Offbeat tale of palace intrigue, but the three lead actresses are great.

Rating: 8/10 (31 December 2018)

The reign of Queen Anne in the early 1700's must be one of the least well-known segments of British history. We have loads of movies to choose from about Elizabeth I, Victoria, the Henrys, Richard III, and so on. But Queen Anne? I went into this movie knowing about as much as anyone else about her era -- in other words, nothing. At first, I thought this one was more in the line of a historical fantasy, but it turns out (relying on Wikipedia) that it's largely historically correct. Anne (played by Olivia Colman) did indeed have Lady Marlborough (Rachel Weisz) as a politically influential confidante, they did have a serious falling-out, and Abigail Hill (Emma Stone) replaced her, not too long before Anne's death. The story of the film is how that happened.
That's the bare bones of it. The substance of the film, despite the offbeat humor that most of the scenes have, is the deadly serious tug-of-war between Lady M and Abigail, with the ultimate prize being the Queen's favor and the inside track to status and influence. The three lead actresses are all top-notch and they carry the whole film -- all others in the cast (pointedly including all the male roles of course!) are secondary. Emma Stone especially has real screen presence -- she's building up quite a resume of outstandingly varied roles in her still-young career. Colman plays the Queen as a sort of petulant dimbulb (which may NOT be historically correct, though. It seems that Anne in fact had a lot more agency than originally given credit for). She has a bad case of gout that renders her barely able to walk, but won't do anything to modify her diet or exercise accordingly. She gets browbeaten by all her advisors personal and political. who treat her as just a necessary pawn. Ultimately, however, she learns that she can exert the real power she had in her hands all along, and the subversive message of the plot is that both Sarah and Abigail, who've been infighting for power all this time, both get the rug pulled out from under them by the very person they are trying to "capture".
Part of the fun of watching these historical costume dramas is seeing how people dressed and carried out daily things (300 years ago in this case), and this one is meticulously researched and executed. Well done! The only thing that holds me back from giving a higher rating is that it's hard to know at times what to make of it: it's as if the actors are simultaneously telling the story and also standing outside it all watching it happen. But the bottom line is -- go see this to watch three actresses at the top of their game.