SYNOPSICS
The Favorite (1989) is a English movie. Jack Smight has directed this movie. F. Murray Abraham,Maud Adams,Amber O'Shea,James Michael Gregary are the starring of this movie. It was released in 1989. The Favorite (1989) is considered one of the best Adventure movie in India and around the world.
At the dawn of the 19th century, a young French woman is kidnapped and forced into a sultan's harem in Turkey. Fiercely independent, she resists, but must make choices in order to survive. She begins to influence the sultan toward more fair manners of solving his conflicts, but finds herself at odds with another of his wives, who wants her son Mustafa to become the new sultan. As the years pass, she must deal with the new sultan's advances while protecting her adopted son Mahmud, and helping the Sultanate against the Russians who have modern weapons.
Same Actors
The Favorite (1989) Reviews
I Liked This Little Known Movie
Years ago I saw this as a late night movie, and have remembered it since. It is a haunting story. It begins with a flash-forward, an abduction of a priest. The rest of the move is a flash-back, explaining why he is abducted. A British woman is on a ship which is attacked by Muslims and taken captive, then sold to be in the harem of the king. The plot includes palace intrigue, loss of innocence and freedom, rules and resistance, jealousy and hate, war and death, survival and double cross, an unlikely romance, the bonds of love and devotion. I seem to remember that the story has some basis in historical fact, and would like to know more about that. Even having seen the movie only the one time, it was so unique and compelling that I recall the story and details to this day. Adult themes: Not a movie for children, but they are being exposed to worse. (I'm pleased to have found this movie on your list, since it is not well known.)
Shot on location in Istanbul, this historical drama has superb music and well-crafted, sensitively portrayed characters.
A captivating, straight-from-the-heart historical drama, based on a true story. Features a beautiful film score (by William Goldstein II) and authentic scenery (the movie was shot on location in Istanbul). The characters are well crafted and sensitively portrayed. Foremost among the acting performances, which are all outstanding and convincing, is that of F. Murray Abraham (perhaps best known for his role as Salieri in Amadeus). He portrays the old sultan Abdu'l-Hamid, who buys a French schoolgirl for his harem and renames her 'Nakhshadil', unaware of the profound effect she will later have on his country. The French schoolgirl, Aimee Dubucq de Rivery, is played by actress Amber O'Shea in a down-to-earth manner that some viewers may not appreciate; nevertheless, her portrayal of Aimee is endearing and plausible. The character of Aimee was not meant to be portrayed as a larger-than-life heroine, but rather as a culturally-displaced spoiled brat who was forced to grow up and take charge of her life in order to survive in the more primitive, oppressive Ottoman society. Maud Adams skillfully portrays Abdu'l-Hamid's jealous wife, Sineperver. James Michael Gregary stars as the handsome but naive successor to the throne, Selim, who becomes romantically involved with Aimee yet fails to heed her warnings about the need for political reforms and the elimination of the troublesome elite guard known as the Janissaries. Ron Dortch brings to life the complex character of Tulip, a eunuch who is the second most powerful official in the Ottoman Empire (after the Sultan). The interactions of these individuals take place amidst Ottoman royal court intrigues as Western European influences begin to have a major impact.
Nobel Prize for worst acting
If there has ever been a movie with worse acting, I have not seen it. And I don't think it's possible. The only thing this "film" is good for is if you build some kind of drinking game around it: drunk people might be amused; sober people will be appalled. A high school student with an iPhone and untalented friends could have made a better movie. I watched it because of F. Murray Abraham's name. Which makes me think that F. Murray and I have something in common. We both have experiences in our past which make us cringe, They might, perhaps, have had a good script. It's actually not terrible. In the hands of a qualified director this might -- might -- have been a good film. So I can see how F. Murray or his agent could have read the script and given this a go, without any idea of how bad the other actors might be, or how badly directed the film would be. But I wouldn't have wanted to be that agent when F.Murray saw the finished project!!!
Should be high on lists of Worsts
What I saw was a throwback to cliché-cluster flicks of decades ago, but the soundtrack puts it firmly in the eighties. It is thumpingly and enormously awful, as wretched and phony a film as could be conceived. Tittering harem ladies a'bathing, stern Turks delivering script bits from the 100 Most Popular Stock Lines for the genre. They might as well have gone beyond the scattered skin peeks to a fuller soft-core intention -- all pillow-plush and pleasures in the sultan's palace, because that's already the quality/ambiance/performance level of much of this thin 'n cheesy production. The producers may have scored the perfectly suited shooting location, but much else in the movie seems to be reaching for the furthest reaches of inauthenticity. Admissions: There is amusement, even delight, in encountering something so consummately lame, in wondering who could work on it and think for a moment this embarrassment should be taken seriously. I really did laugh out loud a few times at this painfully acted, double-dreadfully written, obliviously directed caricature. Maybe I WOULD view a portion of it again, preferably with someone else. "Look!...watch this! Watch!" And..I only made it through the early half. Turned away easily without even the tiniest rhinestone of regret. (A bug buzzing by in the living room could be diversion enough from this bungle.) Could be...could be that when it moved deeper into violence and intrigue, into dramatic seizures(!) of fate and steering of history, it took a turn toward something more engaging and more plausibly presented. Could happen...right?
this movie is wonderfully bad
This film has all the trappings of a B movie. The costuming is remarkably bad (there's tulle and lame everywhere), the acting is hokey, and the writing a little less than mediocre. But I _love_ this film nonetheless. I own it and watch it every now and again. I enjoy the cheesiness, and it's best enjoyed with a friend or two over drinks and hearty commentary and giggles. It's a wonderful orientalist film with glitter and glam mixed with quite a bit of fantasy. It is based on a true story, and I am surprised every time to see it was actually filmed at Topkapi palace.