The Favourite

The Greek director flew out of Greek weird cinematography as the mythical bird Phoenix and got an offer to make something bigger, European, from the life of English aristocracy. In addition, he got three experienced actresses, who show us an absolute moral bottom and since he himself is a bit strange, he made it quite opulent. Too bad the movie is so long. If it was shorter, I would maybe not have time to get bored. There are so many weird things in this film, that what you considered weird in the first five minutes will feel quite normal in the last half an hour. So normal that you will watch that scene and not even raise an eyebrow. The movie is so weird that I lost a few human emotions while watching it. I had to drink a bottle of Port wine to compose my thoughts and jump out of the world of nobility, where there are lot of disgusting things happening and everybody thinks it’s normal. However, the movie has its qualities. Apart from the emotionless performances of the actors, I was mainly amazed by the castle and its surroundings and the original camera. (05/02/2019)

The Favourite was my first encounter with director Yorgos Lanthimos, whose name has been resonating at various festivals in recent years thanks to his distinctive creative style. The film certainly cannot be denied an original approach to the historical theme and to the work with the actors. It is essentially a concert of three very talented actresses, the most outstanding of whom is Olivia Colman in the lead role – I really hope she gets the Oscar, even though she is up against the Academy's long-neglected Glenn Close. I have to admit that I felt very sorry for Queen Anne at times, and I certainly wouldn't want to be in her shoes – surrounded by manipulators who know how to exploit a situation and take advantage of a queen with a fickle health and a poor education. The director certainly doesn’t pull any punchs and serves more than one raw scene, which underlined the local atmosphere, where a knife-edge fight between two supremely intelligent women takes place. The most emotionally powerful scene for me was probably the justification of rabbit breeding. The film benefited from a novel script, amazing performances and its visual style (unusual camera shots). P.S. I think I'll find time for more of the director's films in the future. (06/02/2019)

If you are into Lanthimos’s peculiar poetics and stylistic whims, The Favourite will very possibly be the most entertaining film of the year for you. Though the division into chapters and some of the visual deformations leave a dodgy impression, the absurdly escalating conflicts, the play with the setting and the lightning, the performances and the music are so good that the film flows as smoothly as if it had been directed by Kubrick himself. It is very nice that in the age of Hollywood feminism there are so many Oscar contenders where female characters are uneducated, indecisive or unbearably manipulative bitches. 85% (29/01/2019)

I feel that filming through a fisheye lens is not very appropriate for a historical costume film. Nor did I like the way the story was peppered with really vulgar language, which evokes the present rather than a bygone era. However, the screenplay is spot on about intrigue and devious manipulation at the royal court during the reign of Queen Anne of Great Britain is almost without fault. Most of all, however, I have to praise the excellent performances of Olivia Colman and Emma Stone. Both ladies obviously put their all into it, playing the roles of those unlikeable women incredibly convincingly. (70%) (15/10/2022)

This could have been a costume drama with a plot about getting closer to luxury, which is inherently linked to the subgenre of court intrigues. Perhaps that is why this story of an unhealthy trio of ladies is enriched with complete openness, such that there is no shortage of vulgarity at the local court, a lot of sex and vomiting, and a great deal of talk about both. Sure, I get it, maybe it was actually like that at the time, maybe this was the artistic intent. And yet it makes The Favourite less a sophisticated picture and more an unpleasant experience that's hard to shake off. That said, the main trio is played so well that it left me speechless. (21/02/2019)