POOR THINGS : Tuesday 26th December 2023.

I saw the MA15+ Rated 'POOR THINGS' at my local independent movie theatre this week, and this black comedy fantasy film is Co-Produced and Directed by Yorgos Lanthimos whose prior feature film offerings take in his debut in 2001 with 'My Best Friend' and which he would follow up with 'Dogtooth' in 2009, and then his first English language film 'The Lobster' in 2015, 'The Killing of a Sacred Deer' in 2017 and 'The Favourite' in 2018. This film is based on the 1992 novel of the same name by Alasdair Gray. The film saw its World Premiere showcasing at the Venice International Film Festival in early September this year where it won the Golden Lion. It was released Stateside earlier this month and is scheduled to be released in the UK on 12th January, having so far grossed US$6M against a production budget of US$35M and garnering universal critical acclaim.

The film opens up in London, Victorian era England where scientist and surgeon Dr. Godwin 'God' Baxter (Willem Dafoe) is performing surgery on a cadaver to an audience of students, who under their breath deride his monstrous appearance. One such student, Max McCandles (Ramy Youssef) is singled out to become his assistant on the strength of a paper he wrote which grabbed the attention of Baxter. McCandles is welcomed to the grand home of Baxter where he meets with the Doctor's maid Mrs. Prim (Vicki Pepperdine). McCandles is tasked with recording the progress made by Baxter's ward - a childlike young woman named Bella (Emma Stone, who also Co-Produces here), whose intelligence is rapidly developing almost by the day. 

In time, Baxter tells McCandles that the woman who was heavily pregnant at the time, had committed suicide by throwing herself off a bridge into the River Thames, and that she had died only moments before he retrieved the body and that rigour mortis had not yet set in. He resurrected her lifeless corpse by replacing her brain with the brain of her still-living baby, resulting in her now having the mind of an infant child. 

With Baxter's blessing, McCandles asks for Bella's hand in marriage, on the condition that that the pair never leave the house, because of the bad influences, dangers and violence that exists in the world outside the security of their own home. Bella accepts but, desiring freedom to explore the world and experience adventures in her own right as her mind matures, runs off with foppish lawyer Duncan Wedderburn (Mark Ruffalo) who was brought in by Baxter to execute a marriage contract, and who became infatuated with Bella upon their first meeting. Reluctantly Baxter agrees to let Bella go. Godwin starts a new experiment with a young woman named Felicity (Margaret Qualley), whose intelligence is developing at a much slower pace than Bella's did.

So Bella and Wedderburn embark on a grand adventure, starting in Lisbon, Portugal where the two have frequent sex. Bella becomes difficult for Duncan to control as she is not yet mature enough to engage in polite social etiquette and just speaks her mind on a whim. So he smuggles her onto a cruise ship for a change of scenery. Once on board, she becomes friendly with passengers Martha (Hannah Schygulla) and Harry (Jerrod Carmichael) who open her mind to philosophy. Wedderburn becomes increasingly exasperated and begins drinking more heavily and gambling. 

During a stop at Alexandria, Egypt, where Harry and Bella are enjoying a lavish lunch, Harry shows Bella the miserable plight of the locals, the abject poverty in which they live and the resultant death of numerous young children and babies, at which Bella becomes distraught and sobs uncontrollably. Returning to her cabin she finds Wedderburn passed out on their bed in a drunken stupor covered in cash from his gambling winnings. Wracked with guilt over the poverty she witnessed she collects up all the cash and donates away the winnings, which are in turn stolen by a couple of opportunistic crew members whom Bella believed she could trust to do the right thing and pass on the cash to the people who desperately needed it the most.

Unable to afford the remaining trip, the pair are kicked off the ship at Marseille, France after which they make their way to Paris. Having run out of money, Bella begins working at a brothel clearing twenty French francs per client, which only serves to further enrage Wedderburn resulting in his mental breakdown, and which finally leads her to abandon him. At the brothel, she comes under the tutelage of Madame Swiney (Kathryn Hunter), has no shortage of clients and befriends fellow prostitute Toinette, (Suzy Bemba) who introduces her to socialism.

Meanwhile, back in London, Baxter is terminally ill. He asks McCandles to locate Bella and to return her to him. McCandles does so after tracking down Wedderburn, who has been confined to an institution following his breakdown. Upon her return to London, Bella reconciles with Baxter and renews her vows with McCandles. The two are interrupted by Wedderburn and General Alfie Blessington (Christopher Abbott) at the alter on their wedding day, at which Baxter is giving away Bella. 

Blessington, who calls Bella by her former name of Victoria, reveals that they were married before her disappearance and that he has come to reclaim her after Wedderburn posted an ad with a picture of Bella in the newspaper. Bella abandons Max at the alter before exchanging their vows to learn of her past life. She quickly comes to the realisation that her former husband has a violent and sadistic streak and that she had in fact committed suicide to escape their unhappy marriage and to save her unborn child from a life of misery. He basically imprisons Bella to the confines of his mansion and threatens her at gunpoint to submit to genital mutilation after which he will plant his seed inside her, and demands she drink a chloroform-laced cocktail to sedate her for the procedure. She tosses the cocktail in his face, causing him to shoot himself in the foot before succumbing to the chloroform. 

Baxter dies peacefully with Bella and McCandles at his side, with his final words being that his surgery is now hers and that his life has been interesting. Bella decides to carry on Baxters work with the help of McCandles, Toinette and Mrs. Prim. Blessington is seen on the operating table where his brain is swapped with that of a goat, while Felicity's intelligence is finally improving. Bella is seen in the garden of her London home with a cocktail in one hand and studying from a book for her final medical exams. 

For me 'Poor Things' failed to land in the same way that it does with the majority of other critics who have given the film its almost universal blessing. That said, you can't help but admire Director Yorgos Lanthimos and his creation of a steampunk bizarro world of OTT characters, locales and emotions writ large mostly by a never been better and a career defining performance by Emma Stone, an equally far removed from his usual roles Mark Ruffalo, and the always dependable Willem Dafoe channeling Doctor Frankenstein. The production values and costume designs are all top notch and look as though Lanthimos squeezed out very cent from his US$35M production budget to bring us a film that looks greater than the sum of its parts. However, this film is hard to pigeon hole, and at a run time of 141 minutes and a film that feels more like an absurdist sex comedy than an intellectual coming of age fantasy drama I couldn't help but feel just a little meh! after all the explicit sex scenes and the vividly rendered set pieces.

'Poor Things' merits three claps of the Odeon Online clapperboard from a potential five claps. 

-Steve, at Odeon Online-

CRUELLA : Tuesday 15th June 2021.

'CRUELLA' which I saw at my local multiplex this week is a PG Rated American crime comedy-drama film Directed by Craig Gillespie whose previous film making outings include 'Lars and the Real Girl', 'Million Dollar Arm', 'The Finest Hours' and 'I, Tonya' most recently in 2017. This film is based on the character Cruella de Vil, introduced in Dodie Smith's 1956 novel 'The Hundred and One Dalmatians' and specifically on the version from the Walt Disney 1961 animated film 'One Hundred and One Dalmatians'. It is the third live-action film in the '101 Dalmatians' franchise which were '101 Dalmatians' released in 1996 and '102 Dalmatians' released in 2000 both with Glenn Close playing Cruella de Vil. Those first two instalments grossed a total US$505M off the back of production budgets amounting to a combined US$160M. This film was released theatrically and simultaneously available on Disney+ with Premier Access from the end of May, has generated mostly positive Critical Reviews aside from the screenplay, has so far taken US$132M off the back of a production budget of somewhere in the vicinity of US$150M, and Disney announced earlier this month that a sequel is officially in the early stages of development with both Emma's (Stone and Thompson, who play the leads here) having stated that they would like to make a second film. 

The film opens up sometime in the early 1960's and we are introduced to young five year old Estella Miller (Billie Gadsdon) and her mother Catherine (Emily Beecham) at home fashioning clothes out of scraps of material for Estella's dolls. Already it is clear that the young child has an eye for fashion but also a mean streak, so her mother coins the nickname 'Cruella' for her. We then fast forward to Estella aged twelve (Tipper Seifert-Cleveland) and starting at a new school she is already out of sorts with her student cohort for her outlandish fashion sense, outspoken nature, rebellious streak and never say die attitude which gets her into all sorts of trouble with the Headmaster resulting in him blotting her record with black mark upon black mark. Ultimately Catherine is forced to pull Estella out of school before she is expelled, and the pair decide to travel to London to seek a fresh start there. En route, Catherine pulls over at the cliff top mansion of Baroness von Hellman (Emma Thompson) who is hosting a lavish ball. She asks the Baroness for financial assistance, at which Estella witnesses her mother being shoved over the edge of a cliff to her death by three of the Baroness' ferocious Dalmatian dogs. 

Needless to say the young Estella is mortified by what she witnessed and flees the scene, hitching a ride in the back of a garbage truck all the way to London. She gets out of the truck at a fountain at Regent's Park and is later the next morning greeted by two young street urchins - brothers Jasper and Horace Badun (Ziggy Gardner and Joseph MacDonald respectively). After being chased down by a Policeman on the beat the threesome all come together in an abandoned loft in what looks like a condemned building. In an attempt to go unnoticed she dies her unusual half black half white head of hair red. 

We then fast forward ten years and Estella (Emma Stone) remains with Jasper (Joel Fry) and Horace (Paul Walter Hauser) and have become very adept grifters, so much so that they are able to eek out a reasonable standard of living for themselves by picking pockets, stealing wallets and sundry items of jewellery from unsuspecting members of the public and shops around the city. All the while Estella works on her fashion skills by designing their disguises. On the occasion of her birthday Jasper and Horace present Estella with a contract of employment at the Liberty department store (a store that she has always aspired to work at), albeit as an entry level cleaner. After numerous attempts to convince her boss that she is more talented than scrubbing floors and cleaning toilets, but failed, one night in a drunken stupor she changes the window dressing of a particular display much to the chagrin of her boss, but also and more importantly, much to the prise of the Baroness who happens to be the owner of the store. Estella as a result lands a much coveted job with the Baroness who is a famous highly regarded albeit very demanding and authoritarian fashion designer. 

In time Estella wins over the confidence of the Baroness, until one day Estella notices the Baroness wearing a necklace and pendant that previously belonged to her mother Catherine, and which she had given her daughter on the night on her death. In fleeing the scene of the crime, the young Estella had dropped the necklace in panic and only noticed she had lost it when she arrived in London. Estella makes a casual enquiry as to the origin of the distinctive necklace, and the Baroness responds that an employee has once stolen it. At that Estella asks Jasper and Horace to help her steal it back. 

Estella, under the auspices of Cruella and now donning her natural half black half white hair colour, crashes one of the Baroness' lavish parties to steal back the necklace. When the Baroness uses a whistle to command her Dalmatians, Estella comes to the realisation that she used the same whistle to direct her dogs to murder Catherine. 

Now fuelled by revenge for her mother's death, Estella taunts the Baroness by appearing at her parties and social gatherings and upstaging her as Cruella in ever increasingly flamboyant outfits, designed with the aid of vintage clothing store owner, Artie (John McCrea). 

Cruella's unpredictable and often outrageous appearances gain publicity through her childhood friend Anita Darling (Kirby Howell-Baptiste) a gossip columnist. However, meanwhile Cruella's egotistical and arrogant behaviour increasingly antagonises Jasper and Horace so much so that they consider going their separate ways. The Baroness in the meantime, fires her lawyer Roger (Kayvan Novak) for failing to stop Cruella. Estella also kidnaps the Baroness' three Dalmatians after one of them accidentally swallows her mother's necklace, then relies on Jasper and Horace to retrieve the necklace when it appears out of the other end of the dog that swallowed it. 

Cruella later on sabotages the latest Spring collection hosted by the Baroness and stages her own show in front of the fountain at Regents Park wearing an outfit supposedly made out of Dalmatian fur. The Baroness in the meantime has come to the conclusion that Estella and Cruella are in fact the same woman. With her heavies in tow, the Baroness infiltrates their loft and when Estella returns from her successful Regents Park gig she is confronted by a tied and bound Jasper and Horace. Estella is tied and bound, and petrol is doused all around the place, with Jasper and Horace both being framed for her untimely death. The Baroness in turn lights a flame and leaves Estella to die in the fire which quickly engulfs the building. Jasper and Horace are both arrested. 

Cruella while presumed dead and reported as such in the press, is in fact rescued by the Baroness' long serving and trusted valet John (Mark Strong). When she comes round in John's modest home he reveals that he found the necklace, cleaned it with bleach, and therein is a key to a box containing Estella's birth records. She discovers that the Baroness is in fact her biological mother, and ordered John to have the baby Estella killed so she could concentrate exclusively on her fashion career. John couldn't bring himself to commit such an act so instead gave the baby to Catherine, one of the Baroness' maids, who raised Estella in secret. Estella is initially angered by Catherine's deception but in time comes to terms with the truth in an effort to complete her vengeance, so taking on the name Cruella permanently.

Cruella breaks Jasper and Horace out of jail using a garbage truck to ram the front entrance to the Police Station where they are being held (straight out of 'The Terminator' 1984), recruiting them and Artie for her final scheme. They sneak into the Baroness' charity gala, where Cruella has previously sent out an identical costume and black and white wig for all female guests to wear on the night under the pretext that it was sent by the Baroness (straight out of 'V for Vendetta' 2005). Cruella (dressed as Estella) standing on the same spot as her mother was thrown over the cliff all those years before, reveals to the Baroness that she is her abandoned daughter. The Baroness feigns remorse for her actions and asks to hug her before pushing her over the cliff top into the raging sea below, unaware her guests had been led outside and had witnessed the whole thing. The Baroness claims that Estella jumped just as the Police arrive. Cruella survives the fall using a parachute built into her clothing and picked up in a row boat by Horace. She discards her Estella disguise before returning to witness the Baroness being arrested, as Cruella.

Having adopted the last name de Vil (inspired by her stolen Panther De Ville car), Cruella inherits Hellman Hall, shortening it to Hell Hall, as its rightful biological heir, and she, Jasper and Horace attend the funeral of Estella as the only mourners in attendance. Stay seated for the mid-credits sequence in which Cruella has delivered to Anita and Roger (now married since he got fired as the Baroness' lawyer) two Dalmatian puppies named Pongo and Perdita. Roger is now writing songs for a living and begins singing the lyrics to 'Cruella de Vil' while tapping away at his piano. 

I have to say that I enjoyed 'Cruella' a whole lot more than I was expecting. For a Disney film this is quite dark in places and wickedly entertaining in the process. Director Craig Gillespie has here fashioned a Disney origin story that we never knew we needed, and delivered the goods in spades. The production values are top notch; the set designs impressive; the make up artistry equally so; and as for the punk era costumes as worn by Cruella and the haute couture outfits as worn by the Baroness, well they are awards worthy in the own right and worth the price of your ticket alone. Both Emma's shine in their roles, underscored by a strong supporting cast and Paul Walter Hauser nails it with his London accent and is about as far removed from 'Richard Jewell' as you can get. For a live action remake of a beloved Disney animated classic this film is right up there with the best of them and as for the running time of two hours fourteen minutes - fear not, it flies by and never leaves you wanting.

'Cruella' merits four claps of the Odeon Online clapperboard from a possible five claps.

-Steve, at Odeon Online-

ZOMBIELAND : DOUBLE TAP - Tuesday 22nd October 2019.

'ZOMBIELAND : DOUBLE TAP' which I saw this week at my local multiplex, is the long awaited MA15+ Rated ZomCom sequel to 2009's 'Zombieland' film which was Directed by Ruben Fleischer, starred Woody Harrelson, Jesse Eisenberg, Emma Stone and Abigail Breslin, and was a critical and commercial success grossing US$103M off the back of a US$24M production budget. Apparently a sequel was muted even before the release of the first film, but then things languished in development Hell for a number of years before being officially green lit in early 2018. This sequel was released in the US last week too, cost US$45M to make, has so far grossed US$39M and has generated mixed Reviews so far.

And so in this next instalment set ten years after the events of the first film, and following an opening narrative to bring us duly up to speed with the passing events of the last decade, we open up with a zombie showdown involving Tallahassee (Woody Harrelson), Columbus (Jesse Eisenberg), Wichita (Emma Stone) and Little Rock (Abigail Breslin) going head to head with a bunch of marauding zombies on the now overgrown lawn of the White House. Needless to say its a complete bloodbath as our four intrepid zombie killing heroes win the day using assault rifles, pump action shotguns, crowbars and pistols to thwart their flesh hungry aggressors.

Taking up residence in the deserted White House, Columbus decides to propose to Wichita and uses the First Lady's Hope Diamond ring to seal their engagement. Meanwhile Little Rock has thoughts of escaping her surrogate family and finding a man, settling down and starting her own family, but these notions are quickly rebuffed by her father figure Tallahassee. Early the next day, Tallahassee finds a brief hand scribbled note from Wichita and Little Rock, stating they have left because Little Rock feels Tallahassee still treats her like a child, and Wichita’s fear she has become far too attached to Columbus.

A few weeks later, resigned to their new found female-less lives, Tallahassee and Columbus are riding Segwey's around a desert shopping mall, when Columbus comes across Madison (Zoey Deutch) who has spent the last ten years or so of her life living inside the freezer of a frozen dessert restaurant chain. Madison pretty quickly manages to put Tallahassee off side, but she warms to Columbus, who invites the dumb ass blonde bimbo to come live with them at the White House, much to Tallahassee's chagrin. That first night Madison seduces Columbus.

The next morning Wichita returns to the White House alone and upon discovering that Columbus slept with Madison is none too pleased. Wichita goes on to explain that Little Rock left for Graceland with a hippie named Berkeley (Avan Jogia), and commandeered Tallahassee's prized modified Presidential limousine affectionately known as 'The Beast' with them. She also informs the group of more agile and durable 'super zombies' that she has come across, who are stronger, faster and able to withstand multiple attempts at killing them. Fearing for Little Rock's safety, the group head toward Graceland in a beat up minivan much to Tallahassee's disgust.

En route, the gang thwart a pack of zombie's while trying to commandeer a luxury RV, but come across one such super zombie that takes multiple shots to the head and body to eventually kill it - Columbus calls this new breed of zombie the T-800 (after the original 'Terminator'). Back in the minivan, because the RV blew its front tyres after inadvertently driving over road spikes, Madison begins to show sign of zombiefication, forcing Columbus to shoot her in the head somewhere off road and in the woods.

And so the remaining three continue their journey to Graceland, expecting to find Little Rock and The Beast, but there is no sign of either. They drive out of town and come across an Elvis themed motel, in whose driveway is parked The Beast. Venturing gingerly inside, Tallahassee is floored by Nevada (Rosario Dawson) pointing a gun in his face. When Nevada realises that they are friendly she advises that Little Rock and Berkley left for an outpost hippie commune called Babylon. Bonding over their shared love of all things Elvis Presley, Nevada and Tallahassee spend the night together.

The next morning, the pair are awoken by a ruckus coming from outside, only to find a monster truck has crushed The Beast and literally parked on top of it in the driveway. Albuquerque (Luke Wilson) and Flagstaff (Thomas Middleditch) alight from their vehicle and instantly it is recognised that the pair strongly resemble Tallahassee and Columbus in their personalities, traits and foibles. A pack of super zombies arrive on the scene and Albuquerque and Flagstaff, decide to fend them off alone showing the others 'how it's done'! They seemingly successfully overcome the horde, only to reveal within a few minutes that they were both bitten. Turning rapidly into super zombies themselves they are eventually thwarted and killed with Nevada's help, but not before trashing the place.

Saying farewell to Nevada to venture onto Babylon, en route the three come across Madison on the road driving an ice cream truck. They pull her over and she explains that she had an allergic reaction to the nuts contained within the trail mix she was eating when she had her episode, and Columbus spared her life by shooting over her head to scare her away. At Babylon, Little Rock and Berkley arrive and are greeted with a no guns policy as they are a peace loving community, and so their guns are instantly melted down to make peace medallions. A few days later the reunited group of four arrive at Babylon and reluctantly agree to give up their stash of weapons too in order to gain entry.

The group are reunited with Little Rock. Realising she is now a young adult and no longer needing his protection, Tallahassee leaves, as the commune celebrate the group’s arrival with a display of fireworks. While driving away, Tallahassee comes across a massive horde of super zombies who have been attracted by the fireworks, and returns to warn the commune. Left without guns, Tallahassee comes up with a two pronged attack plan. Firstly, using fireworks to attract the zombies into an enclosed area directly outside the communes walls, and exploding a tank of biodiesel when they are all contained. Secondly, to arm the members of the commune with makeshift barricade shields to corral the zombies off the skyscraper roof that houses the commune, baited by himself.

The first plan has only limited success when the zombie horde is larger than expected, and the unarmed group finds themselves seriously outnumbered and surrounded. Contemplating their fate Nevada arrives in the monster truck, rescuing the group by mowing down randomly every zombie left standing, of which there are many. The truck flips over on to its side, forcing them to exit the confines of the truck and journey on foot up the skyscraper chased by the horde. The commune members use their pre-prepared makeshift shields to create a single path off the edge of the tall building. Pursued by the zombies, Tallahassee jumps off the building, catching the hook of a construction crane as the horde falls to their deaths like lemmings. Two zombies grab at Tallahassee's leg and hold on left dangling precariously, but Little Rock shoots them with a forgotten custom made pistol once owned by Elvis, given to her by Tallahassee as an early Christmas present, so saving his life.

Little Rock reconciles with Tallahassee, Wichita finally accepts Columbus’ marriage proposal, Little Rock splits up with Berkeley, who then immediately hooks up with Madison who then stay behind at Babylon as the original group of four, joined now by Nevada, leave the commune in a dusky pink 1950's Cadillac convertible.

'Zombieland : Double Tap' has plenty going for it that will make it an enjoyable couple of hours spent at your local movie theatre, but at the same time it doesn't steer too far away from the original premise that made the first instalment so critically and commercially successful. The story is coherent enough, the zombie bloodletting is gore inspiring and there are enough undead kills to satisfy the most die hard fan, the chemistry between the lead characters is clearly evident, the comedic humour yields a number of laugh out loud moments, and there is the occasional tongue in cheek emotional interlude to counter balance the manic zombie attacks. What lets this film down is that it is largely simply a rehash of what went before, going through the all too familiar motions for the sake of fountains of blood spatter and gory zombie deaths, interspersed with the odd laugh, and a plot that is a thinly veiled road movie of reckoning on various levels, and that's about it. It is worth staying in your seat for the funniest element of the film that comes as a mid credits sequence featuring Bill Murray promoting 'Garfield 3'.

'Zombieland : Double Tap' merits three claps of the Odeon Online clapperboard from a potential five.

-Steve, at Odeon Online-

THE FAVOURITE : Tuesday 8th January 2019.

'THE FAVOURITE' which I saw this week at my local Art Deco independent theatre, is made by Yorgos Lanthimos, the Greek film, video, and theatre Director, Producer and Screenwriter who here brings us this historical comedy drama offering that saw its World Premier screening at the Venice Film Festival back in late August, and where it won the Grand Jury Prize, and the Volpi Cup for Best Actress going to Olivia Colman. The film went on general release in the US in late November, was released in the UK on 1st January, has so far taken US$28M off the back of a US$15M production Budget, and has garnered widespread Critical acclaim. Lanthimos has enjoyed success more recently also with 'The Lobster' in 2015 and 'The Killing of a Sacred Deer' in 2017. The film was nominated for five Golden Globe Awards including Best Motion Picture of which it won one, for Olivia Colman as Best Actress in a Motion Picture - Comedy or Musical, and has subsequently picked up a total of 78 award wins and another 228 nominations from around the awards and festivals circuit, including thirteen recently announced BAFTA nominations.

Set during the very early years of the 18th century when England is at war with the French, and a frail 42 year old Queen Anne (Olivia Colman) sits on the throne suffering from gout, weight gain, and various other ailments - both physical and mental. She has very little interest in governing her lands and the machinations of the two political parties of the era and instead likes to throw lavish parties, have political guests almost run riot in her Royal household, and care for her seventeen rabbits whom she refers to as her children and which run around freely in her chambers. Each one of the seventeen rabbits represents each one of her seventeen children she had lost over the years, mostly though miscarriages and still births.

Acting as confidante, advisor, lover and practically surrogate Queen is Sarah Churchill, the Duchess of Marlborough (Rachel Weisz) who has considerable sway with the two political parties - the Whigs and the Tories, who mostly look to Sarah as the influential mouthpiece of the Queen, and who in turn they try to influence on matters requiring some direction or a decision.

Meanwhile, Abigail Hill (Emma Stone) arrives at the Royal household seeking employment, having been unceremoniously booted out of a horse drawn carriage at the gate. Abigail was an earlier woman of means, educated, and from a privileged background and upbringing. But for reasons of some poor business choices and a gambling habit, her father lost his good name and fortune and sold his daughter to a German in exchange for a settlement of his debts. And so Abigail has fallen on hard times. Abigail is brought into the Royal palace but as a scullery maid to work in the kitchen on menial tasks - washing pots and scrubbing the floor.

One evening however, Abigail is hurriedly asked to attend the Queen's bed chamber where she lays prone on the floor, and to apply bandages to a sore, infected and inflamed leg. She sees this as an opportunity not to be missed, and so takes a horse early the next morning and rides off into the forest in search of a plant remedy to ease the Queen's suffering, which she then applies in secret. When Sarah initially sees what Abigail has done, and without any permission or knowledge from the Queen (for she slept while Abigail applied the plant extract poultice), she punishes her and orders she be birch whipped for her insolence. However, the Queen's suffering is eased as a result of the remedy, and Sarah can see that her intentions were in fact genuine, so she halts the whipping, and out of gratitude makes Abigail her Lady-in-Waiting.

Robert Harley, the 1st Earl of Oxford and Earl Mortimer (Nicholas Hoult) is a member of Parliament and an influential landowner approaches Abigail with a view to her spying on Sarah and drip feeding him intelligence on what Sarah is scheming behind Royal closed doors, and as a means to sidestep her authority. Abigail initially refuses, but sometime later late at night witnesses Anne and Sarah in a secret lesbian relationship. As a result of this sighting, Abigail begins plotting her own rise to win the Queen's favour and reestablish her position in society.

Sarah becomes increasingly occupied with the war between England and France, at which her husband John Churchill, the 1st Duke of Marlborough (Mark Gatiss) is on the frontline battling it out for Queen and country. This is the opportunity for Abigail to foster a closer relationship still with Anne, which she does to good effect, ultimately becoming a sexual relationship. Sarah catches sight of a naked Abigail lying in bed next to Anne one morning, and as a result urges the Queen to have her sent away.

Catching onto this, Abigail spikes Sarah's tea a few days later just before she rides out on horseback. In the forest, Sarah comes to a steady halt on her horse, leans over, vomits and passes out, falling off the horse with one foot caught in a stirrup. The horse bolts dragging an unconscious Sarah through the rough undergrowth of the forest floor for hours until nightfall. Sarah is missing for a couple of days. Anne thinks that this is just a rouse on Sarah's part to make her jealous, and so she dismisses any suggestions of a search party, rather letting her stew in her own juices.

The Queen once again returns to Abigail as her favourite aided by her flattery and subservient attitude. The Queen's first gift to her new favourite is to be permitted to accept the marriage proposal of Samuel Masham (Joe Alwyn), a Baron of Queen Anne's court, which immediately reinstates Abigail's standing in society, aided by a gift of a two thousand pound dowry from the Queen every year from this point on.

Later Sarah comes round in a brothel where her wounds had been attended to do by the Madam of the house. She returns to the Royal household some days later badly scarred to her left cheek, battered and bruised and issues an ultimatum to the Queen to send Abigail away now once and for all, otherwise she'll leak very personal letters to the press that recount the secret affair between the pair. However, Sarah's ploy backfires and ultimately destroys the relationship that she had enjoyed for years with the Queen. As a result, Sarah is stripped of any power she once had, her privileges and her place in the Royal court, and is sent back to her own family home. Sarah then makes numerous attempts to write a letter of reconciliation back to Anne, and finally after finding the words, the letter is intercepted by Abigail and burned on the open fire before it reaches the Queen.

Abigail, as the newly appointed keeper of the Royal finances, reports to Anne that there seems to have been some impropriety in the financial records of the Royal palace, and Sarah appears to have syphoned off seven thousand pounds over recent years in favour of her husband. The Queen initially dismisses this notion, but upon reflection has Sarah and her husband banished from Great Britain. With Sarah now well and truly gone, Abigail's appetite for the good life start to get the better of her. Lavish parties, wild entertainment, rich foods, good wine begin to take their toll.

One day while Anne rests in her bed, and Abigail sits in a chair looking out of the window slurping on a glass of wine with seventeen rabbits running around, she deliberately steps on a rabbit squeezing it under her foot. The rabbit lets out a tiny yelp in pain and fear which is just enough to stir the Queen from her slumber, and for her to take grave offence at. Falling out of bed and scrambling to her feet, Anne steadies herself while Abigail rushes over to assist. Anne grabs Abigail by the hair and orders her to her knees and to start massaging her legs, just as though she were a lowly servant. In massaging the legs of the Queen, both parties seemingly readjust to a new order.

'The Favourite' is a lavish production - from the set design, to the costumes, to the internal and external surroundings around which the film is framed, and it packs a punch a whole lot more than its mere US$15M production Budget would suggest. This is a wickedly entertaining partially historical telling of the fractured relationships that unfolded in the Royal household of England circa 1708, and specifically between the three very manipulative, very strong, very driven female characters. There are some genuinely laugh out loud moments in this film, particularly a dance sequence at a party that has to be seen to be believed involving Harley and Sarah dancing like its 1999 in the Royal household - hysterical! And the use of the 'C' word gets plenty of airing in the film too - hence its MA15+ rating. Lanthimos succeeds in ticking all the boxes - from the striking performances of the three female leads Colman, Stone and Weisz who all demonstrate jealousy, anger, cunning and a nervous tension in equal measure, and from Hoult too; to the production values; to the witty, intense and always sharp dialogue; to the score; and the storyline whilst grounded in historical fact also adds more than a dash of fictional poetic license. And why not, when it all adds up to a film as commendable as this. See it on the big screen while you can, and see for yourself what all the buzz surrounding this film is about.

'The Favourite' merits four claps of the Odeon Online clapperboard from a possible five.

-Steve, at Odeon Online-