The Favourite
The Favourite is a 2018 historical black comedy-drama film directed by Yorgos Lanthimos from a screenplay by Deborah Davis and Tony McNamara, loosely depicting the early 18th-century rivalry between cousins Abigail Masham and Sarah Churchill for the favor and influence of Queen Anne of Great Britain amid the War of the Spanish Succession.[1][2] Starring Olivia Colman as the ailing monarch, Emma Stone as the ambitious Abigail, and Rachel Weisz as the incumbent Sarah, the film emphasizes themes of power, manipulation, and personal intrigue through stylized dialogue, anachronistic elements, and dark humor characteristic of Lanthimos's style.[1][3] While inspired by real historical figures and events—including Anne's documented favoritism toward Sarah before Abigail's rise displaced her—the narrative takes substantial fictional liberties, particularly in exaggerating intimate physical relationships among the women, which contemporary accounts and historians deem improbable given Anne's devout Anglicanism and reproductive history.[4][5] Premiering at the 75th Venice International Film Festival on 30 August 2018 and released theatrically in the United States on 23 November 2018 by Fox Searchlight Pictures, the film was produced on a $15 million budget and grossed $95.9 million worldwide, achieving commercial success through strong word-of-mouth and awards buzz.[6][7] Critically acclaimed for its performances—especially Colman's portrayal of Anne's volatility—and technical achievements, it holds a 93% approval rating on Rotten Tomatoes based on 430 reviews, with praise centered on the acting trio's chemistry and the film's subversion of period drama conventions.[8] At the 91st Academy Awards, The Favourite received ten nominations, including Best Picture, Best Director for Lanthimos, and acting categories for all three leads, ultimately winning Best Actress for Colman; it also secured a record ten British Independent Film Awards.[9][10][11]
Synopsis
Plot Overview
Set in early 18th-century England amid the War of the Spanish Succession, The Favourite depicts the court of Queen Anne, portrayed as frail, ill, and prone to volatile moods.[8] Her intimate friend and confidante, Sarah Churchill, Duchess of Marlborough, wields de facto governing power, overseeing political decisions including the protracted conflict with France while attending to the Queen's personal needs.[12] This arrangement maintains a delicate balance of influence, with Sarah leveraging her proximity to Anne to advance Whig policies favoring continued warfare.[13] The narrative pivots upon the arrival of Abigail Masham (née Hill), Sarah's impoverished cousin and a disgraced gentlewoman reduced to servitude, who enters the court seeking restoration.[12] Through cunning and opportunism, Abigail cultivates the Queen's favor, igniting a fierce rivalry with Sarah characterized by personal betrayals, psychological manipulations, and strategic alliances.[8] The ensuing power struggle intertwines domestic intrigue with broader political machinations, as the women navigate loyalty shifts and ambition's perils to sway Anne's temperament-driven decrees on war and governance.[14]Development
Script Origins
Deborah Davis, a first-time screenwriter, began developing the screenplay for The Favourite in 1998 after encountering historical accounts of Queen Anne's favoritism toward Sarah Churchill, Duchess of Marlborough, and the subsequent rivalry with Abigail Masham, who rose from humble origins to supplant Sarah's influence at court around 1708–1711.[15] [16] Davis's initial draft, written under the working title Balance of Power, drew on primary historical research to emphasize the power struggles within Queen Anne's court, portraying the relationships as driven by ambition and manipulation rather than romantic idealization.[17] [18] The script entered formal development with support from producer Ceci Dempsey and the UK Film Council, but faced delays over nearly two decades due to challenges in securing financing and alignment on tone, remaining in limbo as Davis continued refinements.[19] [18] In 2015, Australian screenwriter Tony McNamara was hired to rewrite Davis's script, shifting its focus toward dark comedy and absurdist elements to highlight the irrationality of human rivalry and court intrigue.[20] [21] McNamara's revisions introduced anachronistic dialogue and exaggerated behaviors, deliberately diverging from strict historical fidelity to underscore causal dynamics of power imbalances, such as how personal loyalties erode under competition for favor.[17] [22] This approach prioritized psychological realism in depicting self-interested motivations over sanitized period-drama conventions, with McNamara collaborating closely with director Yorgos Lanthimos to refine scenes that captured linguistic precision in conveying dominance and submission.[18] [23] Lanthimos, who joined the project through Element Pictures, exerted substantial influence on the final screenplay by insisting on revisions that amplified its stylized tone, including suggestions for staging techniques like wide-angle distortions to evoke distorted perceptions in interpersonal conflicts—elements later realized visually but conceived in script descriptions.[23] [24] The resulting script, finalized as the March 23, 2017, shooting draft, credited Davis and McNamara jointly, reflecting a synthesis of Davis's research-driven foundation with McNamara and Lanthimos's emphasis on unvarnished human behaviors amid political maneuvering.[25] This evolution transformed the material from a more conventional historical narrative into one that exposed the raw mechanics of influence without deference to expected moral framing.[16] [26]Pre-Production
Development of The Favourite involved securing financing from multiple entities, with Film4 Productions boarding the project in 2013 to co-develop and co-finance alongside the filmmakers.[27] Fox Searchlight Pictures and Waypoint Entertainment later joined as co-financiers, contributing to a production budget of $15 million.[19] These partnerships, formalized around 2015-2017, enabled logistical preparations including location scouting.[19] Location scouting identified Hatfield House in Hertfordshire as the primary stand-in for Queen Anne's royal residences, such as Kensington Palace, due to its Jacobean architecture suitable for early 18th-century interiors.[28] This choice shaped the film's aesthetic by providing opulent, historically evocative spaces that blended authenticity with the director's stylized vision.[29] Conceptual preparations balanced historical period details with artistic exaggeration, as director Yorgos Lanthimos opted for an absurdist tone over strict realism. Key decisions included portraying Queen Anne's documented health afflictions, such as gout and the loss of 17 children through miscarriages and early deaths, which informed thematic elements like emotional fragility.[4] Symbolic choices, such as using rabbits to represent Anne's deceased offspring, were devised as metaphorical devices rather than historical facts, emphasizing psychological depth through practical animal props planned in pre-production.[26] Budget priorities allocated resources to such practical effects, ensuring the film's thematic constraints prioritized visual and narrative innovation within the $15 million framework.[19]Production
Casting
Director Yorgos Lanthimos selected Olivia Colman for the role of Queen Anne, citing her unique capacity to embody the character's profound grief while delivering volatile emotional shifts essential to the portrayal of frailty amid royal ambition.[30] He emphasized that Colman was his sole choice for the part and that the film would not have proceeded without her, positioning her as the central figure anchoring the narrative's exploration of power struggles.[31] Rachel Weisz was cast as Lady Sarah Churchill after Lanthimos offered the role to her following its prior attachment to Kate Winslet; he highlighted Weisz's inherent warmth as key to conveying the character's poised command over courtly influence.[32] Emma Stone, who also served as a producer, underwent a rigorous audition process for Abigail Hill to verify her command of a period-appropriate English accent, despite her prior collaborations with Lanthimos; the session incorporated unconventional physical tasks, such as simulating labored breathing, to assess adaptability in depicting cunning social ascent.[33][34] Nicholas Hoult was chosen for Robert Harley, the opportunistic Tory leader, to embody a satirical lens on political maneuvering through manipulative tactics aimed at leveraging court factions for policy gains.[35] The principal cast participated in three weeks of rehearsals prior to principal photography, featuring unorthodox physical exercises, trust-building games, and improvisational scenarios to heighten bodily expressiveness and simulate interpersonal power contests without relying on archetypal heroic tropes.[36][31] Lanthimos integrated movement training and choreographed activities to underscore themes of rivalry and vulnerability, diverging from scripted dialogue to foster organic tensions reflective of historical intrigue.[23][37]Filming
Principal photography for The Favourite commenced in March 2017 and concluded in May 2017, with the majority of scenes shot at Hatfield House in Hertfordshire, England, doubling as Kensington Palace, and additional sequences filmed at Hampton Court Palace in Surrey.[38][39] Other locations included the Bodleian Library in Oxford for select interior shots.[29] Cinematographer Robbie Ryan captured the film predominantly on 35mm stock, relying on natural daylight filtering through windows and candlelight for illumination to evoke the era's dim, atmospheric interiors without supplemental artificial sources.[40][41] Wide-angle and fisheye lenses were utilized extensively to distort spatial relationships, foregrounding hierarchies and psychological intimacy among characters through exaggerated perspectives and off-kilter framing.[42][43] Director Yorgos Lanthimos employed fluid, roving camera movements and extended takes to heighten tension in scenes of rivalry and intrigue, diverging from conventional period drama stasis to underscore the film's themes of power and absurdity.[43][44] This approach, combined with whip pans and long shots, contributed to the visual rhythm that balanced comedic exaggeration with underlying cruelty.[42]Design Elements
Production designer Fiona Crombie transformed locations like Hatfield House into representations of early 18th-century royal palaces, incorporating a large fabricated facade and secret passages to evoke the confined, labyrinthine nature of Queen Anne's court while maintaining Baroque opulence through hand-carved furniture, such as a 14-foot-high bedchamber canopy, and extensive practical lighting from 80,000 candles equipped with wax catchers.[45][46][47] Costume designer Sandy Powell crafted garments that adhered to historical silhouettes of the 1708 period—wide hoops, structured bodices, and layered petticoats—but subverted accuracy with modern fabrics including laser-cut lace, vinyl, recycled denim, and African prints, creating a deliberate anachronistic punk aesthetic that underscores the film's critique of rigid court hierarchies by blending timeless opulence with contemporary irreverence.[48][49][50] Key props reinforced thematic subversion, such as the 17 live rabbits housed in Anne's chambers with custom tables, silver bowls, and brushes, symbolizing her historical losses of 17 children through miscarriages, stillbirths, and early deaths, which humanizes the monarch's frailty amid political machinations tied to the War of the Spanish Succession.[51][52] Additional elements like anachronistic blue cake and rudimentary wheelchairs for courtiers further distanced the visuals from sanitized period realism, emphasizing grotesque bodily realities—such as unfiltered depictions of vomiting and gout—to portray power structures as decaying and absurd rather than idealized.[53]Music and Sound
The soundtrack of The Favourite features no original score, instead relying on licensed period-appropriate Baroque compositions to evoke the early 18th-century setting while subverting expectations of elegance through contextual irony and tension. Key pieces include George Frideric Handel's Concerto Grosso, Op. 6, No. 7 in B-flat Major and selections from his Water Music, Antonio Vivaldi's concertos, Henry Purcell's Trumpet Sonata in D Major, and works by Johann Sebastian Bach and Wilhelm Friedemann Bach, selected for their historical resonance with Queen Anne's court.[54] [55] In scenes depicting power struggles, such as ballroom dances, these minuets and allegros are deployed to underscore menace rather than romance, with editing techniques like extended pauses amplifying unease in rivalries.[56] Sound designer Johnnie Burn, working without a traditional composer, blurred the boundaries between diegetic effects and musicality to heighten surveillance and causal intrigue without manipulative sentimentality. Footsteps were captured via close-miking on location at Hatfield House, then amplified in post-production to emphasize spatial awareness and interpersonal plotting, drawing from re-enacted scenes for authenticity.[57] Whispers and ambient tones, such as pitch-bent fireplaces or distilled natural winds shaped into single-note drones, were layered under Baroque cues to suggest lurking threats and unadorned human ambition, prioritizing raw acoustic realism over emotional cues.[57] Burn's team integrated these elements over an 11-month post-production period, starting during editing, using tools like Nuendo for multi-track sessions and weekly Dolby Atmos tests to refine tension buildup empirically.[57] This approach avoided Hollywood gloss, aligning auditory layers with the film's causal depiction of courtly behaviors through subtle, subversive periodicity.[57]Release
Distribution and Premiere
The film premiered at the 75th Venice International Film Festival on August 30, 2018, where it competed for the Golden Lion and received the Grand Jury Prize.[6][58] Fox Searchlight Pictures handled distribution in North America, launching a limited release in the United States on November 23, 2018, before expanding to wide release on December 21, 2018.[1][8] The strategy targeted awards-season positioning by leveraging festival buzz and the director's prior acclaim. Internationally, the film rolled out progressively from January 2019 onward, with releases in markets such as the United Kingdom and Ireland on January 1, 2019.[59][60] Marketing efforts centered on the ensemble cast—featuring Olivia Colman, Emma Stone, and Rachel Weisz—alongside Yorgos Lanthimos's reputation for stylized narratives, with official trailers from Fox Searchlight emphasizing courtly power struggles, dark humor, and period authenticity rather than contemporary thematic overlays.[61][62] Post-theatrical availability included digital release on February 12, 2019, followed by physical home video formats such as DVD and Blu-ray on March 5, 2019, via Fox Home Entertainment, facilitating broader access beyond initial cinema runs.[7][63]Box Office Results
The Favourite earned a worldwide gross of $95,918,706 against a production budget of $15 million.[64][1] In the United States and Canada, it generated $34,366,783, while international markets contributed $61,551,923.[64] The film opened in limited release on November 23, 2018, across four theaters in New York and Los Angeles, taking in $422,410 for the weekend and achieving a per-screen average of $105,000—the highest opening average for any film that year.[65][1] This strong initial performance, timed for the Thanksgiving holiday period, benefited from early critical acclaim and awards momentum following its Venice Film Festival premiere, enabling gradual expansion to wider release.[66] Despite its arthouse style and period setting limiting appeal in some mass-market territories, international earnings were bolstered by solid holds in Europe and select Asian markets, reflecting targeted distributor strategies rather than broad blockbuster competition.[7] Theatrical profitability was evident, with the gross exceeding the budget by over six times before ancillary revenues from home video and streaming, though detailed post-2019 figures remain proprietary and not publicly aggregated in standard box office trackers as of 2025.[7]Reception
Critical Analysis
The Favourite garnered significant critical acclaim, achieving a 93% Tomatometer score on Rotten Tomatoes from 430 reviews, with praise centered on the standout performances of Olivia Colman as Queen Anne, Rachel Weisz as Sarah Churchill, and Emma Stone as Abigail Masham, alongside the film's lavish visual aesthetics and sharp satirical commentary on court intrigue.[8] On Metacritic, it earned a 91/100 score from 56 critics, highlighting its blend of ribald humor, intelligence, and liberation from conventional period drama constraints.[67] Reviewers frequently commended the screenplay's intricate power struggles among the female leads, describing it as a "gleefully nasty" exploration of ambition and betrayal that subverts expectations of historical politeness.[68][14] Director Yorgos Lanthimos's stylistic choices drew analytical focus, including wide-angle lenses and high-angle shots that underscore emotional isolation and the absurdity of hierarchical gamesmanship, fostering a sense of detachment that amplifies the satire without sentimentalizing victimhood or power imbalances.[69] Cinematographer Robbie Ryan's natural-light approach and fish-eye distortions further enhanced this, creating off-kilter compositions that mirror the characters' precarious maneuvers rather than imposing moral framings.[42] These techniques contributed to the film's consensus as a visually inventive work, though some outliers faulted the relentless cruelty and dark humor for occasionally straining narrative cohesion.[14] Criticisms, while minority views amid the acclaim, included perceptions of uneven pacing in the escalating rivalries and an unyielding depiction of ambition's destructiveness, which certain reviewers interpreted as eschewing redemptive arcs in favor of raw power corruption applicable across genders.[70] Right-leaning analyses emphasized this realism, arguing the film's refusal to gender-qualify vice avoids idealized portrayals of female agency, instead revealing universal incentives in zero-sum political environments.[71] Such interpretations contrasted with broader consensus praise for the performances' pitch-perfect execution of scheming without reliance on contemporary ideological lenses.[14]Awards and Honors
The Favourite received widespread recognition from major film awards bodies, accumulating over 350 nominations and nearly 200 wins across various ceremonies, with a particular emphasis on acting and technical achievements.[72] The film's success underscored industry voting patterns that often prioritize compelling individual performances and period authenticity over experimental storytelling, as evidenced by the distribution of accolades favoring Olivia Colman's lead role and design elements.[73] At the 91st Academy Awards on February 24, 2019, the film earned 10 nominations, including Best Picture, Best Director for Yorgos Lanthimos, Best Actress for Olivia Colman (which she won), Best Supporting Actress for both Emma Stone and Rachel Weisz, Best Original Screenplay, Best Film Editing, Best Production Design, Best Costume Design, and Best Cinematography.[74] Colman's victory marked a rare upset in the category, reflecting voter appreciation for her nuanced depiction of Queen Anne's vulnerability and volatility.[75] The 72nd British Academy Film Awards on February 10, 2019, saw The Favourite secure 12 nominations and 7 wins: Outstanding British Film, Best Leading Actress (Colman), Best Supporting Actress (Weisz), Best Costume Design (Sandy Powell), Best Production Design (Fiona Crombie), Best Makeup and Hair, and Best Editing (Yorgos Mavropsaridis).[76] These BAFTA triumphs highlighted the film's strong appeal to UK voters, who valued its historical setting and ensemble dynamics.[77]| Award | Category | Recipient | Result |
|---|---|---|---|
| Academy Awards | Best Actress | Olivia Colman | Won[74] |
| BAFTA Awards | Best Costume Design | Sandy Powell | Won[76] |
| BAFTA Awards | Best Production Design | Fiona Crombie | Won[76] |
| BAFTA Awards | Best Supporting Actress | Rachel Weisz | Won[76] |