The Favourite

THE FAVOURITE (2018)

The mind that brought us the weird and macabre ‘The Lobster’, Yorgos Lanthimos, was never gonna provide a historical yarn like Ridley Scott’s ‘Gladiator’.

What we get is a story full of wickedly cruel quips, cunning and ambition. A bit like ‘All About Eve’ with pantaloons and muskets.

Reigning National Treasure Olivia Colman plays Queen Anne a loose canon of a monarch with teenage tantrums. Rachel Weisz is her sexy and stern companion and Emma Stone serves some Anne Boleyn as she works her way up from a face full of mud to a face full of... well, she makes her queen very happy.

Colman is wonderful but it’s Stone and Weisz’s film. The inner war raging subtlety behind each actors’ eyes as they vie for pole position in the Queendom is delicious. But all the zest takes a very sour turn as malicious intent inevitably goes too far and pride leads to misery. The vitriolic comedy becomes a grim tragedy.

I’m just thankful that Rachel Weisz is back so prominently in our lives. Horrific face sash all!

Watch this on a Sunday night with a glass or two of gin.

9 Neatly Trimmed Thumbs Up!