The court of Queen Anne is given a surreal treatment in Greek director Yorgos Lanthimos’s flamboyant, witty and brilliantly acerbic new film The Favourite. Starring Olivia Colman, Rachel Weisz and Emma Stone, the film offers a somewhat revisionist retelling of a story about a lesser known monarch in this genuinely funny, and at times utterly bonkers drama comedy.
Fans of Lanthimos’s recent output will be all too familiar with the director’s rather singular approach to storytelling. From the fantastically entrancing The Lobster, to the genuinely disturbing The Killing of a Sacred Deer, the director has managed to cultivate his own brand of observational cinema by navigating the human condition from a completely new and fresh standpoint.
Set in early 18th century England, The Favourite tells the story of the relationship between an ailing Queen Anne (Colman) and the two women vying for her attention during turbulent times. After years of poor health and personal tragedy, the queen has all but relinquished her royal duties to her dutiful friend, confidante and sometimes lover Lady Sarah Churchill (Weisz), whom she has constantly showers with praise and extravagant gifts.
Pushed by Sarah and her husband Lord Marlborough (Mark Gatiss) to continue with a costly war against the French, Anne suddenly finds herself lambasted by the leader of the opposition, the foppish Lord Harley (Nicholas Hoult), who warns her against a revolt in the countryside if she continues raising taxes to pay for the next military campaign.
