Poor Things: A Rapturously Fantastical Comedy About Female Liberation
The incredible tale about the fantastical evolution of Bella Baxter, a young woman brought back to life by the brilliant and unorthodox scientist Dr. Godwin Baxter.
Yorgos Lanthimos reteams with actress Emma Stone (who also jumps into the role of producer here), writer Tony McNamara, and cinematographer Robbie Ryan, all of whom he first partnered with on The Favourite, and together, they take his insane eccentricities to even more hilarious, entertaining, imaginative, and lavish extremes. With a style that combines elements of Jean-Pierre Jeunet, Wes Anderson, Terry Gilliam, Stanley Kubrick, Peter Greenaway, and Powell & Pressberger filtered through Lanthimos’ own stylish idiosyncrasies, Poor Things is the acclaimed auteur’s most sumptuous, strange, visceral, and grandiose work to date. It’s a film of intense oddity, visual splendor, and “furious jumping,” rich in theme, character, and color, about men’s possession over female bodies and a woman’s reclamation of her own life and bodily autonomy.
Based on the novel by Alasdair Gray, McNamara and Lanthimos’ kooky adaptation honors the spirit of Gray’s work, encompassing its themes of social inequalities, relationships, memory, and identity, while also navigating its narrative in their own way. The book is a postmodern revision of Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein with more overt feminist leanings. It replaces the male monster with a female heroine, Bella Baxter (Emma Stone), and builds her into a prominent presence that actively rebels against the oppression of male-dominated Victorian society. Where Frankenstein builds its feminist theme through the absence of women, Poor Things employs a more direct female involvement within its narrative and explores their liberation from the cages men have built around them, physically, spiritually, and sexually.
Gray’s novel is largely rooted in the POV of its male characters, Goodwin Baxter (Willem Dafoe) and Max McCandless (Ramy Youssef), but McNamara pivots the film’s framing to Bella’s perspective, which makes its journey more visceral and rewarding. Emma Stone also dials in a career-best performance that fearlessly embraces the role’s wildness and weirdness. Her character is a pregnant suicide who’s been reanimated with the brain of her unborn infant, and Stone makes Bella’s transformation from curious child to worldly adult an emotional and gratifying experience. As bold and spectacular as Stone is, she’s got worthy male counterparts in Willem Dafoe, Ramy Youssef, and Mark Ruffalo (who plays Duncan Wedderburn, a flirtatious lawyer who whisks the young Bella away for a trip around the world). Ruffalo, in particular, delivers an absolutely hysterical performance full of pouty faces and terrific line readings that ranks amongst his best work. He nearly steals every scene he’s in out from under Stone’s feet — but at the end of the day, it’s still her film, and she owns every performative aspect of it.
The production design from Shona Heath and James Price, the costume design from Holly Waddington, and the cinematography from Robbie Ryan ensure the film is an absolute feast for the eyes. Heath, Price, and Waddington make the high fashion, retro-futuristic world feel very tactile and lived in. The sets and locations are insanely detailed, and the costumes are stunning; the whole world smacks with immaculate elegance and vibrant life, despite the immensity of its artifice. Ryan’s cinematography is a ravishing mix of black & white and technicolor that embraces multiple lens in the same way he did in The Favourite, leveraging wide angle and fisheye to fill every inch of the frame with the incredible set design and emphasize the oddity of the film’s world with its warble. Lanthimos’ direction is an engaging mix of zooms, camera moves, and meticulously framed static compositions, and his skills on display are sharper than ever. The score from Jerskin Fendrix is the chef’s kiss on the whole experience. He perfectly accentuates the film’s bizarre qualities with its pitch-bends while also keying into the romanticism and emotionality at the film’s core.
You could argue that the film runs a bit too long, that some of the supporting characters get lost in shuffle, or that the ending comes on too quickly, but the ace technical craft, stellar cinematography, dazzling sets & costumes, and wonderfully wacky performances are so astounding that any criticism seems like a minor quibble. It’s certainly a unique experience that you’ll likely want to bask in again and again, and it’s continued proof that Lanthimos’ talents are best served in collaboration with another screenwriter. He has formed such a exquisite partnership with Stone, McNamara, and Ryan that it’d be a shame to break up the band, especially when they’ve produced two wickedly fun hits back to back.
When all that “furious jumping” comes to an end, you’re left with a perverse pleasure full of fantastical fun that boasts an incredible lead performance and inspiring heroine (one that pairs nicely with Greta Gerwig’s Barbie). This satirical gothic romance about self-discovery and -love is carved with clear passion that oozes out of every pore. Poor Things’ charmingly surreal, mordantly funny confection brands it as a one-of-a-kind oddball gem and ranks amongst the year’s best.
Recommendation: Definitely give this wonderfully kooky and colorful comedy a watch! It will hit theaters on December 8th, and it ranks amongst the year’s best offerings.
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