is imprisoned by grief, by tradition, by her own uncooperative body. She is also a free spirit.

Lanthimos, his camera gliding through gilded corridors and down stone staircases — in exquisitely patterned light and shadow, with weird lenses and startling angles — choreographs an elaborate pageant of decorum and violence, claustrophobia and release. The law of the kingdom is mutability, signified by the many names its sovereign and her subjects are called by. Sarah is Lady Marlborough, and also Mrs. Freeman. The Queen is Mrs. Morley. Abigail plots to marry a handsome doofus (Joe Alwyn), hoping to acquire a title of her own. No identity or value is fixed. Alliances shift like the weather. Fortunes rise and fall. Beauty transmutes into ugliness and back again. Love is a synonym for domination, or maybe for submission.

The best — and also the most troubling — thing about “The Favourite” is its rigorously bleak assessment of human motivations and behavior. The palace is a petri dish aswarm with familiar pathogens of egoism, cruelty and greed. A sentimental soul might wish for a glimpse of something else, but at the same time it’s hard to say that anything is missing from this tableau, which is also a devastating, flattering and strangely faithful mirror.

https://www.nytimes.com/2018/11/21/movies/the-favourite-review.html?referrer=google_kp