With The Lobster and The Killing of a Sacred Deer, director Yorgos Lanthimos has had two of the strangest awards season entries. While his latest, The Favourite, may look like a historical drama easier for voters to wrap their brains around, the new trailer confirms the director’s unusual sense of humor will again be on full display.
Olivia Colman, Rachel Weisz, and Emma Stone are the starry trio at the center of an 18th-century royal drama about the Queen, her close confidante and secret lover, Sarah Churchill, and the weird triangle that forms when Sarah’s young cousin Abigail arrives. With Sarah strategizing a war against France, it’s Abigail who becomes the Queen’s new favorite. Let the fight for power, badgers, and rabbits begin!
There’s debauchery and royal insanity all over the place, which is exactly what I want from a costume drama. Nobody needs another dull period piece about palace intrigue, and now the only question is how many Oscar nominations will this get? I want it to get all of them right now.
Here’s the official synopsis: THE FAVOURITE is a bawdy, acerbic tale of royal intrigue, passion, envy and betrayal in the court of Queen Anne in early 18th century England. At the center of the story is the Queen herself (Olivia Colman), whose relationship with her confidante, adviser and clandestine lover Sarah Churchill, Duchess of Marlborough (Rachel Weisz) is turned upside down by the arrival of the Duchess’s younger cousin Abigail (Emma Stone). Soon the balance of power shifts between the women as they jockey for influence with the Queen and the court.
Also starring Nicholas Hoult, Joe Alwyn, and Mark Gatiss, The Favorite opens November 23rd.
