Poor Things
POOR THINGSÂ (18)
D:Â Yorgos Lanthimos
Searchlight / Film4 / Element / Fruit Tree / Limp Films / TSG (Ed Guiney, Yorgos Lanthimos, Andrew Lowe & Emma Stone)
UK / Ireland / US 🇬🇧🇮🇪🇺🇸 2023
142 mins
Comedy/Fantasy
W: Tony McNamara [based on the novel by Alasdair Gray]
DP:Â Robbie Ryan
Ed: Yorgos Mavropsoridis
Mus: Jerskin FendrixÂ
PD:Â Shona Heath & James Price
Cos: Holly Waddington
Emma Stone (Bella Baxter), Mark Ruffalo (Duncan Wedderburn), Willem Dafoe (Dr. Godwin Baxter), Ramy Youssef (Max McCandles), Christopher Abbott (Alfie Blessington), Suzy Bemba (Toinette)
Frankenstein meets My Fair Lady with some “furious jumping” in this darkly comic adult fairytale, starring Emma Stone as Bella Baxter, a Victorian woman who is re-animated with the mind of a child by eccentric scientist Dr. Godwin Baxter (Willem Dafoe).
The doctor hires a medical student to observe Bella’s behaviour and he subsequently falls in love with her and they agree to marry.  However, shortly after their betrothal, Bella is seduced by the rakish cad lawyer, Duncan Wedderburn (Mark Ruffalo), whom she joins on a voyage of Europe, where she experiences sexual discovery, debauchery, exotic pleasures, financial hardships and, eventually, herself and her place in the world.
Emma Stone is absolutely phenomenal in the lead, winning the Best Actress Oscar, Golden Globe & BAFTA, as well as a slew of other awards for her performance, and it truly is a unique collaboration from director Yorgos Lanthimos, cinematographer Robbie Ryan, the production designers and visual effects artistd who make every single shot & location look as though it were from a macabre fairytale.  Though it was clearly inspired by Frankenstein, it very much does its own thing with the story, and while it may be a strange story to some, there’s no denying that this is visually and thematically the trippiest movie of 2023 - I personally consider it one of the best films of the year in every single aspect, even if it is absolutely bonkers.
8/10
