Bedroom Games: Sex and Power in 'The Favourite'

An earthy and caustic representation of historical events – real and rumoured – during the eighteenth-century reign of Queen Anne, Yorgos Lanthimos' dark comedy gleefully up-ends period-drama tropes in its depiction of the backroom machinations and sexual intrigues that play out between its female protagonists. While women are very much at the centre of the film, however, the limitations imposed by their male-dominated surroundings remain ever-present, as Joanna Di Mattia contends.

Additional keywords:
New & Notable, senior secondary, period drama, United Kingdom, Great Britain, England, Olivia Colman, Emma Stone, Rachel Weisz, Sarah Churchill, Abigail Masham, satire, Royal Family, power, Restoration era, adaptation, Jane Austen, Pride and Prejudice, gender, sexual desire, history, lesbian, queer, LGBTQIA+