The Favourite

Bugonia

02/11/25

Cineworld, Edinburgh

Yorgos Lanthimos must qualify as one of the hardest-working directors in the business – and one of the most consistently brilliant. Since his breakout with The Lobster in 2015, he’s unleashed a whole string of knockout films and, as I’ve observed elsewhere, he has the gift of turning the wildest, most experimental ideas into palpable hits at the box office. If, in its opening scenes, Bugonia seems like his most straightforward story yet, don’t be fooled. Eyebrow-raising revelations are waiting an hour or so further down the line.

Michelle Fuller (Emma Stone) is the CEO of pharmaceutical megacorporation, Auxolith, located in an unspecified area of the USA – though surprisingly, much of the film was actually shot in and around High Wycombe. As she goes about her business, she’s blissfully unaware that her movements are being studied by Teddy Gantz (Jesse Plemons), a lowly worker at her company’s packaging warehouse.

In his spare time, Teddy studies internet conspiracies and has come to the conclusion that Michelle is actually an ‘Andromedan’ – an alien creature responsible for many of the problems currently facing humanity. She’s also indirectly responsible for the plight of his mother, Sandy (Alicia Silverstone), who is on life support after being used as a test case for one of Auxolith’s experimental drug projects. Worst of all, in Teddy’s mind, is the fact that Michelle is also directly responsible for the decline of the honeybee, which is key to the world’s survival.

Assisted by his vulnerable cousin, Don (Aiden Delbis), Teddy kidnaps Michelle and the two men take her to their ramshackle home in the middle of nowhere. They take the precaution of shaving her head and covering her with antihistamine cream – to prevent her from contacting her ‘mothership’. Teddy wants to use Michelle as a bargaining tool with the Andromedan Emperor, so he can negotiate freedom for the human race. But first, Michelle must be interrogated…

It would be a crime to reveal any more about the plot but, once again, I find myself marvelling at Lanthimos’s ability to manipulate me as a viewer, leading me first in one direction, then in an entirely different one before dashing all my assumptions. There are moments here where I have to restrain myself from gasping out loud. Inspired by Save the Green Planet by South Korean filmmaker, Jang Joon-hwan (which I haven’t seen), Bugonia has been adapted by Will Tracey and, in its latter sections, incorporates elements of a high-stakes thriller as Michelle is obliged to use all her considerable skills to stay alive.

Both Stone and Plemons are utterly captivating in the central roles and it’s easy to see why they’ve become members of Lanthimos’s repertory theatre – while there’s something utterly adorable about Delbis as the hapless Don, unable to challenge the commands given to him by Teddy, even when it’s evident that they disgust and confuse him.

But the film’s true triumph is only revealed in a final extended sequence, where Lanthimos brings all the different strands of the story together to create a shattering, thought-provoking conclusion. The director has announced that he’s ‘taking a rest’ after this and, following a run that includes The Favourite, The Killing of a Sacred Deer, Poor Things and Kinds of Kindness, I’d say he’s definitely earned one.

5 stars

Philip Caveney

Film Bouquets 2019

Bouquets&Brickbats

Bouquets&Brickbats

Bouquets&Brickbats

It’s that time again when we award (virtual) bouquets to our favourite films of the year. As ever, the final choice may not always reflect the films that scored the highest at time of viewing, but rather those that have stayed with us most indelibly.

The Favourite (director – Yorgos Lanthimos; writers – Deborah Davis and Tony McNamara)

Capernaum (director – Nadine Labaki; writers – Nadine Labaki, Jihad Hojeily and Michelle Keserwany)

Eighth Grade (writer/director – Bo Burnham)

Booksmart (director – Olivia Wilde; writers – Emily Halperm, Sarah Haskins, Susanna Fogel and Katie Silberman)

Beats (director – Brian Welsh; writer – Kieran Hurley)

Rocketman (director – Dexter Fletcher; writer – Lee Hall)

Animals (director – Sophie Hyde; writer – Emma Jane Unsworth)

Hustlers (director – Lorene Scafaria; writers – Lorene Scafaria and Jessica Pressler)

Joker (director – Todd Phillips; writers – Todd Phillips and Scott Silver)

Monos (director – Alejandro Landes; writers – Alejandro Landes and Alexis Dos Santos)

Honey Boy (director – Alma Har’el; writer – Shia LaBeouf)

Little Women (director – Greta Gerwig; writers – Greta Gerwig and Louisa May Alcott)

 

Philip Caveney & Susan Singfield

 

 

 

 

The Favourite

Emma Stone in the film THE FAVOURITE. Photo by Yorgos Lanthimos. © 2018 Twentieth Century Fox Film Corporation All Rights Reserved

01/01/19

Since 2015’s The Lobster, Greek director Yorgos Lanthimos has established a reputation for quirky and enigmatic films that approach their subject matters from completely unexpected directions. Take The Favourite for instance. This sumptuously dressed costume drama offers us a story that seems as mad as a box of frogs – but it only takes a cursory Google search to establish that most of what happens here cleaves fairly close to established historical truth – proof if ever it were needed that fact can be a lot stranger than fiction. That said, Lanthimos finds ways of amping up the oddness to the max.

We are in the early 18th century, in the court of Queen Anne (Olivia Colman), a troubled monarch plagued by recurring bouts of gout, who wanders about the place like a sulky teenager. She is totally under the control of the manipulative Lady Sarah Churchill (Rachel Weisz), who – as well as being Anne’s secret lover – also uses her to further her strong political ambitions. Into the court comes Sarah’s cousin, Abigail (Emma Stone), whose family have fallen on hard times and who is now looking for gainful employment. Sarah grudgingly takes her in as a servant, but Abigail soon tires of a life of drudgery, and decides instead to insinuate herself into the Queen’s good graces, something she proves to be rather adept at.  It isn’t long before a powerful rivalry is ignited between Sarah and Abigail and it’s clear that both women are prepared to do whatever it takes to gain the upper hand.

Lanthimos manages to convey an atmosphere of cold suspicion beautifully and his regular use of a fish eye lens amplifies the claustrophobic ambiance of this troubled court. The film is built around three superb performances from the female leads, with Colman already nominated for a best actress Oscar, and Stone and Weisz for best supporting actress. Indeed, the three of them dominate the film to such a degree that few of the male characters get much of a look in, though I do enjoy Nicholas Hoult’s sardonic turn as Harley, leader of the Tories, who forms a sneaky alliance with Abigail in order to oust his political opponents from power. Those of a prudish persuasion should note that the film is rumbustious enough to fully earn its 15 certificate – some of the scenes here are a bit saucy, to say the very least.

With a running time of just under two hours, The Favourite positively gallops along, making me laugh out loud and, occasionally, gasp in surprise. It would be very hard to think of a more enjoyable way to begin a new year’s viewing.

4.7 stars

Philip Caveney