Script Analysis: “The Favourite” — Scene By Scene Breakdown

Here is my take on this exercise from a previous series of posts — How To Read A Screenplay:

After a first pass, it’s time to crack open the script for a deeper analysis and you can do that by creating a scene-by-scene breakdown. It is precisely what it sounds like: A list of all the scenes in the script accompanied by a brief description of the events that transpire.

For purposes of this exercise, I have a slightly different take on scene. Here I am looking not just for individual scenes per se, but a scene or set of scenes that comprise one event or a continuous piece of action. Admittedly this is subjective and there is no right or wrong, the point is simply to break down the script into a series of parts which you then can use dig into the script’s structure and themes.

The value of this exercise:

• We pare down the story to its most constituent parts: Scenes.
• By doing this, we consciously explore the structure of the narrative.
• A scene-by-scene breakdown creates a foundation for even deeper analysis of the story.

Today: The Favourite (2018). You may download the script here.

Written by Deborah Davis and Tony McNamara.

IMDb plot summary: In early 18th century England, a frail Queen Anne occupies the throne and her close friend, Lady Sarah, governs the country in her stead. When a new servant, Abigail, arrives, her charm endears her to Sarah.

The Favourite
Scene by Scene Breakdown
By Matthew Oglesby
GoIntoTheStory.com

Pg. 1: A carriage approaches Queen Anne’s palace. Abigail Hill, described as an “open, friendly woman,” notices a military man “with his hand inside his pants, jerking off.” This won’t be your average historical drama. Instead of showing distress, Abigail stares at the man, finally asking, “Must you?” Outside the carriage, soldiers and amputees mill about the palace grounds, letting us know it is wartime. As Abigail exits the carriage, a “man grabs her arse,” causing her to fall in the mud.

Pg. 1–2: With a letter in hand, she gains entrance to the palace kitchen through the servant’s entrance, where she meets Mrs. Meg, the housekeeper. Having read the letter, Abigail follows Meg out of the kitchen and into the palace, where she sniffs herself, embarrassed by her smell. Meg opens a door and tells Abigail to clean herself up before presenting to her Ladyship.

Pg. 2–4: Fumbling through dark curtains, Abigail soon finds herself in a drawing room with Lord Sidney Godolphin, the Duke of Marlborough, and his wife, her Ladyship Sarah Churchill, the Duchess of Marlborough. The housekeeper has played a trick on her. “I didn’t know the new sewer ended in here,” Sarah says. Godolphin and Marlborough laugh and the dynamic is quickly established — Sarah is in control, the power behind the crown. Abigail introduces herself, telling Sarah that they are cousins. She hands Sarah a letter from their aunt. “And you want?” Sarah asks. “I hoped I might be employed here by you,” Abigail says. Sarah gives her a job in the kitchen.

Pg. 4–5: Queen Anne, in her apartments, having just given a speech to Parliament, is worried that she lisped. Like a mother comforting a child, Sarah reassures Anne that she did just fine — a dynamic that the coming events will disturb. Feeling better, the Queen asks Sarah “to say hello to the little ones,” indicating the cages of white rabbits by the windows. Sarah refuses, calling it macabre. “I love you but that I will not do,” she says. “If you love me…” Anne pleads. “Love has limits,” Sarah says. “It should not,” says Anne — a central tension.

Pg. 5: Sarah wheels Anne, in fragile health, through a secret passageway connecting their two rooms. Anne blindfolds Sarah. They bump into walls, laughing. In Sarah’s apartments, Anne removes the blindfold and surprises Sarah with a model of Blenheim Palace, a beautiful house where she will live. Anne’s extravagance, and her delight in witnessing Sarah’s surprise, is in clear juxtaposition to Sarah’s refusal to say hello to the Queen’s rabbits. Anne’s love knows no limits.

Pg. 6–8: Whigs and Tories, men of Parliament, mill about a great hall, drinking and carving meat and racing… ducks. Amid this backdrop, Harley, leader of the opposition Tories and a devious manipulator, chides Sarah on Blenheim Palace, calling it an extravagance during wartime. Sarah quips and jokes, mocking him. Their exchange ends with Harley calling Sarah a cunt. Marlborough and Godolphin then approach. Godolphin is happy that his duck, Horatio, won the race. Harley, ever-serious, addresses Godolphin about a peace treaty with France, and Sarah, again emphasizing her power, responds. “The French are chastened but not defeated. We must destroy them. Make them sue for peace, with broken backs and begging hearts.” “What a sweet wife you have, Marlborough,” Harley says before requesting an audience with the Queen.

Pg. 8: Meanwhile, Abigail’s life is hell: she sleeps in a small stone room crammed with a dozen other women. She bathes in the open, with buckets of cold water thrown on her to rinse.

Pg. 9–10: Sarah waits for Anne in the hall. A footman stands nearby, staring rigidly ahead. Anne exits her room wearing heavy eye makeup. Sarah tells her she cannot meet the Russian ambassador looking like a badger. Anne begins to cry. Sarah comforts her, telling her she will handle the Russian delegation. Anne’s sorrow turns to anger: as she enters her room, she stops and harangues a footman. “Did you just look at me!” He shakes his head and looks at the ground. “Do not avert your eyes! Shut them!”

Pg. 10–11: A kitchen maid, Sally, asks Abigail to scrub the floor. Abigail dips her hand in the bucket, realizing moments later that the water is mixed with lye. It burns and blisters her hand while the other maids laugh. Later, as Abigail washes dishes, Meg runs into the kitchen. “Hurry, get the bandage box. The Queen’s had an attack of gout.”

Pg. 11–13: Abigail and Meg rush to the Queen’s chambers. Anne writhes on the floor, with her leg raised on a chair. A doctor and Sarah stand nearby. Meg and Abigail lay slices of raw beef on the afflicted leg. Anne distracts herself by telling a story about the time she and Sarah first met. The story, though sweetly told, is cryptic and sounds vaguely like an attempted rape. It does the trick, though. The Queen calms and Sarah dismisses Meg and Abigail.

Pg. 14: Back in her stone room with the snoring, farting women, Abigail reaches a breaking point. She steals a horse and rides into the forest, where she gathers herbs. Leaving, she glimpses a handsome young man — Masham.

Pg. 14–17: Returning to the palace, Abigail marches to the Queen’s room, where she convinces the footman on guard to allow her entrance under doctor’s orders. Sarah walks in on Abigail applying the herbs to a sleeping Anne’s legs and orders her whipped. She then wakes Anne: “You must focus. Much is at stake.” As Sarah explains military strategy to Anne, the Queen feels the pain in her leg soothe. Sarah rushes down to the kitchen and orders a halt to Abigail’s whipping.

Pg. 18–19: Having saved her, Sarah questions Abigail about her past. Abigail again reminds Sarah that, despite their vastly different circumstances, they are cousins. Abigail explains that she fell on hard times when her father gambled and lost her in a game of cards, making her the “chattel” of a “balloon-shaped German man with a thin cock,” who she serviced to pay her father’s debt. Sarah hires Abigail as her maid — a turning point.

Pg. 19–24: As Lady Marlborough’s maid, Abigail receives her own room and a new dress. She is at Sarah’s side during a meeting with Godolphin and Harley. Harley is dismayed to see Sarah instead of the Queen, who he requested an audience with. Sarah informs Harley that the Queen has not granted his request: she wishes to continue the war with France. Harley is outraged. Arrogantly, insouciantly, Sarah suggests that the Queen will rely on Harley’s power as leader of the Tories to garner support. “There are limits,” Harley says. “To love of your country?” Sarah asks. “To me there is no limit on that.” Patriotism and love of country — these are Sarah’s animating desires. Harley rushes from the room, incensed. “You are… extraordinary,” Abigail says, amazed.

Pg. 24–25: Abigail and Masham meet briefly in the hallway, where they flirt.

Pg. 25–26: Abigail and Sarah’s friendship develops. Sarah offers Abigail any book in her personal library — a set-up for an important turn in the plot. Meanwhile, Sarah’s husband, Lord Marlborough, commander of the troops, chivalrously leaves for war. In a brief conversation, Queen Anne learns that it was Abigail who soothed her leg with herbs.

Pg. 27–28: Sarah and Abigail shoot pigeons — an untraditional pastime, but then again, Sarah is no ordinary woman. As they shoot, Abigail asks Sarah how she can so bravely send her husband to war. “You have had some blows so desire safety and favour above all else,” Sarah says. “If he dies?” Abigail asks. To which Sarah responds: “Did you not sacrifice your cunt to a fatty German to save your father? There’s always a price to pay. I am prepared to pay it.” Abigail and Sarah’s desires — safety and patriotism — will soon clash as they vie for the Queen’s favor.

Pg. 28–31: Anne is wheeled into a ballroom soiree, thronged with merry guests. Harley approaches, explaining that there should be no new landowner’s tax to fund the war. The Queen listens until Sarah enters and cuts things short. Sarah then dances with Masham — and the Queen watches from her wheelchair until she can stand it no longer. “Stop it! Stop! I would like to back to my room now!” she yells. Before being wheeled away, the Queen turns to Harley and, in an open attempt to anger Sarah, says that she agrees: there will be no new landowner’s tax. Sarah then wheels Anne back to her room, apologizing. Anne slaps Sarah, but they quickly makeup and Sarah races Anne’s wheelchair down the hall, laughing and shrieking. Once in Sarah’s quarters, they begin to have sex — but they are not alone. Abigail is upstairs, borrowing a book from Sarah’s library. She sneaks away, astonished by what she has seen — a critical moment that very subtly shifts the film in a new direction. Abigail now has leverage on Sarah.

Pg. 31–33: As Abigail sneaks out of Sarah’s room, Harley emerges from the shadows. He convinces her to take the night air with him. As they walk the palace grounds, Harley tries to strike up an alliance with Abigail, whereby she feeds him information on Marlborough, Godolphin, and Sarah. Abigail refuses. “Lady Marlborough has been good to me. I will not breach her confidence.” To this Harley replies that the breezes of favour blow this way and that and one cannot have too many friends. When Abigail still refuses, he pushes her down a hill.

Pg. 33–35: Abigail makes hot chocolate for Sarah and the Queen. Sarah tells Anne that she will have to explain to Harley and Parliament that she has changed her mind on the landowner’s tax. Sarah tries to stop Anne from drinking hot chocolate, saying it is bad for her stomach, but Anne protests.

Pg. 35–37: Sarah and Abigail pass the time shooting. Like a good girl, Abigail reports that Harley propositioned her and she denied. “So my secrets are safe with you?” Sarah asks. “All of them,” Abigail says. “Even your biggest one.” Hearing this, Sarah fires a shot in Abigail’s direction, knocking her over. Sarah laughs, playing it off like an accident, but it is clearly a threat.

Pg. 37: Inside, the Queen feeds her rabbits, gorges on cake, and throws up in a bucket. Pining for Sarah, she limps into Sarah’s quarters, finding them empty.

Pg. 37–39: Sarah, Keeper of the Privy Purse, is handling business in the privy purse office. A page boy rushes in and whispers in her ear. Sarah sets aside the ledger and hurries to find the Queen standing on a window ledge. “Aim for the flagstones,” Sarah jokes as she enters the room. “You do not care!” the Queen cries. Sarah pulls her down from the ledge. The Queen begs Sarah to take off the afternoon. “Someone must run things!” Sarah protests, but the Queen is victorious. Sarah agrees to play whist as soon as she finishes business.

Pg. 39–41: Sarah sends Abigail to entertain the Queen. At first, Anne is upset, but then Abigail asks about the Queen’s rabbits. Abigail’s interest — in direct opposition to Sarah’s distaste — curries favor with the Queen. Anne tells Abigail why she has the rabbits: each represents one of the seventeen children she lost. Abigail begins to cry, Anne consoles her, and in this moment the maid becomes the Queen’s friend.

Pg. 41–43: That night, Masham appears at Abigail’s door. They flirt and kiss; their relationship develops.

Pg. 43–44: Sarah and Anne go riding together. Sarah asks the Queen about Abigail. “She was a perfect darling,” Anne says. “Hildebrand really took to her.” “Is that a rabbit?” Anne asks. The Queen, annoyed, rides away.

Pg. 44–47: The Queen and Abigail’s relationship continues to develop as they spend more and more time together. Seeing a small quintet in the courtyard outside the palace, Anne becomes emotional and orders the children to stop playing. She spirals into a sort of temporary madness, meandering the halls, staggering and crying. She tries to take a baby from a courtier’s arms. We realize Anne is not just spoiled and very powerful Queen: she is a broken woman, a mother who has lost her children. After she has calmed, Abigail suggests that they dance. Sarah walks in on them, laughing and having fun.

Pg. 48–49: Sarah and Abigail shoot pigeons on the palace grounds. Sarah says she will not burden Abigail with entertaining the Queen anymore. Sarah responds that she is not bothered at all; in fact, she quite likes the Queen’s company. Sarah insists and Abigail shoots a pigeon as it flies out of the cage, splattering blood all over Sarah’s dress. Everyone is shocked, except Abigail, a reversal of the earlier scene, in which Sarah fired a shot at Abigail. Not only has Abigail developed into a better shooter, her powers have matured, foreshadowing the treachery to come. In the next moment, the Queen’s page approaches Sarah with a note. “The Queen?” Sarah asks. “I will be there directly.” The page looks at the note, then Abigail. “The Queen… asks for… her.” A victory for Abigail. Not only will the country be at war, but so will Sarah and Abigail.

Pg. 49–50: Infuriated, Sarah rushes into the Queen’s apartments. She grabs Anne by the throat and pushes her against a wall. Smiling, she reaches between the Queen’s legs, alternately threatening and arousing her. Servants walk in carrying lobsters, which they plan to race.

Pg. 50–51: Harley trips Abigail as she walks down a dark stairwell. He pumps Abigail for information and this time Abigail spills the beans, betraying Sarah’s trust. “The Queen will announce the doubling of the landholders tax to Parliament,” she confides. Harley is pleased but wants more. Abigail begins to cry. Harley apologizes and Abigail smiles as he walks away.

Pg. 51–52: In Parliament, Harley rises before the Queen speaks. Playing dumb, he praises her decision not to raise the landowner’s tax. “For the doubling of the tax would have been a disaster,” he proclaims. “The fields would have run with blood as the countryside rose up against our city friends.” Anne is shaken, she cannot speak. Eventually she faints.

Pg. 52–53: Meanwhile, in the woods, Masham sneaks up on Abigail. The two flirt and kiss. Abigail, imitating Sarah’s power, dominates Masham. She knees him in the balls and he drops to the forest floor. As he gathers his composure, Abigail tells him she will marry him, “but I will decide if and when that occurs.” She then rides away with his horse.

Pg. 54: The Queen, depressed, sits in the empty Parliament chamber. Sarah and Godolphin agree: the Queen was set-up. Harley knew their plans beforehand.

Pg. 55: Having returned from the woods, Abigail wanders about the Queen’s apartments alone. When the Queen enters, she finds Abigail asleep in her bed. Abigail apologizes and gets out of bed. She is naked. The Queen watches as she dresses and leaves the room.

Pg. 55–56: That night, a footman appears at Abigail’s door, summoning her to the Queen’s room. The Queen asks Abigail to rub her legs. Soon she is between them — her victory complete.

Pg. 56–57: Meanwhile, Godolphin delivers a letter to Sarah. The letter is from Marlborough: the battle will begin soon. Sarah, distressed by the news, takes the secret passageway to Anne’s apartments, but instead of finding comfort she finds Abigail in bed with the Queen.

Pg. 57–58: The next day, when Abigail enters Sarah’s quarters, Sarah begins to throw books at her, ostensibly searching for a book she has lost. Abigail tries to explain, but Sarah cuts her short. “You are a pretty little liar that I have misjudged,” she says. “You are dismissed from my service.”

Pg. 58: Desperate, Abigail must do something to save herself. In the hall, she slaps herself over and over with a book until blood runs from her nose. The Queen hears crying in the hall. She finds Abigail on the floor, bleeding.

Pg. 59–60: As the Queen is carried across the palace courtyard to a carriage, Sarah mentions that Abigail has been dismissed from her service. The Queen, however, reminds Sarah who is the boss. “She is my servant, she is not dismissed,” Anne says. “I have made her my Maid of the Bedchamber.” Abigail awaits the Queen in the carriage, a smile on her lips.

Pg. 60–61: As they leave the palace grounds, Abigail and Anne encounter protesters in the streets, who shout obscenities, blaming the Queen for the continuing war. Abigail sings to distract her.

Pg. 61–62: Anne soaks in a large tub of bubbling mud while Abigail sits by her side. Sarah walks in, having decided to join them. She asks Abigail to fetch refreshments, but Abigail refuses, to which Sarah can do nothing. Instead she dips herself in the mud with the Queen and they trade inside jokes, drawing mustaches on their faces with the mud. Abigail is annoyed.

Pg. 62: Anne sleeps in the carriage on the way back to the palace. Sarah leers at Abigail. “You will be back in the streets,” she silently mouths, ratcheting up the stakes for Abigail.

Pg. 62–64: Back at the palace, Sarah invites Anne back to her apartments for sherry. Once they are alone, Sarah is candid: “You are enjoying all of this, aren’t you?” “To be beloved?” the Queen asks. “Of course. To see you trying to win me? Why, what is not to love, my dear?”

Pg. 64–65: Meanwhile, Abigail sits with Masham in her bedroom. She speaks to herself revealingly: “Perhaps because of my past, perhaps because of some malformation of my heart… I must take control of my circumstance. I will need to act in a way that meets the edges of my morality.” Masham tries to speak, but Abigail shushes him, again demonstrating her dominance.

Pg. 65–66: The next day, Abigail brushes the Queen’s hair in Anne’s apartments while Sarah sits nearby. The Queen asks Sarah to “Pat the kids hello,” indicating the rabbits. Sarah understands this is a test and reluctantly complies. When she returns, Abigail offers tea, to which both Anne and Sarah agree. While making the tea, Abigail crushes Lily of the Valley flowers into Sarah’s cup. Sarah drinks it. Afterward, the Queen and Sarah argue over the landowner’s tax and Sarah leaves, taking a horse into the woods.

Pg. 66–67: While in the woods, the poison overcomes her. She falls from her horse, unconscious.

Pg. 67–69: Back at the palace, the Tories are gathered in a drawing room, throwing pomegranates at a fat naked man who tries to dodge the exploding fruits. Amid this spectacle, Abigail speaks to Harley. Harkening back to an earlier conversation, she propositions him: “I will get you an audience with the Queen if you ask her a favour for me.”

Pg. 69: The horse continues to trot through the dark woods, dragging Sarah behind. In the forest we see a man and woman bent over a tree. Seeing Sarah and the horse, the couple pull up their pants.

Pg. 69–70: The next day, on the palace lawns, Harley walks beside the Queen, explaining that they are in an untenable position, the French will bleed them dry, the people hate the war. This resonates with the Queen, as she recalls the protests in the streets and in particular a man with one eye, who scared her. Having planted these ideas, Harley then turns the conversation to Abigail. “It seems Colonel Masham has fallen for her, he wishes to marry,” he says. “But she is a maid,” the Queen says. Harley puts in a good word. This, we understand, is Abigail’s favour: marriage to Masham will make her a lady and secure her safety no matter what Sarah does.

Pg.70–71: With Sarah still missing, Godolphin suggests a search party. The Queen refuses, believing that Sarah is playing games with her.

Pg. 71: Meanwhile, Sarah awakes in a brothel. She tries to leave, but a woman named Mae subdues her with whisky, saying she must rest. Elsewhere in the room, a couple openly screws.

Pg. 71–72: Back at the palace, the Queen awakes in the night, terrified for Sarah’s safety. She summons the footman to bring her to Sarah’s apartments, but Sarah is not there. Godolphin sends a search party with torches into the woods.

Pg. 72–74: As the search continues, Godolphin and Harley brief the Queen on the war. Godolphin begs for action — funds, men. Harley argues for waiting. Anne, unaccustomed to dealing with this, doesn’t know what to say. Finally Abigail, who is sitting nearby, feeding fruit to Godolphin’s duck, intercedes on Harley’s behalf. Godolphin storms away, defeated without Sarah’s influence in the room.

Pg. 74–76: Sarah again tries to leave the brothel. Her face is badly bruised and slashed. She looks awful. Mae refuses to let her leave. “You still owe me,” she says. “You can suck for your supper from now on.” Sarah tells Mae to find a man with a duck — Godolphin — at the Hyde Park fountain, where she knows he will be. He will give her ten gold sovereigns — and, we understand, save Sarah.

Pg. 76–77: Back at the palace, Anne continues to worry. She lays in bed, sick and feverish. Abigail sits with her, a cold compress on her head. “She saved me my whole life,” Anne says. “Without her I am nothing.” Abigail tries to console the Queen, telling her Godolphin’s men will find her. Inspired by her kindness, Anne decides that Abigail should marry.

Pg. 78–79: Abigail and Masham say their vows and are married in a chapel, with only Anne and Harley in attendance.

Pg. 79: Abigail and Masham retire to her room following the small ceremony. Masham lies on the bed, partly naked, while Abigail stares out the window, lost in thought. “Where could she have gone?” she asks herself. Masham protests: “I am hard as a rock and it is my wedding night!” Abigail gives Masham a hand job while she continues to talk about Sarah, dwelling on her absence, preparing herself.

Pg. 80: Godolphin rescues Sarah from the brothel and updates her on the state of affairs: “The Queen is considering a peace treaty offer to the French… and Harley suddenly has her ear.”

Pg. 80–82: A serene scene as the ladies, Abigail among them, sip tea in a drawing room. Suddenly Sarah barges in, slashed and battered. She orders everyone except Abigail to leave. Abigail tries to back pedal and apologize: “I could not just stand by and let you destroy me… But it is over now. I have won, I am safe. We do not need to fight anymore.” Sarah slaps her three times hard, knocking her to the ground.

Pg. 82–85: Having seen Abigail, Sarah now visits the Queen. Anne is relieved to see Sarah but frightened by her face. Sarah begs the Queen to send Abigail away, calling her a viper, but Anne refuses. “You always said I needed too much love from you. Now with you both I have enough.” Harley and Godolphin interrupt with an urgent update from the front: Marlborough is ready, he has the French outflanked, but he needs a garrison — which the Queen has already prepared. Sarah is impressed. Harley and Godolphin leave. Alone again, Sarah begs the Queen to listen to her, but the Queen firmly refuses. “Enough! You must be as I wish you to be now. Do you understand?”

Pg. 85–86: Sarah turns to blackmail. The next morning, she shows the Queen a bundle of their old letters, which contain sordid details. “What if say that son of a bitch Jonathan Swift got them? In his newspaper the next day? You would be ruined.” “Ruin me?” says Anne. “You would do that?” “You have no idea what I would do for my country. And for you,” Sarah says, affirming that she will use the letters unless the Queen announces tax hikes and banishes Abigail.

Pg. 87: Back in her room, Sarah, with tears in her eyes, throws the letters into the fire. It was an empty threat. A courtier appears at her door, informing her that the Queen has requested she return her key and vacate court.

Pg. 87–88: Outraged, Sarah takes the secret passageway to the Queen’s chamber. She knocks on the door. The Queen, inside, ignores her pleas. “I must attend to my duties,” she says and leaves the room.

Pg. 89: In Parliament, the Queen announces peace with France. She demotes Godolphin and promotes Harley.

Pg. 89: Servants and footmen pack Sarah’s room. Abigail stands nearby with a key around her waist. She is moving in.

Pg. 90: Sarah hesitates in the carriage as Anne watches from the window. After a moment, she leaves.

Pg. 90: Abigail, intoxicated with victory and with wine, revels at a dinner party. Masham watches as she sits on a soldier’s lap. A courtier approaches, whispers in her ear.

Pg. 91: Anne sits alone in her apartments, bent over papers with a magnifying glass. Abigail stumbles in, drunk. The Queen asks for a leg massage. Abigail consents, but soon grows sick, throws up in a vase, and falls asleep.

Pg. 92–93: Sarah sits with Godolphin at her Southampton house. Godolphin tells her about the peace treaty brokered with France and the Queen’s health. He suggest that Sarah mend things with the Queen. Sarah considers it.

Pg. 93–95: Anne, in poor health, sits slumped over in a chair, dozing as members of her cabinet squabble around her. Harley suggests that perhaps, now that the war is finished, Lord Marlborough should step down as head of the forces. Godolphin protests. Anne waves everyone away, telling them she is tired. Godolphin, however, stays behind. He tells the Queen that he has seen Sarah and says that she is writing a letter of apology. The Queen feigns indifference.

Pg. 95–96: Harley and Abigail walk the palace gardens. With Lord Marlborough soon returning, Harley explains that Sarah could return to court soon. He suggests that Abigail drip poison in the Queen’s ear about Lord Marlborough. Abigail agrees.

Pg. 96: From her Southampton house, Sarah tries to write Anne a letter. One attempt after another she tosses onto the floor.

Pg. 96–98: Anne, in her apartments, frantically searches the mail. When Abigail asks what she is looking for, the Queen lies and says a fabric piece from her cousin in Florence. Abigail assures her that it will arrive soon and then turns conversation to the ledger, suggesting that Sarah, while she was Keeper of the Privy Purse, cooked the books and illegally funneled money to herself and her husband. Anne does not believe her. Abigail, apprehending that she has gone too far, tries to backpedal, saying that she might be mistaken.

Pg. 99: Abigail sits drinking tea in her quarters. A servant enters carrying a tray of mail. Abigail thumbs through it, finds a letter from Sarah, reads it, and with tears in her eyes, tosses it in the fire.

Pg. 99–100: Anne, in her apartments, again searches the mail, tossing one letter after another to the side. Abigail suggests that maybe her cousin’s fabric was lost in the mail. She angrily sends a footman to make sure all of the mail has been accounted for.

Pg. 100–101: Anne, propped in a chair and surrounded by hot chocolate and cake, tries to focus as Godolphin, Harley, and a group of politicians argue around her. Harley brings up Lord Marlborough and the Queen snaps: “He is stealing from me!” She turns to Abigail, who confirms. The Queen banishes Lord Marlborough and Sarah.

Pg. 101: Sarah and Lord Marlborough watch as a group of armed men and a bailiff approach their Southampton house on horseback.

Pg. 101–102: Anne, in bed, watches Abigail sitting in a chair by the window, drinking tea. A rabbit approaches and Abigail traps it underfoot, unaware that the Queen is watching. Horrified, the Queen rolls out of bed, landing heavily on the floor and startling Abigail. Abigail rushes to help her up. “How dare you touch the Queen like that,” Anne says, leaning on a wall. Abigail, confused, apologizes, but the Queen interrupts: “I did not ask you to speak. My leg. Rub it.” Abigail drops to her knees. The Queen grabs a handful of her hair and pulls it. In pain, Abigail rubs the Queen’s leg and looks at the cage full of rabbits, realizing that she, too, is trapped.

Writing Exercise: I encourage you to read the script, but short of that, if you’ve seen the movie, go through this scene-by-scene breakdown. What stands out to you about it from a structural standpoint?

If you’d like a PDF of the The Favourite scene-by-scene breakdown, go here.

Kudos to Matthew Oglesby for doing today’s breakdown.

To see 100+ screenplay scene-by-scene breakdowns, go here.