The meaning of the film “The Favorite” highlights the events taking place in England in the XVIII century. Times are hard and unsettled. Officially, Queen Anne rules, but in reality, power is concentrated in the hands of her favorite, Sarah.
The plot of the film The Favorite
France has a protracted war against England. The head of the Marlborough troops is the husband of the queen’s favorite, Sarah.
At that time, Anna was the queen of France – a middle-aged woman who had been suffering from gout for a long time, having stomach problems, a tendency to gluttony, and a weak psyche. Her only consolation was the rabbits that lived right in the palace chambers, in cages. There were 17 of them, according to the number of miscarriages – the dead children of the unfortunate queen.
About favorite Sarah
The queen’s favorite or mistress was her childhood friend, Sarah. A strong-willed, cold-blooded woman who took upon herself the burdens of royal rule, which her friend, the sickly Queen Anna, asked her to do. Sarah tried to alleviate the condition of the patient, sat with her at night when she had attacks of gout, stopped and consoled her during despair, when the queen tried to commit suicide by jumping out of the window.
About Sarah’s cousin Abigail
One day, a cousin, Abigail, comes to Sarah from the village. She is the daughter of an impoverished lord. Sarah takes her into the palace as a servant, but Abigail is an ambitious and scheming pretender. She gradually rubs herself into the confidence of the queen, becomes her mistress.
When the positions at the court have strengthened, Abigail takes revenge on her cousin for humiliation, pours poison into tea. Sarah rides a horse, under the influence of poison falls from the saddle and the horse drags her along. She is rescued by a woman from a brothel. Sarah finds a way to let her ally know where she is, and he helps her get back to the palace. During Sarah’s absence, Abigail marries her military lover.
Sarah returns to the palace, to the queen, but her heart and bed are firmly occupied by her cousin. The latter seeks the expulsion of Sarah, later her husband, the Marlborough commander, is considered guilty of embezzling 7 thousand state money. The Queen intends to exile Marlborough with a former favorite from England.
queen’s epiphany
The queen is heartbroken and disappointed in Sarah, but seeing how Abigail stepped on her pet rabbit, she realizes that she cannot be trusted either. A much ill woman, although she appointed a member of the opposition to a leading position, whom Abigail recommended, spying for him, but decided to stop the war between England and France. The Queen did not double taxes on land. Such a sharp increase in taxes could provoke a civil war.
What is the meaning of the film The Favorite?
The moral of the film is that queens can do anything, but they should not trust anyone, not even their favorites. You need to deal with state affairs on your own, you can’t overly trust and shift the solution of important state problems to a lady, but a woman with her own ideas, which is good for England.
Sarah subconsciously wanted her husband, the commander of the English army, to defeat the French and rise. Sarah did not care that the people were tired of the war, exorbitant taxes. You can act as queen, but that doesn’t make her queen. She has a hard and hardened heart.
Abigail’s example shows that blood ties often mean nothing to people. She easily framed her cousin, Sarah. She poisoned her with her own hands and achieved expulsion from England. The film teaches you not to trust even the closest relatives, especially when there is inequality of property and different social status between you.
Abigail was jealous of Sarah for having the power, love, and favor of the queen. The film shows that envy, the desire to end poverty, regain the title and high status in society, are pushing for crimes against relatives by blood and people who love and trust.
The film teaches that people in power cannot be completely trusted in anyone and rely on someone in solving important state affairs. Everyone hides something, deceives and betrays when it is beneficial for them and because of base feelings, complexes, secret bad desires to rise, get rich, become an influential member of society.
The meaning of the ending of the film The Favorite
At the end of the film, the queen realized that Sarah really loved her in her own way and protected her from the heavy burden of power, helped to cope with state affairs. Abigail is different, she is not capable of such help. She will rather continue to weave intrigues, succumb to someone else’s influence, follow her base desires to humiliate, slander, trample someone.
Sarah realized that Abigail was not as good a person as she pretended to be. Despite her many illnesses, the queen decided to govern England on her own. In the last scene, when Abigail helps Anna get up from the floor and she rests her hand on her head, Abigail suddenly becomes scared, she understands that this woman has figured her out and will not be a weak-willed puppet in her hands.
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