Poor Things dives headfirst into a strange, beautiful, and horny world
Greek director Yorgos Lanthimos has divided audiences as long as he’s been making movies. To help you resurface some opinionated rage and confusion, or delight, his films include Dogtooth, The Lobster, The Killing of a Sacred Deer, and The Favourite. His films bend surrealism together with absurdism, glittered with idiosyncratic dialogue and characters. They also don’t shy away from weirdness and sex, or weird sex, even. Lanthimos implores you to face brutal honesty and vulnerability, and Poor Things is no different. Cradled within a vibrantly designed world in which to explore themes of sexual freedom and liberation, Poor Things is a masterpiece of creative ambitions.
The plot of Poor Things seems to be culled straight from Victorian gothic fiction, yet its based on a 1992 novel by Scottish writer Alasdair Gray. In the film, Dr. Godwin Baxter (Willem Dafoe), a Doctor Frankenstein-esque scientist, brings a deceased woman back to life. As she ages, this reanimated woman, Bella Baxter (Emma Stone), yearns to break free of her siloed domesticity. She grabs the attention of a sleazy lawyer, Duncan Wedderburn (Mark Ruffalo), and embarks with him on a multi-continental journey of discovery.
Bella Baxter also learns a lot about sex and sexuality. As she grows from adolescence into womanhood, her sexual proclivity becomes a source of unbound freedom and opportunity. Stone’s performance is a tour de force of humor, emotional exploration, and wonder. It’s also a physical performance —very physical. Bella’s hedonistic transformation is the basis by which Poor Things establishes itself as a feminist parable that creatively challenges gender roles and social taboos. At the onset, Bella is surrounded by influential, but manipulative, men. Dafoe and Ruffalo’s characters reflect a cross-section of male ingenuity, power, and insecurity. Ruffalo, in particular, is marvelously funny and distraught. Once Bella removes herself from a male-dominated environment, however, the whole world becomes available to her. The men are eager for a return to patriarchal societal standards, but are no match for Bella’s brazen curiosity.
Lanthimos’ visual influences are subtle and overt in equal measure. He and his team have created a world reminiscent of The Wizard of Oz and the films of Tim Burton, filled with imaginative details inspired by steampunk and fairy tales. The colors are bright, the sets are intricately detailed, and the backdrops seep with impressionistic textures. The technical creativity provides an ample backdrop for Bella Baxter’s ongoing journey of self-discovery. The film’s vibrancy reminds us that the world can (and should) be a stunning place, if not for the selfish whims of humanity. Thankfully, Poor Things doesn’t fit into a stereotypical “eat the rich” narrative trope — it’s more intricate and emotionally deep than that, even when it seems vulgar and overly indulgent. Poor Things asks us to face an excitingly strange world, question the individuals and laws that curtail our freedoms, and come out the other end all the more in awe of our potential for liberation, and maybe a little turned on in the process.
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Poor Things opens in theaters on Friday, Dec. 8th.
