A brilliantly bonkers tale of love, war & duck racing.

Every now and the period drama really does need a slap across its well-powdered chops.

While of course there’s nothing inherently wrong with period pieces – in fact, they account for some of the greatest films ever created – at their very worst they can be safe, ridged, and often downright boring; feeding directly into a stuffy reputation that puts many off even entertaining the notion of watching one. 

To avoid the costume drama from collapsing under the weight of its own pomp, you need something or someone to come along and shake things up a bit - to reinvigorate the genre and show us all just what it’s capable of. Step forward Yorgos Lanthimos and The Favourite. 

It’s the early 18th century and England are at war with France. As conflict, unrest, and duck racing rage around her, a frail Queen Anne (Olivia Coleman) occupies the throne, with her close friend Lady Sarah (Rachel Weisz) governing the country in her stead. When new servant Abigail (Emma Stone) arrives, Sarah takes her under her wing, but as the politics of war begin to consume her time, Abigail seizes the opportunity to fill in as the Queen’s trusted companion. With their burgeoning relationship affording Abigail the opportunity to fulfil her aristocratic ambitions, nothing – man, woman or rabbit – will be standing in her way.

As far as filmmaking weirdos go, Yorgos Lanthimos is right up there at the top of the tree. He’s a true outsider in an industry that often celebrates conformity and, as much as his peculiar style may rub some up the wrong way, the director’s brand of inspired filmmaking eccentricity is as important now as it has ever been.

In the vein of European provocateurs like Lars von Trier and Michael Haneke, Lanthimos’ style is there to incite, yet there’s something far less ostentatious in the way he pulls it off. Through a wonderfully off-kilter filmography that takes in the horror of Dogtooth, the pitch-black comedy of The Lobster, and the psychological torment of The Killing of a Sacred Deer; Lanthimos’ brand of dark, deadpan humour simultaneously invites you in while deliberately keeping you at arm’s length.

It’s an eccentric approach that may polarise opinion, yet that’s half the fun. Teetering on the razor-thin ledge between comedy and tragedy with the straightest of straight faces, the films of Yorgos Lanthimos approach genre with a deadpan recklessness that, while certainly unconventional, offer an utterly unique viewing experience.

Taking this a step further, The Favourite approaches the costume drama from such an unorthodox angle that you’re given little choice but give into the film’s offbeat charms and the director’s admirable dedication to shaking the cobwebs off the genre.

Distinctive and highly unique though they may be, the films of Yorgos Lanthimos have yet to feel wholly satisfying. His desire to let his movies float off on a whim often leads them down strange and not entirely satisfying cul-de-sacs that are as frustratingly baffling as they are inspired. The Favourite changes all that.

Simple, concise, and narratively tight, The Favourite shifts the Lanthimos landscape perfectly. Stuffed with po-faced characters, low-key surrealism, sparse and subtly grating score, and unorthodox, uncompromising camerawork; this is unequivocally a Yorgos Lanthimos film, yet there’s just enough compromise in style, tone, and structure there to make this the director’s most wholly satisfying effort to date.

In amongst the subtle changes that make The Favourite the most accessible and fully-rounded entry in Lanthimos’ filmography to date, the writing stands out as by far the most significant. For only the second time in his relatively short filmmaking career (and the first for his English language output), Lanthimos is working from a script he had no hand in and it’s from this shift that The Favourite can bloom into something incredibly rewarding.

Penned by Tony McNamara and Deborah Davis, The Favourite has the distinct voice of its director shining through, yet the script’s comparatively straightforward structure and reluctance to meander ensure it remains on the straight and narrow. Having separate screenwriters on board gives the best of both worlds and, while the result may feel like a compromise, it’s ultimately a satisfying one. 

It also frees Lanthimos up just enough to concentrate on getting the themes on point and with everything from gender and sexuality to power and politics under the microscope, The Favourite ends up his most substantial effort so far. Not only that, Yorgos Lanthimos being Yorgos Lanthimos means The Favourite’s themes are delightfully spiked with the kind of bone-dry, farcical wit that has become the director’s stock-in-trade, to make them land in oddly affecting ways.

Of the film’s key issues, gender and sexuality are brought to the fore, permeating every inch of the film and often intersecting with its other aspects in strange and exciting ways. The way the film approaches sexuality feels utterly unique, and its portrayal of homosexuality in particular is completely unlike anything else out there.

Raw and matter-of-fact, the way The Favourite approaches the close relationship between the three lead women feels genuinely unique, especially within an industry that often struggles to portray lesbian relationships with any level of authenticity. The physical and emotional bond between Queen Anne and her two favourites is portrayed as one of power and politics as much as love or lust, making it both refreshing and surprisingly authentic.

Despite its period trappings, The Favourite couldn’t be more relevant to our current climate if it tried as it cuts like a scalpel through a farcical political world of blundering puppet leaders and foppish, sycophantic men more concerned with power and pleasure than anything else. Hilariously ruthless and darkly comic, this is a startlingly brutal mirror to our own times and a depressingly accurate satire on modern politics. 

All of which brings us to the real power players in this game and, while there’s certainly much in The Favourite to admire from a technical standpoint, this is a film that rides high on the performance of its lead trio.

Their dialogue may be stilted and intentionally flat throughout, but this only goes to highlight the power of their performances as they each openly embrace the bizarre nature of the off-kilter dialogue and use its deadpan rhythm to their advantage, bouncing off one another in wonderful and delightfully unexpected ways.

The film really is a three-pronged attack with very little to choose from between Olivia Coleman, Emma Stone, and Rachel Weisz as each scene plays out in a self-contained battle for power, leading to a palpable sense of electricity throughout. With wholly distinct personalities and ever-evolving motivations, each of the three characters feels satisfyingly robust, fully-rounded, and believable, even as the script reaches peak-quirkiness.

With barely a cigarette paper between them, there really is a case to be made for any one of the three as the standout, but Olivia Coleman just edges it. In an all-encompassing performance of grotesqueness and warmth, power and fragility, intelligence and absurdity; Coleman puts everything into her Queen Anne and comes out with one of the finest roles of her career.

As an actor whose abilities often belie her sweet, unassuming demeanour, it’s certainly taken a minute for Coleman to land a role that has adequately showcased her skills and now it’s finally here, there can be little doubting her true lead potential. Anyone that’s had an eye on her career since the Peep Show and Green Wing days will know the full extent of Coleman’s comedy chops, yet she has long since blossomed into an actor of incredible dramatic range and The Favourite feels like the ultimate payoff after so many years in the shadows.

As a previous collaborator with Lanthimos on The Lobster (along with Rachel Weisz, no less), Coleman appears well adept at managing the director’s very particular brand of humour and not only embraces it but fully utilises it to her advantage. As she storms her way through the material in a simultaneously regal and pathetically bumbling manner, we’re shown a queen we’ve never seen before - stripped of mystique, ailing, and left heartbreakingly vulnerable.

It’s a rare occasion that you have a lead threesome so utterly intertwined with one another, yet The Favourite ensures that every actor is made indispensable. While the material they’re given is of the highest standard; Coleman, Weisz, and Stone all lift it to the loftiest possible heights with a dexterity and grace that ensures this story of love, power, and friendship is a delightfully humorous and wonderfully satisfying one. 

Driven by a trio of career high performances by Olivia Coleman, Emma Stone, and Rachael Weisz and bolstered by a tempered but on-form Yorgos Lanthimos, The Favourite is the perfect antidote for those left jaded by the good, old-fashioned British period drama. With his utterly unique sensibilities very much at the fore, Lanthimos wisely steps aside from writing duties to concentrate on getting the very best out of the story and his actors, and the result is by far his most well-rounded and wholly satisfying effort to date. While the film’s quirkier sensibilities certainly won’t be to everyone’s tastes, The Favourite makes up for it with buckets of beautiful weirdness and a wonderfully affecting story of power, gender, friendship, and rabbits.