when fact meets fiction
THE FAVOURITE (2018) Basically the cinematic embodiment of that meme where Kathryn Hahn stares adoringly at Rachel Weisz for 10 minutes, this is a wholly captivating and extremely gay romp through a twisted love triangle, featuring a gout-riddled Queen Anne near the end of her life (played by Olivia Coleman), her close aide, Sarah Churchill (Rachel Weisz) and Sarah’s cousin, Abigail (Emma Stone). Abigail begins as an underdog servant, rising in the courts by ingratiating herself to the conservative party, then to the queen – in the process, she usurps a more liberal Sarah as Anne’s confidant, carer and lover. Australian writer Tony McNamara is famous for taking liberties with history’s greatest monarchs to tell us something
