Movie review: In ‘The Favourite,’ Emma Stone and Rachel Weisz shine in a deliciously diabolical comedy of palace intrigue
Starring Emma Stone, Rachel Weisz, Olivia Colman; directed by Yorgos Lanthimos; 121 minutes; R for strong sexual elements, nudity and coarse language. Grade: A-
In “The Favourite,” a deliciously diabolical comedy of ill manners and outré palace intrigue, Olivia Colman plays Queen Anne, who in the 18th century ruled Great Britain while suffering through 17 ill-fated pregnancies, severe illness and wars with Spain and France.
Those circumstances are alluded to but not center in this movie, which focuses on Anne’s relationship with two of her closest girlfriends: Sarah Churchill, Duchess of Marlborough, who became her most intimate confidante and adviser, and Abigail Hill, who supplanted Sarah in the queen’s affections toward the end of her reign. This lusty, wildly speculative jape takes those real-world outlines and runs with them, concocting a story bursting with schemes, subterfuges, sexual antics and sly social commentary worthy of the Restoration era they depict so lavishly.
As “The Favourite” opens, Abigail (Emma Stone) is just arriving at Kensington Palace, where she hopes to improve her fortunes with the help of her cousin, Lady Sarah (Rachel Weisz). Unimpressed, Sarah relegates the bedraggled but comely young lady to the scullery, the quicker to return her attentions to the emotionally needy Queen Anne — who at this stage of her life is half-mad with gout and grief — and pressing issues of war and peace. Soon, though, the wide-eyed Abigail has insinuated herself into the queen’s favor, deploying her charms and wily intelligence.
In a performance sure to be remembered as one of the year’s breakouts, Colman gets to the heart of Anne’s physical suffering and deep loneliness, playing her as peevish, vulnerable, sympathetic and deeply annoying all at once. Stone embraces her own persona as a perpetual ingénue to inhabit Abigail as someone driven less by greed and status than sheer survival. She masters the British accent — and the film’s generous helping of startlingly ribald asides — with admirable aplomb.
But it’s Weisz’s Sarah who emerges as “The Favourite’s” most fascinating figure, as a woman with a head for figures and an eye for the kill, whose ruthless candor makes her dangerous but also radically transparent.
Rachel Weisz, left, and Emma Stone in “The Favourite.”
Olivia Colman, in a breakout role, plays Queen Anne, a lonely, needy ruler who is half-mad. MUST CREDIT: Stanley Yankowskia, Fox Searchlight Pictures