jmdFirst to rec
“I’ve been catching up on what Yorgos Lanthimos has been up to, and as much as “absurdist black comedy” and premises like “A bunch of single people at a hotel have to find a mate within a certain period of time or be turned into an animal of their choosing” (The Lobster) and “Willem Dafoe pulls a Frankenstein but this time makes Emma Stone” (Poor Things) sound like they would be right up my alley, this more straightforwardly realistic eighteenth-century palace-intrigue story—about the relationships between a fallen lady trying to regain her status, her more powerful cousin, and the childlike, tragic Queen Anne—actually ended up being the one I liked the best. (It’s certainly the one where the characters are most recognizable as real humans with human problems and desires.) Beautifully directed and with strong performances from Emma Stone and, in particular, Olivia Colman as Queen Anne.”
