Review of The Favourite, directed by Yorgos Lanthimos

The Favorite has been one of those movies I’ve been thinking about for a long time now. I’ve been wanting to watch it ever since it came out in 2018, but back then I was a broke freshman in college who didn’t have a job or any money to my name. In hindsight, I wish I had taken that work study position I was offered, but oh well.

It would be more than five years later before I finally watched the movie for the first time. The summer of 2024 I was living in Busan, South Korea under a government scholarship, and I was looking for time to unwind away from my roommate.

I love her to the moon and back, but in the beginning I wanted more time to myself, especially as I haven’t lived with a roommate in five years. So I went to a PC Bang, or an Internet cafe, and sat and watched Netflix for two hours.

This is how I finally ended up watching The Favorite. When I was there in Korea, it was available to watch on the platform, so I seized the opportunity and finally got around to watching this.

Let’s get into the review and summary before I start rambling too much!

Conflict breaks out with social climbers in the court of Queen Anne.

This movie takes place in 1705, when Queen Anne is in charge of Great Britain. The nation is in war with France, and Queen Anne herself is not doing so well. Her heatlh isn’t great, and it’s becoming more obvious that she has no actual interest anymore in ruling the country.

She spends her days playing with her many rabbits, and her lover Sarah Churchill is the one really running the show when it comes to the country’s affairs. There’s also opposition with Robert Harley, who is trying to reverse what Sarah is doing with Anne in many different ways.

Things change when Abigail Hill shows up in the court; she’s Sarah’s cousin. She wants a job here to restore her status after her father gambled her away. Abigail is assigned a role as a maid in the palace, and then she gets closer to the Queen when she tries to find her herbs after realizing she has gout.

Sarah doesn’t like that though and has her cousin whipped. But when the herbs work, she’s upgraded in her role, but Abigail spots the two of them having sex one night. Harley then tries to enlist Abigail for his cause and become a spy, but she says no and tells Sarah about it.

Anne and Abigail then becomes friends, then sex partners. Sarah wants Abigail removed after she realizes this, and then Abigail joins forces with Robert Harley. She then drugs Sarah’s tea and Sarah wakes up at a brothel, which makes Anne think that Sarah has abandoned her for greener pastures.

Now in better status, Abigail regains her status with a marriage Anne arranges. Robert and Abigail then use their influence to direct the Queen when it comes to decisions about the war. Sarah comes back and refuses to have a truce with Abigail.

Sarah then goes to the Queen and tells her to make a decision. Anne then sends her away, despite the High Treasurer telling her to mend their relationship, but then Abigail concocts evidence that Sarah was stealing money. Anne didn’t belive this, but when Sarah sends a letter, Abigail burns it.

Anne then believes her claim because Sarah never reached out. She decides to exile Sarah and her husband, allowing Abigail the opportunity to solidify her status in the court.

She then begins ignoring Abigail and going too far with her affairs. As Anne becomes more sick, she sees Abigail abuse one of her beloved rabbits, and then she tells Abigail to kneel before her and massage her leg.

As she does this, Anne tugs her hair, reminding Abigail of who really is in charge here.

Overall Thoughts

Out of the movies I’ve seen from Lanthimos’ filmography, this one is my favorite. Poor Thing is something that feels like it wants to be feminist, but isn’t really to me. I always say that if a woman had made that film, it would look completely different.

But this movie felt more focused. It’s still clearly written by a man, but the court dynamics here are something that I would imagine would happen in real life, minus the focus on the lesbian undertones. We’d never see that in the official records of what went down, even if I might’ve actually been like that.

The actors do a brilliant job with their roles, making this world really come alive. I think if you’re interested in this movie and haven’t gotten the chance to see it yet, go ahead and do so! You may find it worth the journey.

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