The Favourite is a very enjoyable, mad tale, webbed in glorious design,

Rating: 9/10 (9 January 2019)

During the early 18th Century, Queen Anne (Olivia Coleman) becomes bedridden from a severe case of gout, while needing to tend to serious matters regarding the war with France. Her confidant; Sarah (Rachel Weisz) tends to the Queen's duties herself and comforts her in an extreme intimate nature. Arriving at the palace is Abigail (Emma Stone) cousin of Sarah who seeks employment , but is degenerately put to work in the slum kitchens where she is forced to sleep in a cramped room with countless others. While Anne is helpless in bed, Abigail sneaks her self into the Queen's favour becoming her new bedroom maid, toppling her friendship with Sarah, and emotively aggravating Sarah.
Within the first moments of the Favourite, I think you immediately decide whether you are on board with it, and I found myself in comfortable arms from the very beginning. In a very quick and witty story, the Favourite is an easily enjoyable and elegant tale, if you are compatible with the world of wigs and mad humour. Slightly far off the tone of Lanthimos previous films, unlike The Lobster (2015), and the Killing of a Sacred Deer (2017), The Favourite is a less challenging and more entertaining watch.
This is systematically brought to life in widely smart and funny script by Deborah Davis and Tony McNamara. The tension and powerplay in the narrative is almost Shakespearian with its wicked ensemble of double crossing. The pleasure of these character's quibble is truly smashing.
The film's true charm is achieved in the love triangle between Queen Anne, Sarah, and Abigail, as both court favourites compete over receiving the Queen's praise and friendship for their own gain. The talents of Coleman, Weisz and Stone are undoubtable expectational, with an exquisite dynamic on screen. Weisz is uptight and tough and an intimidating presence who dominates the film. Although still a confidant, Sarah seems to be really pulling the strings on he political matters. Sarah even walks over the spoilt childlike Anne who roams her palace helplessly shouting at her musicians and cuddling her seventeen rabbits. Coleman's British wackiness seems never out of place. Then Emma Stone; first a sweet and innocent Abigail is sympathetic lead, but gradually reveals only to be a self serving villain herself as she greases herself up to the Queen. Although Coleman's role had been identified as the lead, it feels at times that her presence is mostly overtaken by the performances of Weisz and Stone.
Additionally grand is the film's gorgeous periodical production design, covered in the delicate artwork infested hallways and ballrooms, to the coordinated outdoor gardens and palace landscapes. There is an almost post Barry Lyndon-esc serge that echoes through Robbie Ryan's sharp photography. There are frequent shots of spherical frames twisting the scale of the land, but capturing beautiful texture. With a high contrast with the palace rooms, the film's art direction powerfully embodies it's historical period, almost overwhelmingly so.
The Favourite is a very enjoyable, mad tale, webbed in glorious design, precisely crafted by Yorgos Lanthimos, but it's heart is truly made in the ensemble cast. If his other films are too weird for you, then I think the Favourite will be a much more amusing experience.