Poor Things - Review: A Tale of Bodily Autonomy

 

Even in the realm of “weird filmmakers”, Yorgos Lanthimos (“The Favourite,” “Killing of a Sacred Deer”) is a weird filmmaker. After a career of making movies that have odd stories played straight, with actors playing up their performances and really taking on roles that challenge and confuse, he seems to have finally made his magnum opus. “Poor Things” not only has the weirdness of story that Lanthimos normally maintains, but also develops a visually rich world to tell a story unlike anything else you’ll see this year, or almost any other. 

The film follows Bella Baxter, played by Emma Stone (“The Favourite,” “La La Land”), a woman reanimated from the dead with the brain of a newborn by mad scientist Dr. Godwin Baxter, played by Willem Dafoe (“Spider-Man,” “Antichrist”). During her new life, as she begins to gain knowledge of the world around her, she ends up running away from home and goes on a series of sexually liberating misadventures including various people she meets along the way, such as Duncan Wedderburn, played by Mark Ruffalo (“13 Going on 30,” “Zodiac”), Max McCandles, played by Ramy Youssef (“Ramy,” “Mo”), Harry Astley, played by Jerrod Carmichael (“On the Count of Three,” “The Carmichael Show”), Toinette, played by Suzy Bemba (“Kandisha,” “Homecoming”), and Alfie Blessington, played by Christopher Abbott (“The Crowded Room,” “James White”). 

First things first, “Poor Things” is an exceptionally dense film from a conceptual and script perspective. Adapted by Tony McNamara (“The Favourite,” “The Great”) from the novel of the same name, the movie dives deep into explorations of humanity, sexuality, free will, and self-examinations. Bella serves mostly as a blank slate, allowing her to question numerous aspects of humanity through a sense of childlike whimsy and point out the absurd flaws in much of our thinking. Stone is exceptional in this role, taking things head-on and transforming into a fascinating portrayal of a free-willed woman. She not only nails the intellectual and emotional arcs of the film, but she manages to excel with the comedic aspects. She throws herself into the various elements of physical comedy throughout, and expertly delivers numerous amounts of wordplay throughout. 

The rest of the cast are all fabulous as well, each not only nailing the film’s sense of humor, but also representing different aspects of humanity in increasingly interesting ways. Ruffalo is a particular standout, throwing himself into a role the likes of which we’ve never really seen him do before. Carmichael meanwhile is calculatedly distributed for a cool and collected jolt to the film, and Bemba is a lovable and wonderfully understated companion for Stone, so good you simply wish she was in more of the film. 

If you’ve seen any of the film’s posters or marketing, then you’ll likely already be somewhat familiar with the striking production design and cinematography. Shot by Robbie Ryan (“The Favourite,” “Marriage Story”) and with production design lead by Shona Heath and James Price (“The Ipcress File,” “The Nest”), it's a staggeringly beautiful film in all aspects. From the minute details to the large sweeping landscapes, there’s odd beauty to be found in every angle. It feels not only like an otherworldly place you’re allowed to be brought into, but given Bella’s perspective leading the film, it also feels like it all could simply be the way she views the world. Given the material itself, it's not a stretch to say that one could hypothesize that it's an average-looking world, simply seen through the new eyes of Bella’s odd perspective. Backing up all of this is a bizarre and wonderous musical score from Jerskin Fendrix which serves as the icing on this preposterous looking cake. 

The film’s subject matter certainly won’t be for everyone, but even beneath the copious amounts of nudity, surgery, and odd modes of transportation, there’s a universal tale of self-discovery at the core of it all. Because of Stone’s performance and Lanthimos’ careful direction, it manages to be a film that certainly is bizarre and pulls much of its enjoyment from that bizarreness, but also manages to have such an honest heart about the nature of humanity and discovery that anyone could find something to enjoy in it, even if the outlandish visuals turn them away at first. 

“Poor Things” is simply a film unlike any other, with a lead performance that, even among a sea of other exceptional ones, is truly something else. Stone is a lightning bolt in a film filled with numerous other aspects that are also exceptional. It’s a film so fantastic that even if you think you’d be turned off (pun entirely intended) by the extravagant style, it’s still worth giving a shot regardless. 5/5