The Riverview Theater, still going strong about 38 years after I first darkened its door, for a showing of Ordinary People, must be working the Oscar buzz because, walking out with my favorite teenager after last night's 7:00 screening of The Favourite, the line had formed for Bohemian Rhapsody at 9:15. Said favorite teen was fortunate to be accompanied by a mature adult as, from what I saw in The Favourite and what I've heard about Bohemian Rhapsody, there's somewhat more gay sex in the early 18th-century costume drama than in the film featuring Freddie Mercury.
And they're girl gay! Including the queen of England! The ridiculous fellows are all in the background as the power girls work the sides of their triangle of love, power, and influence, betraying one another and evoking the cliché "not an ounce of pity." It's plenty funny, however. The horny queen (played by the Oscar-winner, Olivia Colman) has decisions of state to make but her bigger problem is the gout. One of the bits of repartee I can remember occurs when one of the ridiculous fellows accosts one of the other anti-heroines, the one played by Emma Stone, in her chambers:
Her: Are you here to seduce me or rape me?
Him: I'm a gentleman!
Her: [Sighing as she reclines, adjusting her dress] Rape then.
Directed by Yorgos Lanthimos (The Lobster), with Rachel Weisz in the third starring role. Highly recommended. I noticed that Jonathan Swift is dropped into a line of dialog--it was his time, but, more than that, the movie recalls his pitiless laughter:
This Maxim more than all the rest
Is thought too base for human Breast:
In all Distresses of our Friends
We first consult our private Ends. . . .
Dear honest Ned is in the Gout,
Lies rack'd with Pain, and you without:
How patiently you hear him groan!
How glad the Case is not your own! . . .
Vain human Kind! Fantastick Race!
Thy various Follies, who can trace?
Self-love, Ambition, Envy, Pride,
Their Empire in our Hearts divide:
Give others Riches, Power, Station,
'Tis all on me an Usurpation.
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