"These are a few of my favourite things."

Rating: 9/10 (12 January 2019)

Needing to go to Birmingham,I decided to look at what was screening at the oldest working cinema in the UK:The Electric. Finding that two movies had the same start time, (the other being Mary Poppins Returns (2018)) I was pleased when out of left-field fellow IMDber timshelboy recommended the other title to me,which led to me finding out if this would be one of my favourite first viewings of 2019.
View on the film:
Signalling the corridor the film will be walking down with the very good Mark Gatiss of The League of Gentlemen and James Smith from The Thick of It and In The Loop being given prominent supporting roles, auteur director Yorgos Lanthimos and cinematographers Robbie Ryan & Stephen Murphy playfully retain the elegance of the Costume Drama, whilst undressing it of the self-importance usually featured in the genre. Incredibly lighting the night time scenes with just candlelights, Lanthimos and Ryan (with Murphy stepping in when Ryan took a break after his dad died) shine a grotesque atmosphere in the darkness, from the pulled faces of Abigail and Lady Sarah eyeing up in the shadows secrets to one-up each-other. Determined to not use Steadicam to follow the trio down the corridors of the lavish Hatfield House location, Lanthimos bask in brisk natural lighting eye the power-play unfolding in ultra-stylised gimbal rigs wide-lensed winding shots spanning the huge rooms and subtly bringing Sarah and Abigail's feud down to size against a regal backdrop.
Playing fast and loose with the real events, ( Queen Anne had a husband, who does not feature in the movie) the screenplay by Deborah Davis and Tony McNamara, (main writer of wonderful Aussie TV series Puberty Blues)flies in with wickedly jet-black comedy dialogue and macabre physical comedy leaving Sarah blood-splattered. Modernising the language used, the writers take great care for it to be a natural fit, as the modern swearing digs into the poisonous state the relationship between Anne, Sarah and Abigail becomes. Surrounding Queen Anne with her rabbits/ "children", the writers gradually place the surrealist fur of Lanthimos's other works (this being the first of his directed films he has not written) by opening the cages to excellent, brittle battle between Sarah and Abigail in who can become top dog/the royal pet.
Looking unrecognisable, Olivia Colman gives an outstanding performance as Queen Anne,who Colman has bellow with pain and anger from the minimal power she still holds. Reuniting with Colman and Lanthimos from The Lobster (2015), Rachel Weisz gives an intense, expressive performance as Lady Sarah, whose "friendship" with Anne is captured by Weisz with a plastic smile, and a viper spit towards Abigail's power-play. Hiding her US accent under regal clothes, Emma Stone gives an excellent turn as Abigail, thanks to Stone nailing Abigail's attempt to present a refined image, while ruthlessly fighting to become the new favourite.