Poor Things

The Daughter of Frankenstein and her emancipatory odyssey across Europe and the Mediterranean. Once again, Yorgos Lanthimos presents us with a fragment from a twisted fantasy world, but one that bears more parallels to our own than one might first expect. The story focuses on the development of the character Bella, who is brought back to life after death by a peculiar scientist, whereupon, with the brain of a child, she learns about the world and gradually develops in all directions, even those that could be described as taboo. Emma Stone gives a masterful performance, and her character packs on more and more layers as the minutes pass until the triumphant finale. This engaging, visually extravagant and humorous film about the journey of an original protagonists of real-world discovery and gradual emancipation will definitely not bore you for a moment. (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)

…and Edward Scissorhands found the love of his life in Bella… The intellectual Yorgos Lanthimos in the fantastical world of Tim Burton with a considerable portion of sex, the socially hot topic of emancipation and framing in an artistic form for the highest film awards. Distinctive humor spiked with a bizarre parable about growing up and awareness of the feminine self. A delightful black-and-white paraphrase of Frankenstein with a brilliant depiction of the instinctive behavior of a curious childlike mind in an adult body with its physical needs. The aptly depicted process of the downfall of male rationality and ego after falling in love with a sexually animalistic and mentally unstable woman. Poor Things has the sole of a European arthouse delicacy that all Hollywood actors long four. I may or may not give it a fifth star in due time. A lot of scenes struck me as overly strained and not as funny as most of the guffawing audience found them to be. [Sitges Film Festival] (10/15/2023)

Poor Things doesn't deny the inspiration of “Frankenstein” and it certainly doesn't deny Yorgos Lanthimos' distinctive directorial style, which is unique in contemporary cinema. For two and a quarter hours, we have the amazing opportunity to immerse ourselves in a futuristically conceived Victorian world, in the centre of which is Bella, whose mind is an "unwritten book" in whose pages an emancipatory adventure of unprecedented proportions begins to unfold. Artistically, it is a polished piece of work, where more than one suggestive scene could be displayed in a museum as a treasured painting. Besides the strange camera angles and dreamlike filters, I enjoyed the (un)chaste costumes of Bella and her creations immensely. In terms of acting, I have nothing to fault the film. The driving force of the whole story is of course Emma Stone, who handles her role without any shame, and she is wonderfully seconded by the "Frankenstein" Willem Dafoe and the womanizer Mark Ruffalo, who ends up driven almost crazy by a skirt. It was engaging to watch Bella's mental development: from "baby" steps and a few words, to a physically intense exploration of her own body and sexuality, to a fully aware and confident view of the (twisted) world with a philosophical overlay. Despite its seemingly artsy style, Poor Things has the potential to appeal to a wide audience and is certainly not afraid to grab the patriarchy by the balls and give them a shake. (02/17/2024)