Poor Things
About once a year, we get an audacious, off-the-wall movie that grabs you by the throat with its invention and risk-taking. In 2023, we got two. Ari Aster’s Beau Is Afraid was released in April, and now comes Yorgos Lanthimos’s Poor Things. If you’ve seen the director’s previous works - The Favourite, The Lobster, and The Killing of a Sacred Deer - you’re prepared to expect the unexpected. Combine those films and amplify their daring ten times over and that’s the level this new picture operates on. Viewers are guaranteed to be shocked or delighted, or maybe even a little of both.
The first section, shot in black-and-white, introduces us to Bella Baxter (Emma Stone), a grown woman who was reanimated and given a child’s brain. Her guardian, scientist Godwin Baxter (Willem Dafoe), keeps her confined in their spacious home, rarely letting her go outside. After meeting lascivious lawyer Duncan Wedderburn (Mark Ruffalo), she wants to experience the exterior world more. The two run away together and, as Poor Things switches to color, Bella has a series of awakenings, from the intellectual to the sexual. The very, very sexual.
Yes, the film’s copious sex scenes are destined to get tongues wagging thanks to their explicit nature, as well as Stone’s frequent onscreen nudity. Rather than being gratuitous, they represent the most provocative aspect of the story. We’re forced to confront our own hang-ups by watching Bella go through life without them. For example, at one point she becomes a prostitute, reasoning that she needs money and enjoys sex, making this a logical choice. She isn’t wrong, in a sense, but her way of thinking is often at odds with the conventions those around her adhere to.
Lanthimos and writer Tony McNamara (adapting Alasdair Gray’s book) use the heroine’s unfettered outlook to humorously comment on society’s creation of norms. The sex scenes do that most obviously, although the idea carries throughout the movie. With few social graces, Bella interprets the universe from a perspective that is as curious as it is welcoming. She’s almost like an alien from space, trying to understand our planet. Witnessing that through her eyes spurs us to challenge our own preconceptions.
Stone walks a high wire as Bella. Playing the character’s childish quality runs the risk of coming off silly. The actress avoids that, earning laughs from her naivety while still making her assorted awakenings feel genuine. In one of the plot’s slyest notes, Bella has a lot of men in her life who want to define her – Godwin, Wedderburn, prospective mate Max McCandles (Rami Youssef), her male clientele, etc. Stone conveys Bella’s almost preternatural desire to achieve agency on her own, without their input. She’s the original liberated woman, a sex-positive female who simply does what she thinks is right for herself. It’s an outstanding performance from the Oscar winner.
Lanthimos tells the tale with eccentric style. Early scenes mix a cyberpunk ethic with the stark B&W vibe of an old Universal monster flick. As it goes on, he introduces bold, obviously symbolic colors, along with a visual opulence reminiscent of Titanic. Like Bella, the picture itself expands and grows. Each shot is stunning to look at, with production design that has you scouring every inch of the frame to savor its richness.
Poor Things is also funny as hell. Aside from Stone’s wit as Bella, Ruffalo earns big laughs from Wedderburn’s snooty/perverted personality. The stars share a dance that easily goes down as one of the kookiest in screen history. Weird non sequiturs are similarly hilarious. Every time Dafoe’s character burps, with a bubble emerging from his mouth, I was on the floor laughing. Never knowing what you'll see next nicely mirror’s Bella’s journey. In an age of endless sequels and intellectual property-based movies, Poor Things stands out as an electrifying original.
out of four
Poor Things is rated R for strong and pervasive sexual content, graphic nudity, disturbing material, gore, and language. The running time is 2 hours and 21 minutes.
