A vicious, very funny court drama with razor-sharp performances and a distinctly modern sense of cruelty and absurdity. It’s as much about power, dependency, and emotional manipulation as it is about period politics, and the style is bold enough to make the old-world setting feel freshly unstable.
The Favourite
Where to watch: Buy
Movie · History · Comedy
Fri · 2h 0m
Director: Yorgos Lanthimos
Starring: Emma Stone, Olivia Colman, Rachel Weisz
Overview
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.
Director
Yorgos Lanthimos
Cast
Emma Stone, Olivia Colman, Rachel Weisz
Curator Review
Verdict
A vicious, very funny court drama with razor-sharp performances and a distinctly modern sense of cruelty and absurdity. It’s as much about power, dependency, and emotional manipulation as it is about period politics, and the style is bold enough to make the old-world setting feel freshly unstable.
Best for
viewers who like dark comedy with bite
fans of character-driven power struggles
people drawn to stylized period films
audiences who enjoy sharp, subversive dialogue
viewers interested in toxic relationships and court intrigue
Skip if
you want a straightforward historical drama
you dislike caustic humor and sexual frankness
you prefer warm or sympathetic characters
you’re put off by anachronistic style in period settings
Overview
The Favourite turns a palace into a battlefield of need, vanity, and survival. What looks at first like a costume drama quickly becomes a savage comedy of emotional leverage, where every compliment is a weapon and every act of care has a price.
Worth noting
Yorgos Lanthimos stages the film with a slippery, destabilizing energy that keeps the power dynamics in constant motion. The performances are superb, especially Olivia Colman’s wounded, volatile Queen Anne, whose loneliness gives the film its strange emotional center.
Bottom line
What makes it endure is the precision of the writing and the way it balances cruelty with wit. It is funny, ugly, elegant, and deeply uneasy, which is exactly why it works so well.
Top Letterboxd reviews
Samster3000🌦 (5★) · 18696 likes
U M W H A T T H E A C T U A L F U C K Edit: Letterboxd hid this review bc it didn’t “provide meaningful review content” so.. Loved the complex characters and dynamics explored,
siobhan (5★) · 13395 likes
i relate to queen anne bc i too would pretend to faint in order to get out of presenting something
Kait (5★) · 12683 likes
can you imagine being a fucking rabbit and just sitting there watching the literal queen of england bottom for rachel weisz every single night
davidehrlich (4★) · 11253 likes
THE FAVOURITE POWER RANKINGS 1. Horatio: The Fastest Duck in the City2. Nicholas Hoult?3. Sandy Powell4. Rachel Weisz5. the bunny from the end. you'll know the one.6. Olivia Colman7. the naked dancing man who looks *way* too much like James Corden8. Emma Stone9. taylor swift's neo-nazi boyfriend from Operation Finale
sophie (5★) · 7385 likes
any film that uses the word ‘cunt’ so liberally is a five star film for me
Themes
power and manipulation, female rivalry, court politics, loneliness, dependency, emotional abuse, class and status, desire and betrayal
Topics
dark comedy, period drama, psychological drama, court intrigue, satirical, 18th century, vengeance, toxic relationships, stylized filmmaking, prestige cinema