Entertaining story with historical inaccuracies

Rating: 5/10 (9 May 2019)

Queen Anne (Olivia Colman) was the last Stuart monarch, but not for want of trying to produce an heir. She had 17 pregnancies, twelve of which ended in either miscarriages or still births. None of her children survived her, and only one lived as long as his 11th birthday. According to the film, she keeps 17 rabbits as pets for some solace, but this was not historically accurate. Another historical inaccuracy is that the film has her husband, Prince George of Denmark, as deceased, although he did not die until a few years after the year the film begins.
The title actually refers to two women: Sarah Churchill (Rachel Weisz), aka the Duchess of Marlboro and Abigail Hill (Emma Stone), later Baroness Masham. The plot is driven by their struggle to be the favourite of the queen and borrows from All About Eve, and it is loosely based on historical events from 1704 to 1711, although it gives the impression that less time passes than it did historically. The movie is quite entertaining, funny, and beautiful to watch, and it was no surprise that it was nominated for Academy Awards in the director, original screenplay, production design, cinematography, and costume design categories. On the other hand, the dialogue is full of anachronisms, and the costumes are not historically accurate.
At the beginning of the film, Great Britain is in the War of the Spanish Succession with France, and their army is led by Sarah's husband, the Duke of Marlborough (Mark Gatiss). Sarah is effectively acting as regent, making policy decisions while attending to the queen's health, both physical and emotional and becoming her lover. She is allied with the Whigs led by Sidney Godolphin (James Smith), who were in favor of the war with France. Abigail, Sarah's cousin and the daughter of an impoverished nobleman, comes to the palace as a servant, but Sarah takes her under her wing. Abigail endears herself to the queen and eventually displaces Sarah as both the queen's favorite and her lover. She becomes allied with the Tories led by Robert Harley (Nicholas Hoult), who were opposed to the war because, not because of the cost in human lives, but because it required higher taxes.