December in Chicago. Director Yorgos Lanthimos tells the tale of 18th century English monarch Queen Anne and her court. Queen Anne, Olivia Colman, is in poor health and seems to have little interest in running the country. Anne's adviser and subsequent lover Lady Sarah Churchill, Rachel Weisz is pretty much running the country, rather effectively, due to her influence over the queen.
Then along comes Abigail Hill, Emma Stone, the broke and disgraced cousin on Lady Sarah looking for work, he father gambled her away. Lady Sarah gets her a gig as a low end maid. Abigail toils away at a dead end job until she gets in the good graces of the queen by helping her gout, earning her a promotion to lady of the bedchamber, it was a real job back then.
As Lady Sarah's duties keep her away from Queen Anne, Abigail uses her new position to gain influence over the queen and eventually into a sexual relationship with her. Abigail has now replaced Lady Sarah as the queen's confidante and she's able to score a marriage that reinstates her noble standing. When Lady Sarah comes back to court she's pretty upset by this and it starts a back and forth with Abigail.
Lanthimos admitted that the film is far from factually accurate but if you're looking for a film to be factually accurate, you're looking in the wrong place. As John Ford once said, "print the legend." The film was well written and put together nicely. Strong performances from Colman and Weisz as expected and even Emma Stone wasn't too bad with her accent and she did a fine job in the role. The film received a 93% Rotten Tomatoes rating and grossed $96 million against a $15 million budget. I also received 5 Golden Globe and 10 Oscar Nominations with Colman winning the Oscar for Best Actress.
Lanthimos is a talented director and is worth watching. However, his films are an acquired taste and may not be for everyone. His films do not normally get a wide release and are very arthousey. So you have to look for them but they're worth it.
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