well the favorite

I deem The Favourite to be "good." The movie is visually remarkable—it definitely should receive an Oscar nomination for Best Cinematography, and Robbie Ryan may well deserve that statuette. The mise-en-scène is amazing, especially in the queen's bedroom with that collage of paintings, and the lighting scheme is also transfixing, with that opaque, seemingly natural, light contrasting with the dark colors of the clothes and the walls—blacks and navy blues in particular. And then during the nighttime scenes, The Favourite relies on candlelight to again create sharp and riveting contrasts. The film also appears to employ a curved lens at times to create a distorted look to certain low-angle shots (which heighten the sense of tall walls and high ceilings), and that sense of distortion and weirdness certainly fits the movie's content. 

The Favourite is a black comedy or farce—essentially a satire—and it is quite clever and amusing. But I found the amusement to be more intellectual than visceral—curious more than funny and intriguing more than mesmerizing. At two hours in length, the film feels longer. And although the humor is more intellectual than visceral, it is essentially idle—The Favourite offers a very unexpected interpretation of a royal British period piece, but it is not exactly substantive. I would compare it to a black comedy from a year ago, Phantom Thread, except that that black comedy proved more purposeful. However, The Favourite is a better film, primarily because it is far less pretentious and, despite its stylized nature, it functions more organically. To his credit, director Yargos Lanthimos maintains a consistent tone—which could have been difficult given the macabre material—and all the actresses and actors are on the same page. They never descend into a Mel Brooks-type spoof, but nor do they mistake the writing for genuine melodrama. Rather, they all manage to maintain a tone of barely plausible realism. 

Visually, The Favourite is probably the most memorable movie of the year. I would not quite rank it among the best, but it is impressive and I will see it a second time. 

I just viewed The Favourite again; my assessment is essentially the same, but I would upgrade my view of it slightly to "good/very good." I like the coda a little more—it is more sophisticated and clever than I thought at first. 

i hated it. Full of stupid and unpleasant scenes, and the historical naccuracies irritated me - Abigal Hill for instance was only thirteen when Sarah Churchill took her into her household, she had been with Sarah for years before she began to serve Queen Anne. SArah is portrayed as the victim of Abigail's machinations, when in fact it was her own foul temper and domineering ways that eventually put the Queen off her. QUeen Anne's husband George, to whom she was devoted, is completely eliminated, although the man Abigail married was one of his servants. the Queen herself is portrayed as a bumbling fool although she was not - it goes without saying that her fervent devotion to the Angliacan church doesn't get a mention. probably the nastiest of the gratuitously unpleasant scenes is iwhen Abigail squashes the rabbit. ALtogether I loathed the whole thing.  THere is nothing even faintly amusing about it, no comedy black or otherwise.

... yes, very good point. To quote New Yorker critic Anthony Lane:

I viewed The Favourite for a third time on Thursday. Again, I consider the film "good/very good" and truly remarkable visually. As I wrote earlier, it must at least receive a nomination for Best Cinematography. 

Sarah's departing words to Queen Anne about what constitutes true love are quite affecting and profound. If the film could have consistently braided that kind of emotional depth with its satirical thrusts, it would have proved even better. But that task would have been difficult, and I would still rank The Favourite among the better feature film releases of 2018 (one of the top fifteen or so). 

Seeing the film for a third time also allowed me to absorb more of the cleverly raunchy dialogue.

remind me please what were Sarahs departing words?

One of my favorite movies of the year. This is a hilarious, thrilling, shocking and depressing look at power and love. What a movie! The more I think about it the better it gets. And the acting performances are off the charts. Olivia Colman's performance is a marvel to behold.

agreed. i really hopes she wins an oscar for it.

its a bit otherwordly acting. i have no idea how they do it actors. the amount of vulnerability and emotional investment they have to be able to display and committ is crazy.