Review of The Favourite (2018) by Hydemike — 04 Jan 2019

Film critics have made Yorgos Lanthimos out to be some sort of unique directorial talent and his "works" - "The Lobster","The Killing of a Sacred Deer" and now "The Favourite"- have made him the darling of the festival crowd and the movie critics. One can but applaud him for being able to entice finance from the supposed "hard-nosed" money men of Tinseltown and make films that are only comprehensible to a very select few. How to approach his latest, "The Favourite"? Some compare it to Kubrick's "Barry Lyndon", when in reality there are more than a few nods to the outlandish Ken Russell. Is it a drama? Is it a comedy? Is it a comedy drama or a drama comedy? Who can tell? Hopefully the locations and the costume providers have got Yorgos on their Christmas card list. As for the actresses whose talents have been largely wasted,let's hope their careers can survive their participation here. There were moments when all three were on screen at the same time and the power struggles all three endured would have made a more memorable film. Unfortunately the music of the film's composer would then raise its ugly head or the "fish -eye" lens of the cameraman would interfere and kill any drama stone-dead.

Hopefully "word-of-mouth" will kill this film off and at some point there will be a reality check amongst the critics who will finally realise that Yorgos has subjected them to an "Emperor's New Clothes" scenario yet again and they have been had not once, not twice but three times now.