Twofer Movie Review - The Favourite and Mary Queen of Scots

The Favourite **** (out of 5) (R)
Mary, Queen of Scots ***½ (R)
For the first time, I’m combining two movies in one review. I can’t recall simultaneous openings of such similar fare as these historical dramas covering the travails of thee queens from the British Isles. Both are excellent for content, production values and as showcases for their principal actresses. Both also depict serious issues of their times that seem all too similar to contemporary political and cultural clashes, adding unfortunate relevance to both packages.

Which one to see? You can’t go wrong with either, though your mood in the moment may tip the scales. Both are lavishly produced costume dramas; Mary is set in the late 1500s; the struggle over being Anne’s BFF a little over a century later. While Mary’s tale is largely a war movie, with battle scenes galore, The Favourite is more of a devious sparring match between two women who yearn for influence over the ditzy queen they serve. That one also offers some dark humor in the dramatic mix, while the clash between Mary and Elizabeth is all business.

England’s Queen Elizabeth (Margot Robbie) couldn’t afford to recognize her cousin Mary’s (Saiorse Ronan) claim to be Queen of Scotland because of religion. Liz and her domain were the vanguard for nascent Protestantism after her daddy broke with The Church. Mary’s Catholic faith was also resisted by Scottish Protestants. As the film depicts events, Mary offered to allow both faiths to coexist, but her detractors weren’t buying it. The stakes were especially high because she would be next in line to succeed childless Liz for England’s throne, as well.

Queen Anne (Olivia Colman), as they say, was lucky her father was born before her, because her power couldn’t have come from anything but inheritance and timing, as portrayed here. She was something of an idiot; or, at best, a petulant child in a frumpy adult body. Lady Sarah (Rachel Weisz) was her lifelong friend and confidante, who really loved her frail-minded liege, and manipulated her into proper decisions despite her highness’ impatience, impulsiveness and overall inadequacy. That worked well until Sarah’s cousin Abigail (Emma Stone) came to Court. Though of noble birth, her father had frittered away their estates, leaving her grateful for a scullery maid’s position. At first. That just got her foot in the door, allowing her to spend the rest of the movie insinuating herself into higher ranks, which included undermining Cousin Sarah as her majesty’s eponymous Favourite. Stone’s sweet, innocent face and demeanor cloaked the true Ms. Machiavelli scheming within.

So for Liz and Mary’s travails, one spends considerable time in Scottish exteriors, variably pastoral or littered with bodies, and usually foggy. The scenes of combat are surprisingly explicit and intense for such fare. In contrast, most of the maneuvers swirling around Anne were indoors, including some services performed in the royal bedchamber.

Both films turned out well above average at avoiding the genre temptation of justifying their huge outlays for costumes, makeup and locations by making a film far longer than the script requires, just to get all that property enshrined on film in the final cut. Each comes in at about two hours, with enough story and character to make the time pass suitably. The rating difference, above, is mainly due to the value of three stars, rather than two, and the much-appreciated lighter side of their conflicts. Expect plenty of awards nominations for each production - the performances of the five main women, as well as multiple aspects of the visual and technical components.

I only wish they didn’t remind me so much of today’s realities. The conflation of religion with political and social issues is raging worldwide and domestically. Power is still too often in the hands of the ill-suited. Those at the top still flog hot-button issues to fool the masses, stirring (or manufacturing, if need be) anger among them to achieve their personal goals of greater wealth and control over others. Royalty, CEO’s and elected officials can all be birds of the same feather - closer to buzzards than they’d want us to realize. At least with these movies, we’re watching problems of other people from other places and times for a bit of respite from the headlines.