The Favourite
2018 · Directed by Yorgos Lanthimos
Original language: English
- history
- comedy
- drama
The story
England, early 18th century. The close relationship between Queen Anne and Sarah Churchill is threatened by the arrival of Sarah's cousin, Abigail Hill, resulting in a bitter rivalry between the two cousins to be the Queen's favourite.
What it’s like
Fish-eye lenses bend the wide rooms of drafty stately homes, and candlelit interiors sit against cold, grey daylight that spills through tall windows. The palette runs muddy greens, dull ochres and powdered pastels, with lavish costume that looks heavy and itchy. Baroque strings and harpsichord-like figures give way to abrupt silences and jarring modern needle drops, so the mood keeps snapping between formal and absurd. Set in early 1700s England, it follows a queen and two rival cousins vying for her favour, in a sharp, bitchy dark comedy with a cool, observational distance. It moves in brisk, uneven bursts, with long awkward pauses and scenes that turn cruel in an instant. Sexual content and crude humour are frequent and frank, and violence is brief but sudden, including a graphic, startling animal death and a few bloody moments. Nothing is gentle, but the sting is more humiliation than dread. It suits a late, slightly wicked night in, for viewers who enjoy period costume drama with a venomous edge and dry, uncomfortable laughs.
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