This article was written by Lauren Coates.
Between awards darlings like The Favourite and offbeat fan favorites including The Lobster and The Killing of a Sacred Deer, Yorgos Lanthimos’ filmography has cemented him as one of the greatest working directors, combining horror, black humor, and surrealist storytelling in frequently female-led films. His latest entry, Poor Things, sees Lanthimos reuniting with Emma Stone for a wonderfully twisted tale of self-exploration told through lush visuals and aberrant science fiction conventions.
Based on Alasdair Gray’s 1992 novel of the same name, Poor Things follows Bella Baxter (Stone), a Frankenstein’s monster-esque woman brought to life by the eccentric but well-meaning scientist, Dr. Godwin Baxter (Willem Dafoe). A macabre combination of a formerly pregnant woman’s body combined with the mind of the infant child, Bella undertakes a journey of self-discovery and evolution, all the while pursued by several smitten suitors, including Duncan Wedderburn (Mark Ruffalo) and Max McCandles (Ramy Youssef).
Marrying Gothic sci-fi sensibilities with his signature offbeat brand of surrealist humor, the world Lanthimos creates in Poor Things is a vibrant, bizarre one, full of strange creatures and stranger people. Shona Heath and James Price’s production design is dazzling. full of saturated colors and painted backdrops that imbue the period drama with a whimsical, time-transcending sense of self.
Holly Waddington’s mesmerizing costume designs see Bella donning all manner of structured gowns, puffed shoulders, and tiered skirts, all immaculately tailored, pleated, and darted in decadent fabrics. Heath, Price, and Waddington’s combined efforts are captured through cinematographer Robbie Ryan’s careful eye, employing all manner of fish eyes, aspect ratios, and color grading. Poor Things is crafted with obvious devotion and attention to detail, and the result is a film full of sumptuous visuals that mirror both the beauty and bizarre nature of Lanthimos’ writing.
Flitting between genres and tones, Poor Things’s singular sense of aesthetics isn’t just a feast for the eyes, either—the film’s strange beauty gives viewers a chance to marvel at a new, unexpected world in the same way Bella does: full of wonder, curiosity, and utter delight. The film’s premise is a deceptively simple one: beyond the gruesome circumstances surrounding Bella’s “birth,” Poor Things is a surrealist, often brutal (but never lacking in whimsy) coming-of-age story.
At the center of it all is, of course, Emma Stone’s Bella Baxter: always cutting a striking figure with her shin-length dark hair and lavish ensembles, it’s not hard to see why the men in her life are falling over themselves for a shot with her. As Baxter, Stone combines a wicked sense of humor with a genuine sweetness, curiosity, and lust for life that can only be found in someone who’s admired the world for so long but has never actually been allowed to explore it.
Not entirely dissimilar from Quasimodo or Frankenstein’s monster, Bella begins the film as a naive, childlike creature barely in control of her own body, and the viewer is given the delightful experience of watching her fully come into herself, not just as a human being, but as a fierce, intelligent woman unburdened by societal standards and expectations. Though she gets her fair share of reality checks and experiences plenty of the cruelties the world has to offer, Bella never loses her wit, her passion for exploration, and perhaps most compellingly, her genuinely loving heart.
Stone disappears into the role, effortlessly guiding the character’s growth in a way that’s so seamless it’s nearly impossible to pinpoint when Bella goes from being a strange experiment to an erudite sophisticate. Opposite Stone are a quartet of men in Bella’s life, all of whom seek to control, guide, or own her in some way, the most charismatic and memorable of which is Mark Ruffalo’s rakish Duncan Wedderburn. There’s an admirable lack of dignity that Ruffalo brings to Wedderburn; though he passes himself off as a swashbuckling Lothario, Duncan transforms into a petulant child once he realizes that she’s more than just a pretty face, outfoxed and taken entirely off-guard by Bella’s brilliance.
Admittedly, the rollicking tale of Bella’s discovery isn’t an entirely breezy one: the film’s nearly two-and-a-half-hour runtime can be felt in the meandering structure that mirrors the aimlessness and freedom of Bella’s life. It’s a stylistic choice that makes complete sense, but it leaves the film’s last hour feeling lopsided and strangely paced, lackadaisical in some sequences (like Bella’s residency as a prostitute in a Parisian brothel) and harried in others.
Still, a few structural issues are fleeting flaws when faced with the astounding creative might and singular vision of Yorgos Lanthimos. From Stone’s delivery to the hair and costuming choices, the cinematography, and the production design, every element of Poor Things is operating at maximum aesthetic potency. Pulling from horror, science-fiction, romance, and coming-of-age genres, Bella Baxter’s story is an enrapturing, sophisticated, deeply feminist one. It's Lanthimos firing on all cylinders.
Poor Things is now playing in theaters.
Did you enjoy this post? Please consider supporting Third Coast Review’s arts and culture coverage by making a donation. Choose the amount that works best for you, and know how much we appreciate your support!