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. I’d like to kick off this review by stating that I’m just as shocked as you are that I actually did study female sexuality in college, so this is surprisingly a topic I can sometimes speak to. Granted, I was forced to take this “Bodies” class as it was mandatory at my ultra progressive college. Nonetheless, I can say with full confidence that director Yorgos Lanthimos has done a terrific job crafting a darkly funny and utterly bizarre tale about female sexual liberation with quite possibly the most impressive performance of Emma Stone’s career. I’ll be completely honest in saying that I’m not usually drawn to films like that deal with feminist issues as many of them nowadays are too concerned hammering home an obvious message instead of focusing first on entertainment. For me, what sets Poor Things apart from Barbie is the humorous approach to said themes. The inventiveness brought on by the director through combining striking visuals, extreme wide lens shots, and weird hybrid animal creatures with unrestrained performances is what brings this movie to a likability level that most modern Hollywood films with a feminist agenda simply can’t reach. Emma Stone is completely off the chain here. She plays Bella Baxter, a young woman who was brought back to life by unorthodox scientist Dr. Godwin Baxter (Willem Dafoe) and lives under his protection. As the movie progresses and Bella becomes more eager to learn and explore the outside world, that’s where the real fun begins. Stone had the tough task of having to sell Bella’s evolution from a mere primitive who can hardly put a sentence together to a smart sophisticated woman with an insanely advanced vocabulary. Like I said, Stone is unhinged, carefree, and genuinely hilarious, especially when Bella is put in certain awkward social situations with members of the upper class.
Accompanying Bella on her journey is Mark Ruffalo’s Duncan, who gives his best performance in years. Ruffalo does a great job playing this morally questionable lawyer who basically grooms Bella to be his sexual slave. The banter between Bella and Duncan during the middle portion of the film in particular is laugh out loud funny. There are several hysterical confrontations between Bella, Duncan and some of the passengers on this cruise and they were both equally amusing and fittingly uncomfortable at the same time. Seeing Bella evolve into someone with empathy and a disdain towards the “polite society” and all the cruel selfishness it comes with is what really made her character become more likable as the film went along. Willem Dafoe is blowing bubbles out of his mouth, Emma Stone is shoving cucumbers into her vagina, and ducks with dog heads are running a-mock. Yeah, this movie is so incredibly weird, surrealist, and filled with graphic nudity (something I’m generally not a fan of in movies) but oddly enough I was entertained the whole way through due to the humorous execution of this “female Frankenstein” reimagining. Willem Dafoe, Ramy Youssef, and especially Kathryn Hunter are all excellent in supporting roles here. I found the ending to be satisfying in the most absurdist way possible and while the revelations are predictable, the presentation is what makes it work. The movie runs at nearly 2 and a half hours and I personally felt its pacing would’ve been tighter if about 10 minutes were trimmed. It’s not too often that a uniquely weird film comes along in which it’s nearly impossible to label it with one genre alone. The set design is immaculate, exuding this crazy German expressionist/futurist aesthetic. From my perspective, Poor Things is a dark sci-fi comedy with gothic and surrealist elements thrown in the mix. Side note: I had to pee so horribly for the last hour of the movie, but I held it in and stayed for the whole thing because I enjoyed the film that much. Unlike Barbie, it’s not pretentious or self absorbed, but rather philosophically and socially thoughtful without ever veering into mean spirited preaching territory. Overall, director Yorgos Lanthimos’ Poor Things is one audacious, bizarre, quirky, and darkly funny sci-fi genre-breaking little film, buoyed by a career best performance from a totally fearless Emma Stone.
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