Film Review: The Favourite

I would imagine like most people I know very little about the reign of Queen Anne. I know I don’t my favourite period of history; I’m constantly disappointed about the vision set in films of this time period. I couldn’t get past the trailer for the recent version of Robin Hood.

So what makes The Favourite different? I guess it helps that it is a period in history that isn’t really part of history that is talked about much. What we do know about this period comes from the words of Jonathan Swift and Daniel Defoe. There are of course the may adaptations of those authors. They tell stories that still somehow feel modern.

I still didn’t know what to think of The Favourite, All I knew was I liked the actors in the cast. Olivia Colman, Emma Stone and Rachel Weisz.

This is another film that proves just how good Emma Stone is. The only American in the film her English accent is very good. I don’t think I have ever seen a poor performance from Stone, then again, I have never seen The House Bunny. She was the best thing about La La Land and only Colman overshadows in this.

The Favourite does paint the picture of what the period would have been like. Based on the authors mentioned before there is that sense of a bawdiness about the society that comes across on screen. The swearing was not only funny but fitted the occasions. It was no Ian McEwen and that Atonement of the c-word.

The performances from the three leads were spot on. There was also a very convincing performance from Nicolas Holt (About A Boy).

There were shades of A Cock and Bull Story the film about trying to film Tristram Shandy the 2005 film about filming a film that is the impossible film.

I’m glad this film was a comedy and not a straight-laced drama, I now feel like exploring this period some more.

Set in the time of satire it was the perfect antidote for the current world outside the cinema walls. Hopefully, we get more comedies that live up to this, and also we need more comedy films in general.

An Oscar wouldn’t go amiss for Olivia Colman either.