The Favourite

Rating: 9/10 (1 December 2019)

The Favourite is from director Yorgos Lanthimos, and takes place within the backdrop of 18th century England, where we follow an ageing, frail Queen Anne (Olivia Coleman), whose affections are fought for by close friend, Sarah (Rachel Weisz), and Sarah's cousin, Abigail (Emma Stone), whom begins to work under Anne as her servant.
The Favourite entails a mixture of different genres, creating great variety. It mostly stands as a dark comedy, however, it never acts afraid to subtly arise itself as an intense thriller neither, nor is it to distinguish itself a romantic tale. Nevertheless, The Favourite is compelling at its core, and completely subverts the stuffy, pretentious nature commonly associated with royal period pieces.
The Favourite acquires stunningly rich attention-to-detail in its presentation, as Lanthimos adds great personality to the film, as well as voicing it with a sense of wonder and passion, in addition to having a strong even balance of maintaining the constant shift in tone throughout the film. The Favourite also looks aesthetically great, as the cinematography is wonderful, most of it based solely in the impressive techniques Robbie Ryan used in order to shoot the film largely with the usage of natural or candle lighting.
The Favourite features an wide range of talent in its cast, Olivia Coleman being the most scene-stealing, watchable of them all for me, however, Rachel Weisz made a strong turn as the films primary antagonist, and not only did Emma Stone's British accent work near flawlessly, but the progression that both she and the writing showed in her character was highly impressive.
The Favourite is also written with marvellous talent, as well as being paced and edited together skilfully, consisting of a soundtrack made up of classical music that complimented the visuals, and featuring very competent production and costume designs that bought the frame of time within the film to life increasingly more.
The Favourite was only problematic for me in two areas, as some fish-lens angles that were used didn't exactly work well for me, and the music was used to a repetitive extent, only very occasionally however, and none of this detracted The Favourite's level of brilliance for me in anyway. Its unarguably one of 2018's most well-made films, its often funny, its often intense, its always riveting, it has great things to say about the concept of empowerment and how fighting the obtainment of it can sometimes override our basic human dignity. On the whole, I can strongly recommend it.