I have to acknowledge that I seem to be out of step with more regular reviewers of The Favourite which we watched on Prime after dinner yesterday.
I am not competent to comment on the historical accuracy of this story of the last years of Queen Anne, a very sad eighteenth century English monarch; nor for the depiction of Court life of the period. But maybe that is not the point of the film which focusses on the battle between two women for the position of Royal Favourite.
The three stars of Yorgos Lanthimos’s alleged tragicomedy offer undoubtedly excellent performances. Olivia Colman and Rachel Weisz certainly deserved their awards. Emma Stone was also very good. Unfortunately, although one could sympathise with each of them in their own struggles I found it impossible to like any single character in the film.
It was an assault on the senses, not least for dirge-like banging music(?) and weird cinematography seemingly making use of a fish-eye lens and dizzying panning effects. Tragic, yes. Comic, not for me. Maybe I just don’t find it easy to laugh at people who are struggling.
Today was another of unceasing gloom.
This morning we each took our cameras into the garden at different times.
My pansies were photographed in the front garden, Jackie’s, somewhat nibbled, at the back;
Jackie photographed bright magenta cyclamen while I pictured the stone cherub reclining against the tree trunk beside them;
the first two pelargonium images are Jackie’s;
two more are mine;
The Head Gardener produce her own photos of her pelargonium cuttings in the greenhouse;
she also photographed her stumpery, with watching owls and brown grasses;
vinca;
bergenia;
hebe;
viburnum;
mahonia;
cineraria;
euphorbias Silver edge and Rubra;
and primulas.
I contributed a range of camellias.
Soon after lunch we drove into the soggy forest, where the green at Bramshaw has been ploughed up by the hooves of
mucky sheep;
dismal donkeys;
and mud-caked cattle.
We each photographed a weather vane. Jackie’s bore Father Time,
mine a pair of geese.
A pair of riders road past.
Nearby a robin tweeted to one of a trio of
miniature be-rugged ponies.
Further on, approaching Newbridge we encountered
another herd of cattle. The second of these two photographs of Jackie’s includes a redwing and a crow, two of the avian entourage
accompanying the bovines.
Here is a redwing
and a wagtail.
This evening we dined on Jackie’s spicy chicken Jalfrezi, savoury rice, vegetable samosas, and parathas with which I finished the Garnacha Syrah while the Culinary Queen abstained.