'Oh it is fun to be Queen sometimes!'

Rating: 6/10 (7 March 2019)

Greek director Yorgos Lanthimos has directed dance videos, television commercials, music videos, short films, theater plays and a few movies. He has a strange view of history and finds the secrets and bad habits of 18th century England under the brief rule of the gouty, slightly mad (in the film's stance) Queen Anne and with the screenplay by Deborah Davis and Tony McNamara we have an entirely unique view of England's royalty and court manners (or lack of them).
The production company offers a rather clean overview of the "story" - 'Early 18th century. England is at war with the French. Nevertheless, duck racing and pineapple eating are thriving. A frail Queen Anne (Olivia Colman) occupies the throne and her close friend Lady Sarah (Rachel Weisz) governs the country in her stead while tending to Anne's ill health and mercurial temper. When a new servant Abigail (Emma Stone) arrives, her charm endears her to Sarah. Sarah takes Abigail under her wing and Abigail sees a chance at a return to her aristocratic roots. As the politics of war become quite time consuming for Sarah, Abigail steps into the breach to fill in as the Queen's companion. Their burgeoning friendship gives her a chance to fulfill her ambitions and she will not let woman, man, politics or rabbit stand in her way.'
What actually happens on the screen is naughty, spicy, indulgent and colorful X-rated survey of the sexually discordant reign of Queen Anne. Not only is there excessive raw language (were those words even in the vocabulary in the 18th century?) and considerable acting out of various forms of sensual release and nudity, but the pace is spinning, accompanied by an at times unbearably raucous 'musical score' (except for the actual insertion of classical tunes) by Komeil S. Hosseini. Granted, Olivia Colman has the work's version of Queen Anne down pat, including the post CVA weakness in her left side at film's end, and both Emma Stone and Rachel Weisz make their strange roles credible (well...?...). They are supported by James Smith as Godolphin, Nicholas Hoult as Harley and Joe Alwyn as Masham, as well as some of the most beautiful castle interiors - in lush color and bizarre lens distortion - on film.
The film feels much longer than two hours, but then the time spent on the sexual proclivities maintains a strange sort of voyeurism-type attention. A funky look at Olde England...Oscar worthy?, meh...