Hilarious royal comedy leads feisty female films at Venice

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Wicked and powerful women took the Venice film festival by storm Thursday with a viciously funny British period comedy, "The Favourite", already being talked of as an Oscar contender.

With controversy raging over why only one female director has been chosen to compete for the Golden Lion top prize, films by or about women are the talk of the festival.

(L-R) Joe Alwyn, Emma Stone, Yorgos Lanthimos, Olivia Colman, Nicholas Hoult and Alberto Barbera walk the red carpet ahead of the "The Favourite" screening during the 75th Venice Film Festival at Sala Grande on August 30, 2018 in Venice, Italy. /VCG Photo

"The Favourite", a riotous cocktail of love, power and ambition at the court of Queen Anne starring Emma Stone, Rachel Weisz and Olivia Colman, drew belly laughs and cheers at its premiere.

Critics predicted Oscar nominations for the trio, who play the three most powerful women in early 18th-century England.

The story of the real-life rivalry between Sarah Churchill, the Duchess of Marlborough, and her cousin Abigail Hill as they fight for the ear of the queen played by Colman, was given a distinctly post-#MeToo twist by London-based Greek director Yorgos Lanthimos.

Emma Stone walks the red carpet ahead of the "The Favourite" screening during the 75th Venice Film Festival at Sala Grande on August 30, 2018 in Venice, Italy. /VCG Photo

The Hollywood Reporter declared it one of the hottest independent films of the year so far, and not just for its earthiness.

"There are lots of sexual politics in the film and that's good," Colman told reporters. "We think we invented sex but it has been going on for quite a long time. It was also awfully fun to have sex with Emma Stone."

"It was fun to have sex with you too," said the Oscar-winning star of "La La Land".

Olivia Colman walks the red carpet ahead of the "The Favourite" screening during the 75th Venice Film Festival at Sala Grande on August 30, 2018 in Venice, Italy. /VCG Photo

Colman, who is also playing the reigning British monarch Elizabeth II in the Netflix hit series "The Crown", said the two queens "were not very similar."

She played Queen Anne as a "petulant child, an under-confident woman does not know if anyone really loves her, and who has too much time on her hands and too much power.

"I don't think the Queen learned anything from her."

Actresses Emma Stone(L) and Olivia Colman(R) attend a photocall for the film "The Favourite" in Venice, Italy, on August 30, 2018. /VCG Photo

Lanthimos, best known for "The Lobster", said the script was written nine years ago, long before the #MeToo movement, "so we can't take credit. The prevalent male gaze in cinema is of women as mostly housewives, girlfriends or objects of desire.

"Our small contribution is to show them as the complicated, wonderful and sometimes horrific people there are," he added.

(Cover photo: (L-R) Actor Nicolas Hoult, actress Emma Stone, director Yorgos Lanthimos, actress Olivia Colman and actor Joe Alwyn attend a photocall for the film "The Favourite" in Venice, Italy, August 30, 2018. /VCG Photo)

Source(s): AFP