How is this film so highly rated?

Rating: 4/10 (24 February 2019)

This film is just so incredibly boring to watch, that's it's first and worst offence. At least films like The Room and Birdemic are entertaining. Me and a friend of mine went to a private screening in London, just me and him and we constantly had to joke around and crack wise to stop ourselves from falling asleep. Other than that the acting feels very weird, like it did in the Lobster, difference is here that this is supposed to be based in reality and on true events so it just comes off as bad. There's a lot of randomly sexual scenes throughout as well, I like a roll in the hay as much as the next guy but every other scene there's just people having it off for no particular reason, either in the background or front and centre for all to see. The film looks stunning at times with the sets being a true spectacle and the framing of the actors and locations being near masterful but sometimes the camera does this very weird and disorienting pan and it just ruins it. The film also has virtually no plot, there's obviously the film's namesake of the characters fighting for the affections of Olivia Coleman's queen but it all feels very inconsequential due to the film's very abrupt and pretentious ending. The film also has a subplot about the war which serves to shift peoples loyalties but is far too focused on and drawn out for such a simple task. The film's humour also almost exclusively boils down to posh people swearing which is somewhat amusing the first couple times but it loses it's novelty very quickly. The only good things I can say about the film are that it's set design and costume department are beautiful along with it's use of natural lighting and static cinematography. Can't give it any more than a 4 out of 10 I'm afraid and that's being generous.