The Favourite (2018)

England, early 18th century. The close relationship between Queen Anne and Sarah Churchill is threatened by the arrival of Sarah's cousin, Abigail Hill, resulting in a bitter rivalry between the two cousins to be the Queen's favourite.

History Comedy Drama great britain queen rivalry rabbit lgbt 18th century cousin relationship duchess palace intrigue aristocracy british monarchy war of the spanish succession

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Character

Meticulous, prestige, intimate and open-ended.

rawmeticulous
unpretentiousprestige
intimateepic
resolvedopen-ended
character-ledplot-driven

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Reviews on TMDB

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John Chardon TMDB · Mar 20207/10
Some wounds do not close; I have many such. One just walks around with them and sometimes one can feel them filling with blood. The Favourite is directed by Yorgos Lanthimos and written by Deborah Davis and Tony McNamara. It stars Olivia Colman, Rachael Weisz, Emma Stone, Faye Daveney, James Smith, Mark Gatiss, Willem Dalby and Nicholas Hoult. In early 18th century England, a frail Queen Anne (Colman) occupies the throne and her close friend, Lady Sarah (Weisz), governs the country in her stead. When a new servant, Abigail (Stone), arrives, her charm endears her to Sarah. A critical darling with awards and nominations to match, The Favourite, to me at least, is something of an acquired taste. Firstly it should be noted that as a history lesson it's pure bunkum, so much so I wondered if Lanthimos is actually Mel Gibson. Though to be fair to Lanthimos, he never hid from the fact he and his writers were pretty much making it up for entertainment purpose. The craft on show is top level, with three high quality lead lady performances giving their all for the director. Lanthimos also has some nifty camera tricks up his sleeve, it's clear that this is a talent to follow for those so incli
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Stephen Campbellon TMDB · Jul 20197/10
**_Fans of Yorgos Lanthimos will love it_** > _A setback for women? How can it set women back to prove that women fart and vomit and hate and love and do all the things men do? All human beings are the same. We're all multifaceted, many-layered, disgusting and gorgeous and powerful and weak and filthy and brilliant. That's what's nice. It doesn't make women an old-fashioned thing of delicacy._ - Olivia Colman; "_The Favourite_ Blows Up Gender Politics With the Year's Most Outrageous Love Triangle" (Tatiana Siegel); _The Hollywood Reporter_ (November 14, 2018) _The Favourite_, the seventh feature from Greek auteur Yorgos Lanthimos, is a film that eschews both convention and expectation. On the other hand, it's also Lanthimos's most accessible by a country mile. Imagine, if you will, a narrative combining Joseph L. Mankiewicz's _All About Eve_ (1950), Ingmar Bergman's _Viskningar och rop_ (1975), and Mark Waters's _Mean Girls_ (2004) filtered through the aesthetic sensibilities of Stanley Kubrick's _Barry Lyndon_ (1975), Peter Greenaway's _The Draughtsman's Contract_ (1992), and Stephen Frears's _Dangerous Liaisons_ (1988), topped off with a dash of Luis Buñuel at his most socially s
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furious_izon TMDB · May 201910/10
Hugely entertaining film from start to finish, with amazing performances from the three lead women. Emma Stone proves that once again she's not just a pretty face as the conniving and troubled Abigail, Rachel Weisz is always on form as the controlling and vindictive Sarah and Olivia Coleman deserved the Oscar as the childish and sickly Queen Anne. Nicholas Hoult's foppish rogue Harley steals every scene he is in. Yorgos Lanthimos once again has made a beautifully shot film using mostly natural light. I can't overstate that this film looks gorgeous. Many times over I thought of Barry Lyndon, but with tonnes of humour, foul language, and no Ryan O'Neal to destroy the soul of the film. I originally gave this 9/10 because I didn't like the use of fish-eye lens, but I couldn't stop thinking of how much I enjoyed it so I bumped it up to 10. Best film I have seen in a very long time.
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