Greek director Yorgos Lanthimos‘ film The Favourite, which had ten Academy Award nominations, will make its Netflix debut on January 23rd.
The Favourite is a 2018 historical black comedy film co-produced and directed by Yorgos Lanthimos from a screenplay by Deborah Davis and Tony McNamara.
Set in early 18th-century Great Britain, the film’s plot examines the relationship between cousins Sarah Churchill, Duchess of Marlborough (Rachel Weisz), and Abigail Masham (Emma Stone) as they vie to be court favorite of Queen Anne (Olivia Colman).
Principal photography for the British–Irish–American production lasted from March to May 2017 and took place at Hatfield House in Hertfordshire and Hampton Court Palace.
The Favourite, which premiered in 2018, now on Netflix
The film premiered on August 30, 2018 at the 75th Venice International Film Festival, where it won the Grand Jury Prize and the Volpi Cup for Best Actress for Colman.
It was theatrically released in the United States on November 23, 2018 by Fox Searchlight Pictures and in the United Kingdom and Ireland on January 1, 2019. Produced for fifteen million dollars, the film was a box office success, grossing ninety-five million dollars worldwide.
The Favourite received widespread critical acclaim, especially for the performances of the three leads and Lanthimos’ direction. It won or was nominated for numerous awards, including ten Academy Award nominations, tying Roma for the most nominations of any film at that year’s ceremony.
On review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, the film holds an approval rating of 93 percent based on 425 reviews, with an average score of 8.5/10. The website’s “critics consensus” reads: “The Favourite sees Yorgos Lanthimos balancing a period setting against rich, timely subtext—and getting roundly stellar performances from his well-chosen stars.”
On Metacritic, the film has a weighted average score of 91 out of 100, based on 53 critics, indicating “universal acclaim.”
The Netflix release comes as, earlier in January, Yorgos Lanthimos’ Poor Things won the award for Best Motion Picture – Musical or Comedy at the Golden Globes ceremony held at the Beverly Hilton. This was the film’s second win of the night after Emma Stone won the Best Actress award.
Poor Things sees Stone playing a young woman, Bella Baxter, who goes on a journey of self-discovery and sexual awakening as she travels around the world.
“Bella falls in love with life itself, rather than a person, [and] she accepts the good and bad in equal measure,” Stone said in her acceptance speech. “And that really made me look at life differently, and that all of it counts. She has stayed with me deeply, so this means the world to me.”
Lanthimos, born in Athens in 1973, has received numerous accolades, including a BAFTA Film Award, three nominations for Academy Awards, and three nominations for Golden Globe Awards.
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