"It would be a lot easier to tell if The Favourite is a comedy if Olivia Colman had made less interesting choices. She could have made her Queen Anne a buffoon, a figure of mockery, petty and ugly and stupid, allowing us to laugh at how easily she's manipulated by the two beautiful women vying for her favor. Or she could have portrayed Queen Anne as sad and pitiable, a victim taken advantage of by courtly vipers.
“Colman, however, makes sure we can't categorize her character, or the movie surrounding her, quite so easily. Her Queen Anne is easily manipulated, but not entirely unaware - and not above some manipulation herself. She's deeply, deeply sad, but can also be mean and vindictive, even sadistic at times. Towards the end of the film, she gorges herself on blue cake, takes a short break to puke, and then continues stuffing the cake in her mouth, sitting wide legged on the floor. It's a repulsive, darkly funny tableau. Yet even in that moment, Colman doesn't allow viewers to forget that it's a real, complex person sitting there. And that not knowing whether or not to laugh is kind of the point." ~ Hedwig van Driel
No comments:
Post a Comment