Stylish, witty and original period drama

Rating: 8/10 (11 January 2019)

I have a rapidly growing admiration for Yorgos Lanthimos (it doesn't exactly trip off the tongue, does it) as a director. I recently watched The Lobster, which is one of the most original, bonkers and fabulous films I've seen in a long time. So, quite a bit for Mr Lanthimos to live up to with his most current film, The Favourite.
The story covers a scarsely considered, brief period in British history, the latter days of the reign of Queen Anne, whos failure to produce an heir led to the house of Hanover taking over the British throne. On the face of it, it is hard to imagine how this era could be portrayed in any other light than one of sombre reflection, but the lightness of touch and wit evident here is very refreshing. The three principal characters are all women (Queen Anne played by the excellent Olivia Coleman, her principal political adviser and confidante Lady Marlborough, played by the wonderful Rachael Weisz, and Abigail the desperate newcomer played by the revelatory Emma Stone), which is highly unusual in big-budget film-making (even in this day and age), and the actors who play them are uniformly excellent. Someone I know made a valid point that none of them are terribly likeable characters, but that's sort of missing the point; they existed at a time when men typically dominated every aspect of life, so despite their favoured positions in the pecking order, they could only really exercise their influence on each other. They are also quite complex, 3-dimensional characters, with moods, rational and irrational behaviours, fears and regrets.
The film looks wonderful, with a variety of interesting shots, including a kind of fisheye effect used to great effect, the dialogue frequently sparkles with wit, and there is a lot of humour. Only later on does the tone turn more serious and sad, which reflects the overall change in the state of mind of the queen. The acting ranges from good to superb across the board, and I loved the artifice of the intermissions with Roman numerals and a character quotation, acting as a form of chapter heading; nothing new, but it fits the tone of the film perfectly. The only thing I took issue with was a small aspect of the soundtrack, involving two brief periods dominated by a two-note dirge, with what sounded like a single fiddle note followed by the pluck of a double bass, repeated ad nauseum. Mind you, that's just my personal feeling. Don't let it discourage you from seeing the film - it certainly wouldn't be the first time a bit of soundtrack distracted and annoyed me in a film which was otherwise excellent.