Unrewarding and wastes good opportunities

Rating: 3/10 (29 January 2019)

This is not my favourite film. Apparently it's a comedy, but I found it unrewarding and not funny at all. Though perhaps superficially true to the historical facts, it's completely lacking in depth and only "nods" towards its historical background. The War of the Spanish Succession (1701-14) is a backdrop to the film but, absurdly, seems the only public issue in the reign of Queen Anne (Olivia Coleman).
True, there was a triangular relationship between Anne, Sarah Churchill (Rachel Weisz) and Abigail Hill, later Baroness Masham (Emma Stone). However, there seems to be no evidence of a real lesbian relationship between Anne and Abigail, just an allegation by Sarah - who according to evidence could be cold, bossy and vengeful.
The film makes Robert Harley, 1st Earl of Oxford & Earl Mortimer (Nicholas Hoult), look effete and rather effeminate, but he was in fact effectively Anne's First Minister from 1711 to her death in 1714.
The historical figures are, then, pretty crudely drawn. Anne is often caricatured in the film. She seems to have had quite a hard life, with serious ailments - especially gout, which the film doesn't treat seriously - and, as she mentions herself, she lost 17 children. She's also portrayed as prone to alarming mood swings and pompous behaviour, e.g. by exclaiming "I am The Queen" and ordering Abigail only to speak when spoken to. No one would know from this film that she was deeply religious.
The portrayal of Anne reminded me of George III in Alan Bennett's film and the lesbian faded soap actress "Sister George", both in much better dramas. Perhaps "The Favourite" is a film in which "The Madness of King George" meets "The Killing of Sister George".
"The Favourite" wastes some good opportunities. As it's based on real events, it should have exploited them in some detail. At least I found the leading actresses' performances very powerful and was impressed by the film's lighting, which suggests how much an interior depended on natural light from outside. The sound track, however, is rather strange: in a couple of early and late scenes there's a noise like a siren. Some of the dialogue (leaving expletives aside) sounded far more 21st-century than 18th.
Queen Anne would make quite an interesting subject for a serious film. She has a pivotal place in British history, as the last Stuart monarch and the daughter of this country's last Catholic monarch, James II. Parts of her biography could be interwoven on film with scenes from her personal life based on reliable sources.