Big-time Oscar bait: THE FAVOURITE, Yorgos Lanthimos' most entertaining and accessible film so far, opens in South Florida

We've already seen as number of films this year with a terrific lead performance from a woman -- Kelly MacDonald in Puzzle, Julianne Moore in Bel Canto, Glenn Close in The Wife, to name a few of the best -- but here comes a movie that sports three major, spot-on and Oscar-worthy performances from its leading actresses. Plus, it proves such a fascinating, oddball entertainment for so many reasons that TrustMovies predicts it will be land Oscar nominations in quite a few categories.

THE FAVOURITE (British spelling, folks) is the fifth film from Greek movie-maker Yorgos Lanthimos (shown at right) to garner a theatrical release here in the USA, and it is by light years his most accessible and entertaining. Splendidly cast, top to bottom, it is also his first to concentrate so fully on women. The result has so far proven both mainstream-arthouse box-office and critical gold.

As usual with Lanthimos' work, the actual time frame is somewhat bizarre. If it seems like the present (Dogtooth or The Killing of Sacred Deer), the human behavior on view is from elsewhere -- in the case of the latter film, somewhere in the land of myth. In The Lobster, both time frame and behavior are completely elsewhere. (Alps comes closest to medling period and behavior into a cogent whole.)

The Favourite pulls a reverse twist: Set in England of the early 1700s, during the reign of Anne, Queen of Great Britain, the period details of the sets and costumes look both sumptuous and correct. Yet the dialog -- classy, witty and very smart -- is thoroughly of today, and it is delivered by the entire cast with such panache that it works with nary a hitch. (The screenplay comes via Tony McNamara and Deborah Davis.)

Note, too, the scene of dancing in the court (above) that begins as rather your standard sort before morphing into something closer to the kind of jitterbug/swing moves that were seen during World War II. Yet, instead of jarring us, thanks to the skill of Lanthimos, his cast and crew, this odd duality seems to somehow achieve precisely the correct tone.

The tale told is of Queen Anne (a brilliant job by Olivia Colman, above, of Broadchurch, Tyrannosaur and The Night Manager), a woman of unsteady mind, physical health and emotional state,

and the vying of two of her underlings (Rachel Weisz, above, and Emma Stone, below) for the place at the Queen's side as her favourite.

A war against France is currently raging, which provides some political backdrop and a chance for the lesser males in the story -- particularly the warring politicians Nicholas Hoult (below, center) and James Smith to strut their marginal stuff. Don't mistake my meaning here: The actors are just fine, but their roles are clearly subsidiary to those of the much stronger women.

Who holds the upper hand changes and then changes again, and the feint-and-parry antics of this crew proves consistently surprising and lots of dark fun. (Dark is ever-present in Lanthimos' world, as it seems to be in Greece.)

Interestingly, the most completely sympathetic character in the film is that of Masham, the decent young man played by Joe Alwyn (above, left) who simply has the hots for Ms Stone's character and is used as a disposable stepping stone throughout.

Lanthimos keeps a pretty firm hand and eye on things, but occasionally he can't resist a too-cute camera angle (as two photos up) or the use of something I believe is called a fish-eye lens, above, to produce an odd visual that calls attention to itself but says nothing. Still, this is overall a small price to pay for enjoying such good, dark fun.

History, bunnies (lots of them), poisoned tea and a runaway horse all come into play and help make this two hour movie pretty much fly by. That, and the work of its three very fine actresses, each of whom consistently commands your attention and respect, even sometimes convincing you that her character might just be the caring, humane person she so wants her Queen to admire.

But since this is a warts-and-all (maybe warts-and-little-else) affair in which power must be held so tightly, these strong, smart and heartless women must ever jockey for that power. The three actresses are a wonder to watch. As Ms Stone's character answers, when asked what side she is on concerning a particular dispute, "I am on my side." Well, aren't we all? And don't we end up in prisons mostly of our own making?

From Fox Searchlight and running 119 minutes, The Favourite, after opening on the coasts and elsewhere around the country, hits South Florida today, and is playing pretty much all over Miami, Fort Lauderdale and Palm Beach County areas. 

THE KILLING OF A SACRED DEER doubles as the unmasking of a certain Greek filmmaker

Ah, those Greeks, and their heroes, myths and family troubles: Agamemnon and his brood, Medea and hers, Oedipus and his. Watching the earlier films of Yorgos Lanthimos -- Dogtooth, Alps and The Lobster -- myth, if not heroes, might have popped briefly into one's mind and then out again, as one searched, first, for any possible meaning in what one was viewing, and then of course what that meaning might possibly have to do with the life one was actually experiencing. The films were all puzzles, and one possible answer seemed about as good or bad, fitting or not so, as any other you might attach. (Alps is probably his most immediately understandable, if-still-unconventional movie.)

Now, we have Mr. Lanthimos' latest (the filmmaker is pictured at left), THE KILLING OF A SACRED DEER, in which the relationship to myth is right up front in the actual title. Even if we never see that killing take place or hear anyone mention it in passing, once that deed is done, buddy, you are in deep trouble.

Our "buddy," in this case, is none other than Lobster star Colin Farrell (below), here playing a very successful surgeon named Stephen, who a while back operated on a patient who then died. At the time, Stephen was under-the-influence, though he has never admitted nor taken responsibility for this.

Stephen has a very pretty and successful wife, Anna (played by Nicole Kidman, below), two cute kids, and a rather odd and under-age friend named Martin (Barry Keoghan, two photos below and at bottom, left). Who is this strange young man, and what does he want? The answer proves the motor that drives the movie, but I shall not explain that motor here because, should you decide to venture into Sacred Deer territory (and actually last out this patently ridiculous film), you deserve at least a surprise plot twist or two for your trouble.

I suspect that the major problem with the movie (as it was with The Lobster) is that a filmmaker whose native tongue is not English is working in that language anyway. All of which makes the dialog sound at very least "canned" when it isn't actually corny and/or thoroughly unbelievable.

Further, most of the performances are utterly robotic, which is something the filmmaker must have intended because you don't cast actors as good as Farrell, Kidman, and Keoghan and then cramp their style to the point where they are not allowed to act or even "behave" in ways that approach normal fashion. Interestingly enough the actors who play the couple's kids (Raffey Cassidy, shown below, left, with Keoghan, and Sunny Suljic) are permitted -- or maybe just did it on their own -- to behave more realistically.

Is Lanthimos doing this due to the film's myth-like subject matter, which he feels needs this extra non-oomph? Hell, I've seen plenty of staged Greek tragedies that featured genuine, realistic and hugely moving acting, so if this is his rationale, it sucks. If he's doing it to increase the mystery and suspense, that fails, too: The movie's a nonstop slough.

In any case, tragedy is supposed to give us characters who, no matter their flaws, are important. These people never rise to that state. Perhaps that's Lanthimos' point, but it's a tricky premise around which to base a slow-moving, two-hour movie.

The finale, which ought at least to inspire fear and dread comes closer to yawns and annoyance, particularly at Stephen's decision about how to handle his special problem -- which completely bypasses the one answer that would have solved the whole thing. But of course Stephen, unable to take any responsibility, would never manage to see it, let alone act on it.

From A24, The Killing of a Sacred Deer, after opening on the coasts, hits South Florida today, Friday, November 10. In the Miami Dade and Broward areas, it plays the AMC Aventura Mall 24, O Cinema Wynwood, Regal's South Beach 18 and AMC Sunset Place 24, Cinepolis Grove 15, CMX Brickell City Center 10, and the Cinemark Paradise 24. In the Palm Beach and Boca Raton areas, looks for it at the AMC City Place 20, Cinepolis Jupiter 14, Cinemark Palace 20 and Regal's Shadowood 16. To check showtimes at any of the above theaters, or -- wherever you live across the country -- to find a theater near you, simply click here.