The Favourite (2018)
Where to Watch
- Eagle-eyed viewers have noticed a hidden easter egg referencing Yorgos Lanthimos's previous film in the background of the opening scene.
- The incredible score for The Favourite was composed in just a few weeks after the original composer dropped out.
- Before Emma Stone was cast, several major A-list stars turned down the lead role because they felt the script was too risky.
The Favourite is a 2018 period black comedy directed by Yorgos Lanthimos, set in the early 18th-century court of Queen Anne of Great Britain. Olivia Colman stars as the ailing, mercurial Queen Anne, whose close friendship with her confidante and de facto political ruler Lady Sarah Churchill, played by Rachel Weisz, is disrupted by the arrival of Abigail Hill, played by Emma Stone, a fallen aristocrat who insinuates herself into the Queen's favor through manipulation, flattery, and sexual intimacy. The three women's escalating power struggle plays out through a series of alliances, betrayals, and emotional manipulations while the men of Parliament โ led by Nicholas Hoult's Robert Harley โ attempt to influence the war with France through whichever woman controls the Queen.
Olivia Colman won the Academy Award for Best Actress for her volcanic, heartbreaking portrayal of a queen who is simultaneously the most powerful person in Britain and the most pathetically dependent on the love of the women who use her. Yorgos Lanthimos's direction employed fish-eye lenses, natural candlelight, and deliberately anachronistic behavior to create a period film that felt modern and visceral. The Favourite earned $95 million worldwide on a $15 million budget.
