Poor Things

Poor Things is Yorgos Lanthimos’s most extravagant film yet, and that’s saying a lot. One of the most distinctive contemporary filmmakers properly broke free of his chains and, furthermore, had a lot of money to bring his far-out visions to life. The result is a complex, impertinently entertaining and bountifully bizarre comedy with a Frankenstein motive about one woman’s emancipatory journey to get to know the world and herself. A woman with the body of an adult and the mind of her own unborn child, whom we follow through a narrative arranged in chapters during her travels around Europe, as she breaks every conceivable social convention, gradually tripping up the patriarchy and finally putting a knife in its back as she undergoes complete accelerated development from a curious toddler to a naïve adolescent to an eloquent intellectual with her own clear opinion on the state of things. With its intelligent dialogue, well-thought-out concept, topical subject, intoxicating visuals, gripping acting performances, devilishly morbid ideas and a lot of nudity, Poor Things is like a fine wine. Oscar nominations are inevitable. (10/12/2023)

Poor Things is a tremendously charming and wildly playful cinematic bildungsroman that demolishes gender roles and patriarchal fallacies with unbridled childlike verve, while grandiosely revealing their absurdity. Whereas Barbie was built on a shared sisterly sigh with a smile and remained in the realm of consumerist conformity while glorifying plastic kitsch, Poor Things offers up a lavish and iconoclastic riot grrrl pamphlet with a likable pout. Bella Baxter is a captivating, monstrous role model. Her journey through the world inevitably leads to her coming of age, but not in the sense of abandoning immediacy and committing herself to accepting the lot in life that others have laid out for her. Bella gets to know the world with its painful paradoxes, but she does not let herself be constrained by those around her and can conversely build places of personal freedom within herself and in her immediate surroundings amid all of the social nonsense. The film incorporates all of this into a sort of Art Nouveau ornament that is simultaneously delightfully beautiful and unavoidably bittersweet, as the steampunk stylisation and grotesque derangement constantly highlight its fantastical and thus unrealistic essence. (02/19/2024)

The current hit by Yorgos Lanthimos, nominated for an extraordinary number of awards, is based on Alasdair Gray's book "Poor Things: Episodes from the Early Life of Archibald McCandless M.D., Scottish Public Health Officer" (1992). Gray is often compared to James Joyce, and that is why it is so easy to succumb to the impression of Lanthimos' genius, whose contribution, however, lies only in the combination of Gray's pseudo-Victorian novel with Frankenhooker (1990) by Frank Henenlotter. I perceive many other references, whether it's Freaks or Elephant Man, but the whole is an exceptionally charming pastiche. There is no need to elaborate on the magical performances of Emma Stone, Mark Ruffalo, Willem Dafoe, Hanna Schygulla, and Margaret Qualley because it must have been a joy to work on such a creative film. Mary Shelley would surely be thrilled. (01/29/2024)

Karel Zeman for the 21st century, or the emancipation of the Bride of Frankenstein through an original "porn satire" that manages to cut to the quick again and again; sometimes literally. Emma Stone gives such a masterful performance that if I were her husband, I wouldn't be doubly sure if she doesn't top it at home as well. (01/25/2024)

It has been a long time since a performance has captivated me as much as Emma Stone's here. I was cautious, because Yorgos Lanthimos's The Favourite didn't impress me as much as the rest of the world five years ago, and yet at least on the surface it seemed like a relatively normal film. Poor Things isn’t like that, it was immensely enjoyable from the opening scene. Victorian surrealism, strange scenes alternating with stranger ones, and gradually everything starts to make sense, but you still have no idea where it's going. I'm sure the film is brimming with all sorts of psychological and philosophical meanings; double, triple and multiple meanings that can be gradually revealed, but aren't necessary. It can stand without them and conveys its message easily to everyone, however bizarre the story and its protagonists are. (01/11/2024)