For the trailer of Harlots, click here.
The Games Women Play: Courts, Courtesans and (Female) Rivalry in The Favourite and Harlots
Set
in 18th century England, both Yorgos Lanthimos’s 2018 British-American
costume drama, The Favourite, and one
of Hulu’s original TV shows, Harlots,
feature strong female characters, while also raising questions concerning competition,
intrigue, and the everlasting pursuit of money and safety. The ladies portrayed
in these productions aim to survive amongst quite diverse conditions, either by
living a decadent, luxurious and squandering life in an exclusively frothy
upper-class society, or through working real hard for each and every shilling at
a Georgian brothel. Neither the court depicted in The Favourite, nor any of the bawdy houses appearing in Harlots is for the faint-hearted, since
these places are surrounded by jealousy, peril and conspiring enemies. In spite
of the rather obvious fact that the male characters are ridiculed and even a
bit neglected in the movie, women are still at their mercy to a certain extent in
each case, while the representation of female rivalry is in the focus of both
stories.
Having
successfully established a rather distinctive and intriguing mode of filmmaking
in his previous movies, such as Dogtooth,
The Killing of A Sacred Deer, and The Lobster (winner of the Grand Jury
prize at Cannes), Lanthimos decided to work on and direct Deborah Davis and
Tony McNamaras’ 1998 screenplay of The
Favourite in 2015. With its original title, The Balance of Power, the script promised a “bawdy, acerbic tale of
royal intrigue, passion, envy, and betrayal,” (Dry) that tells the story of the deeply traumatized
and thus almost childlike monarch, Queen Anne (portrayed by Olivia Colman who
won an Academy Award for Best Actress for his wonderfully lively performance),
and two of her rivalling confidants, her childhood friend, Sarah Churchill,
Duchess of Marlborough (Rachel Weisz), and Sarah’s distant relative, a newcomer
at the court, Abigail Hill (Emma Stone). Harlots,
however, is based on a 2005 book, The
Covent Garden Ladies by Hallie Rubenhold, in which the author brings
sections of Harris’s List of Covent
Garden Ladies into play, thus using the infamous annual directory of
prostitutes to name her characters after real-life sex workers. The show that has run for three seasons so far
(with the promise of an upcoming fourth), is both written and produced by a
female team (lead by Moira Buffini, Alison Owen and Debra Hayward), and tells
the story of two competing bawdy houses of London, the less prestigious and
financially unstable Wells House, located first in Covent Garden, then on Greek
Street in Soho, and the extravagant pastel haven on Golden Square, Quigley House,
frequented by rich yet ridiculous “culls” (costumers).
As
both stories centre around gradual yet still visible female empowerment and its
often painfully brutal backlashes, such as competition, manipulation and
(physical and emotional) abuse, it becomes rather noteworthy that their women
protagonists can only be united temporarily for a more noble and mutually
important cause. In The Favourite, Abigail
arrives to the court, seeking employment, and she first finds herself working
at the scullery, then, after she soothes Queen Anne’s leg with a handmade balm
during an attack of gout, the young woman is offered to be Sarah’s new maid. Although
the focus is on Abigail’s mock weakness through the majority of the film, she
still appears to be more and more cunning, and after getting closer to Anne’s
circle, she starts to play impudently wicked little mind games with her
benefactresses. As the (romantic) relationship between Anne and Sarah seems to
be dysfunctional, disharmonious, and full of quarrels, Abigail aspires to
assert her freshly gained power and thus be the Queen’s new favourite. Inevitably,
however, personal goals and interests clash with both internal affairs and
foreign policy in their story, that – in Abigail’s case, for example – results
in colluding with her malice-bearing opponents. Furthermore, when the otherwise
fairly cold-minded and emotionally distant Sarah realizes that her position at
court and in the monarch’s heart is jeopardized by her cousin, she threatens
Anne with blackmailing, and thus the ongoing battle of will transforms into a
war of wits.
There
are also numerous instances of backstabbing and conspiring against each other in
Harlots, even though the show begins
with the statement that the story sets in 1763, the time when one in five women
was employed in the sex trade, and thus one can expect a portrayal of the
harlot life that is already difficult in itself. Nevertheless, the two
rivalling madams, Margaret Wells (played by Samantha Morton) and her former
bawd, Lydia Quigley (Lesley Manville), bring female competition for fame and
fortune to a new type of fascinatingly unhealthy level. As the three Wells
women, Margaret and her two dazzling daughters, Charlotte (portrayed by Downton Abbey star Jessica Brown Findlay),
the older, who is one of the best-known courtesans in London, and Lucy (Eloise
Smyth), recently introduced to the sex industry, aim to fight off the pressure
caused by Mrs Quigley’s evil machinations, they have to face more trouble than
ever. They have utterly diverse modes of bringing the pastel bawd down, since
Margaret engages in the “warfare” openly, whereas her daughters try to
insinuate themselves into Lydia’s favour. In the second season, Charlotte sends
Quigley to Bedlam (originally called Bethlem Royal Hospital), the dreadful and feared
psychiatric institution in London, where the bawd is locked up and cannot
expect help from anyone. In this respect, it is possible to compare her
seemingly hopeless situation to Sarah’s in the movie, after Abigail poisons Lady
Marlborough, who becomes sick when riding in the forest alone, falls of her
horse and is dragged through the woods, while “collecting” several scars and
other injuries, and then almost ending up as a prostitute, owned by a man.
Therefore, it is quite significant
that overall vulnerability and the possibility of being attacked or hurt
unexpectedly in any way characterizes the general atmosphere of both the movie
and the TV show. Accordingly, traditional femininity is to be left behind in
order to be safe and to move forward in life. Sarah in The Favourite, for instance, often wears pants, knows how to shoot
with a gun and even teaches Abigail to load the pellet and aim, meanwhile, as
it is expected from the wife of Lord Marlborough, she is also adept in the
affairs of the government, and thus is able to help Queen Anne in
decision-making. Although the everyday issues in Harlots do not really involve matters of politics, there are still many
ordinary women who stand up for themselves and abandon one bawdy house and join
the other, looking for a protected shelter, less work and more money. To give
an example, one of the best girls at the Wells House, Emily Lacey (Holli
Dempsey), decides to find a place for herself at Quigley’s at the beginning of
the first episode. She, however, has to regret her slapdash attitude and
ill-considered decision later, when she wants to leave the house and the old
bawd makes men beat her up.
One
of the greatest dissimilarities of the movie and the show results from
distorted power-relations which is best reflected in their depiction of men. The
third season of Harlots leads the
storyline into the realm of the so-called “molly-houses” (brothels for
homosexual male prostitutes), and thus shows that the members of the gay
subculture are just as vulnerable as female sex workers. Despite the fact that
men are present only in the background in The
Favourite, they sometimes appear to be more intriguing and entertaining
than the three female protagonists. Politicians, lords, courtiers and footmen
wear long and carefully curled wigs, heavy makeup, they are as highly feminised
as the “molly boys” in the series. Men can only be the active participants in
matters of governing and finance in these stories, although, for instance, Queen
Anne’s marriage to Prince George of Denmark is altogether missing from the
movie, in spite of the fact that George died only four years after the time of
the setting. Men are not in the story to be love interests, affluent and
arrogant Sir Robert Harley (played by Nicholas Hoult), statesman of the late
Stuart and early Georgian periods, is practically the only noteworthy male
character in the essentially still patriarchal world imagined by Lanthimos.
Also, the Queen seems to let Abigail marry Lord Masham (Joe Alwyn) due to
personal interests, since she wants to be sure that the new favourite stays
beside her and does not lack anything at the palace.
At
the beginning of the movie, Anne longs constantly for Sarah’s company and
approval in certain matters, yet the admired lady claims that “love has
limits,” (The Favourite) to which the
Queen replies angrily that “it should not [have limits],” (ibid.) perhaps implying that she really wants to be loved by at
least one particular person. Consequently, after Abigail appears and acquires the
intimate position of the ever-suffering, gloomy Queen’s new lover, Sarah
realizes that she has to regain Anne’s confidence in order to manipulate her
when making a decision about the fate of the country. Therefore, the old-time
confidant renews their old custom of using playful nicknames when addressing
each other (when alone, the Queen and Sarah are Mrs Morley and Mrs Freeman), but
still, they keep making love and argue like an old couple when one of them is
jealous or neglected. In this respect, their peculiar partnership is rather
similar to the affectionate bond between Margaret Wells and her closest friend,
Nancy Birch (Kate Fleetwood). “Maggie” and “Nance” are like two peas in a pod,
even after Nancy reveals that she has always been in love with Margaret.
Regarding the aforementioned details, it is important to notice that the two
harlots’ relationship lacks the sexual component that exists within the affair
of the Queen and her high-class lady.
Although
there are not many instances of real, unabated affection and tenderness in
these productions, the only significant, outwardly unbreakable and sacred human
connection seems to be between family members. Queen Anne keeps bunnies to try
and somewhat replace the seventeen children she lost, some of whom were
stillborn while some died after a few days after birth. She becomes hysterical,
however, by the mere sight of a group of children playing music in the garden.
Childbearing and mothering also appears in Harlots,
since the most heated arguments usually break out between the three Wells
women, which is specifically telling in a milieu, in which a courtesan has to
leave the brothel if she gets pregnant. It is revealed in one of the latter
episodes that Margaret gave birth to her older daughter when she was still at
Quigley’s, however, the bawd did not send them away, thus altering the dynamic
of the house completely.
Besides
the oddly picturesque and often almost dollhouse-like scenes, there is nothing
specifically and stereotypically feminine in these stories. The Favourite was mainly filmed in
Hatfield House, Hertfordshire and Hampton Court Palace, and, apart from the use
of wide-angle or fisheye lenses and dynamic camera movements, the movie
operates with dark yet almost disturbingly rich colours, thus enhancing a mystical
and quite masculine effect. The creators of Harlots,
however, opted for an impressively colourful aesthetic, and, while the movie
features seemingly contemporary music, the soundtrack of the show contains many
songs in which the vibrating sounds of an electric guitar dominates. Apart from
the occasionally harsh and disturbing music, there are many recurrent symbols
and motifs in the movie and in the series as well, many of them referring to female
powerlessness resulting from societal subjection. Regardless, the Queen and her
beloved ladies in the film, and the harlots of Greek Street and Golden Square
wear spectacular outfits, while swearing, laughing at men, eating, drinking and
abusing other substances as one can. Coarseness, thus, adds a boldly human and
likeable undertone to the otherwise abnormal conditions of these women, while
also making them appear way more masculine and rough than any of the male
characters.
Many
aspects of The Favourite and Hulu’s Harlots can be compared and analysed, especially
since they both aim to portray strong and willing female protagonists in an era
of intrigue, low cleavages and loose morals. Competition as such divides and
ruins some of these women, disregarding age, race or social status; in these
stories, harlot and queen can equally feel like a powerless weakling. In spite
of the fact that Anne is the head of the country in a male-oriented society,
she cannot rule the country properly anymore, since she is traumatized by
losing all of her children, and therefore, being tormented by the lack of an
essentially feminine quality (motherhood) makes her the most childlike and
vulnerable character of the film, whose favour, paradoxically, becomes a matter
of rivalry. Although the third season did not bring the story of Harlots to conclusion, it is rather safe
to claim that the creators of the show regard prostitutes morally superior to
the members of the high society, while also painting a great picture of a
fascinatingly absurd era.
Works Cited:
Buffini, Moira and Alison Newman, creators. Harlots. Hulu, Monumental Pictures, 2017.
Dry, Jude. “Yorgos Lanthimos Wraps Period Piece ‘The Favourite,’
Official Synopsis Hints At Royal-Centric Lesbian Love Triangle”. IndieWire. May 15, 2017. https://www.indiewire.com/2017/05/yorgos-lanthimos-the-favourite-plot-details-revealed-lesbian-love-triangle-1201817231/. Accessed December 28, 2019.
The Favourite. Directed by Yorgos Lanthimos, performances by Olivia Colman, Emma
Stone, Rachel Weisz, and Nicholas Hoult, Fox Searchlight Pictures, 2018.
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