The Favourite ~ A Capsule Movie Review

The Favourite ~ A Capsule Movie Review by Allen Kopp

It’s the early 1700s. Queen Anne sits on the throne of England. She has had seventeen children, all of whom died. (“Some were born in blood, some never breathed, and others were with me only for a short time.”) She has seventeen rabbits that she keeps in the royal bedchamber which serve as surrogate children. (“They are my babies.”) She is child-like, petty, temperamental, mentally unstable, sick, gout-ridden, obese, and in every way unfit to run affairs of state. England is, of course, engaged in endless, expensive warfare with France. (God help England!)

Queen Anne (played by an actress named Olivia Colman) has a “favourite,” a woman who goes by the name of Sarah (the ever-frightening Rachel Weisz). Sarah is what is known as a forceful woman. She has Queen Anne firmly in hand. She treats her at times like a child and she will slap her in the face if she feels like it (when they are alone, of course). Sarah tells the queen what to say, what to do, how to dress, and in general manages her life behind closed doors. She is the power behind the throne. And, oh, yes, they are lesbian lovers. We can’t leave that out.

There’s a new bitch in town, though. Her name is Abigail (Emma Stone). She is a wily manipulator. She has recently lost her “status” in life (her father lost her in a card game), and she longs to be a “lady” again. When she comes into the household as a lowly maid, she sizes up the relationship between Queen Anne and Sarah and decides that the situation is rife with possibilities for her. She eventually discovers the sexual nature of the association between Queen Anne and Sarah and learns the way to the queen’s heart.

I didn’t care which of the two dragons (Abigail or Sarah) prevails with the queen. They are equally unlikeable. When they resort to poisoning, I don’t really care which one gets up off the floor. Queen Anne is the most interesting and compelling character, the one character with whom our sympathies lie. We pity her and also find her repulsive.  The often-tragic, often-ugly lives of English kings and queens make for fascinating viewing.

The real fun of The Favourite is the way it looks and sounds. It is a wig movie of the highest order and we don’t get many of those. (The voluminous curly wigs are worn by the men; in the battle of the hair, the women recede into the background.) The early eighteenth century sets look absolutely authentic and believable. The music of the period (Bach, Handel, Vivaldi) is loud and there’s lots of it. There’s plenty here to like, especially if you are a fan of historical costume drama and don’t really care for most of the youth-oriented crap at the multiplex.

Copyright © 2018 by Allen Kopp

by allen0997

A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man ~ A Capsule Book Review

A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man ~ A Capsule Book Review by Allen Kopp

When we’re talking about books that are easy to read, James Joyce’s 1916 novel, A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man, is not one of them. It’s a novel with no real story to speak of but is instead a disjointed collection of episodes in the life of Dublin youth Stephen Dedalus, who is in reality James Joyce himself. It’s written in the modernist style, which means it is a departure from the accepted ways of writing up to that time. Other writers of the time who espoused this style of writing were Virginia Woolf, Marcel Proust and D. H. Lawrence.

A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man is what is known as a Kunstlerroman, a German word for a narrative about an artist’s growth and maturity. When the book begins, Stephen Dedalus is a small schoolboy, with a devout mother and a blowhard father. The family has as many as ten children, some of whom die. Financial reverses force the family to have to move from a small town to Dublin. Stephen attends a boy’s
Catholic school, where the religious training there is fierce and traditional. In his mid-teens, when his interests turn to sexual matters (about which there are no details), he is certain he is going to hell. In a very vivid and beautifully written section of the book, an articulate priest puts the fear of hell into the young boys, fear not only of physical torment but also of mental and emotional anguish. Stephen believes every word is for him. At age sixteen, he believes he is destined for hell and nothing will help him. Up until that time, he has always been a doubter, but now he is a true believer. He seriously considers becoming a priest for a time, but changes his mind at the last minute.  

As a student at University College, Dublin, Stephen grows increasingly alienated from the institutions that have defined his young life: church, school, politics and family. He fights with his devout mother over attending services and his father berates him. He concludes that Ireland is too restricted for him and he chooses self-imposed exile. As he says, “I go to encounter for the millionth time the reality of experience and to forge in the smithy of my soul the uncreated conscience of my race.”

The style of the work progresses through each of its five chapters, as the complexity of language and Stephen’s ability to comprehend the world around him both gradually increase. A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man is one of the great books in English of the twentieth century, a work of art, but not a book for the casual reader who wants only to be entertained.

Copyright © 2018 by Allen Kopp

by allen0997