Quartile rating: 8/10 · 1 rating
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.
The Favourite is a wickedly subversive historical drama that earned near-universal critical acclaim. The plotting is sharp and mercilessly black-comic, with palace intrigue rendered through a distinctly modern, acidic lens. The acting is extraordinary across all three leads — Olivia Colman won the Oscar, with Emma Stone and Rachel Weisz equally ferocious. Lanthimos's cinematography is instantly recognizable — wide-angle distortions, candlelit interiors, and fish-eye lenses give it a singular visual identity that no other period film shares. Novelty is high because the film is utterly distinctive in voice and execution, blending Restoration-era pageantry with grotesque comedy and feminist power dynamics in a way no other film has. The ending, while thematically coherent and haunting (Abigail grinding the rabbit, the queens' dissolving faces), is deliberately opaque and ambiguous to the point where some find it unsatisfying rather than profound — it is the one category where the film slightly sacrifices emotional payoff for intellectual statement.