‘Poor Things’ Movie Review: Yorgos Lanthimos’ Whimsical Tale Is a Hilarious Feat
Photo from Atsushi Nishijima/Searchlight Pictures
From Jeff Nelson
Yorgos Lanthimos is a brazenly bold filmmaker who doesn’t fear taking audiences through an exaggerated sense of reality that holds a mirror to society, particularly when it comes to sexuality. Poor Things is another dazzling jewel in Lanthimos’ crown of dark comedy supremacy.
Dr. Godwin Baxter (Willem Dafoe) brings Bella Baxter (Emma Stone) back to life using experimental science, replacing her brain with one from an infant. She’s experiencing much of the world for the first time in an adult woman’s body, making a long trek with the handsome, yet pathetic Duncan Wedderburn (Mark Ruffalo). Bella progressively learns more about the world outside of Godwin’s laboratory and who she really is.
Poor Things’ twisted use of science to interfere with life and death immediately brings Frankenstein to mind. Godwin, who Bella simply refers to as “God,” has a strange relationship with his discipline that digs far deeper than his own experiments. His other mutations roam the very same space that Bella does, although their relationship acts as inventor and creation, as well as father and daughter. The arrival of Max McCandles (Ramy Youssef), who joins to assist Godwin, introduces an outsider perspective into this world, as Bella’s miraculous existence mystifies him.
Lanthimos is a skillful comedian, which is not lost on Poor Things. It’s utterly hysterical, particularly when it comes to Bella’s exploration of social norms and customs. Make no mistake, this film is no one-note joke. This adventure divides its chapters by Bella’s location on her journey, as her intelligence and comprehension of the world around her advances, introducing a hilarious dynamic between herself and Duncan, who is a womanizer without an understanding of how to relate to Bella.
Tony McNamara’s screenplay pulls Alasdair Gray’s novel by the same name to the silver screen, which is a coming-of-age story at heart, chronicling the sexual awakening of a woman with a mind and body existing in entirely different stages of life. Bella seeks control over her own sexual journey, deriving her own pleasures and fascinations from it. However, there’s something to be said about this story coming from all-male creatives, which occasionally calls some gender and sexual politics into question.
Poor Things layers its sexual frankness with philosophical and religious ideals that interrogate social politeness. Bella questions such norms and constantly challenges them in ways that are equally funny and engaging, which only continue to evolve over the course of her expedition like a series of building blocks perpetually stacking.
Lanthimos draws a wide array of talent, all of whom are willing to go the distance in this weird sci-fi romance. Stone is an absolute knockout, fully committing to the physicality and deadpan delivery. This is the flashiest role of her career thus far, and she’s simply ravishing. Meanwhile, Ruffalo is exquisite as Duncan. He isn’t afraid to go big and over-the-top, walking the fine line between sexy and woeful. Dafoe is an excellent Godwin, delivering on the character’s retrospective nature and the strangeness of his desires.
The world of Poor Things is absolutely dazzling. Cinematographer Robbie Ryan exacts a playful vision that constantly toys with scale, contorting spaces in the frame that switches from a fitting black-and-white picture to the bombastic colors that flood the screen on Bella’s journey. Shona Heath and James Price’s jaw-dropping production design is next level, breathing life into these fantastical settings of wonder. Jerskin Fendrix’s freaky score brilliantly brings the energy of Bella’s story to life.
Poor Things is a splendidly peculiar adventure filled with surrealist oddities and dark hilarity in ways that only Lanthimos can pull off. It’s perpetually bewitching and visually stunning, supported by enchanting performances that further elevate this journey of self-discovery into an impressively rare display of cinematic magic.
Rating: 4.5/5
Poor Things hits theaters on December 8th, 2023.
