Obey and you will be obeyed, resist and you will be able to subdue others

Rating: 8/10 (13 March 2019)

A film about slaves of their duty, ambition and life
If somebody asks me, "What can you say about The Favourite?"
I would say three things: acting, storytelling and cinematography.
Acting is superb.
And I'm not only speaking about the main ladies trio of Olivia Colman (Tyrannosaur, The Lobster, Locke), Rachel Weisz (Agora, The Deep Blue Sea, Constantine) and Emma Stone (La La Land, The Help, Birdman). I'm speaking about entire film acting crew. Regardless of the amount of screen time, the importance of the role or the scene, everyone shows great performance.
Storytelling has its own author's manner.
Division of the film into mini-chapters, subtle intellectual humor, notes of absurdity and expression - only a part of the numerous features that distinguish the film from many other. The viewer who loves such form of art will enjoy the movie, others probably not.
Cinematography by its own rules.
How long and have you ever saw usage of fish-eye lenses in films? Personally, nothing comes to my mind. Here, the authors actively use the super wide-angle picture, and not to emphasize some landscape scenes (which, by the way, are almost nonexistent in the film, since most of the events unfold in the territory of the Queen's Palace), but for the psychophysical addition of scenes.
The second feature of working with the camera is the slow forthcoming of the picture to the desired object, as if from the corner of the room. Overall, the film is made with gray and dark colors.
And near of the all above we can see the name of Yorgos Lanthimos (Kynodontas, The Lobster, The Killing of a Sacred Deer), a director and writer from Greece, who has established himself as the author of experimental and independence cinema, personal style of whom has made The Favourite so special.
Plot is more dialogue based, rather than the composition of the various events. Emotions and feelings of the main characters conveyed beautifully and realistically, as well as their driving forces and fears. Humor is very ingenious and relevant. Although almost all the characters in the film speak in a very fast way, narrative manner is smooth and predictable.
Costumes and scenery perfectly convey the era of England in the early 18th century, but on this, the historicity of the major events in the film comes to an end, as this film is more of a fantasy based on history, a fantasy about personal war and compromises of people between themselves and their own fears.