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The Favourite

The Favourite

History · Comedy · Drama · 2018

England, early 18th century. The close relationship between Queen Anne and Sarah Churchill is threatened by the arrival of Sarah's cousin, Abigail Hill, resulting in a bitter rivalry between the two cousins to be the Queen's favourite.

Movie details

The Favourite

2018 History · Comedy · Drama 2h 0m

Critical arithmetic

The consensus, allegedly.

IMDb

7.5 / 10

256.9K votes

Rotten Tomatoes

93 %

Tomatometer

Metacritic

91 / 100

Metascore

TMDB

7.5 / 10

Community rating

External scores via OMDb · CC BY-NC 4.0. Values normalized for display; availability varies by title.

England, early 18th century. The close relationship between Queen Anne and Sarah Churchill is threatened by the arrival of Sarah's cousin, Abigail Hill, resulting in a bitter rivalry between the two cousins to be the Queen's favourite.

CriticWise case file

What this film says about your taste.

Not a recommendation score. A measure of how closely the film’s taste signals resemble yours.

The archetype split

Who fights over The Favourite?

The split comes from the same five-axis model used by the test, not audience ratings or review sentiment.

Taste neighbourhood

Nearby on the taste map.

TMDB supplies the candidates. CriticWise reorders them by craft, strangeness, prestige, emotion, and pace.

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Where it lives

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Names above the title

The people responsible.

Directed by

Yorgos Lanthimos

Written by

Tony McNamara · Deborah Davis

Emma Stone

Emma Stone

Abigail

Olivia Colman

Olivia Colman

Queen Anne

Rachel Weisz

Rachel Weisz

Lady Sarah

Nicholas Hoult

Nicholas Hoult

Harley

Joe Alwyn

Joe Alwyn

Masham

Mark Gatiss

Mark Gatiss

Lord Marlborough

James Smith

James Smith

Godolphin

Court is in session

Put The Favourite on trial.

Two incompatible taste archetypes. One film. Read the arguments, then issue a completely binding cultural ruling.

The defence The Prestige Tourist

“Form is the argument.”

Every composed frame and deliberate cut is evidence that control can be thrilling in its own right.

The prosecution The Popcorn Loyalist

“Technique in search of a pulse.”

Immaculate construction is still construction. The film may be too busy proving its craft to feel alive.