Lanthimos delivers arguably his finest film to date with this erotic surrealist odyssey featuring Emma Stone in a truly stunning performance as a woman brought back to life by an eccentric scientist.
Review #2,732
Dir. Yorgos Lanthimos
2023 | UK, Ireland | Drama, Comedy | 141 min | 1.66:1 | English, French & Portuguese
R21 (passed clean) for strong and pervasive sexual content, graphic nudity, disturbing material, gore, and language
Cast: Emma Stone, Mark Ruffalo, Willem Dafoe, Ramy Youssef, Jerrod Carmichael
Plot: Brought back to life by an unorthodox scientist, a young woman runs off with a lawyer on a whirlwind adventure across the continents. Free from the prejudices of her times, she grows steadfast in her purpose to stand for equality and liberation.
Awards: Won Golden Lion (Venice); Won 4 Oscars – Best Leading Actress, Best Production Design, Best Costume Design, Best Makeup & Hairstyling; Nom. for 7 Oscars – Best Picture, Best Director, Best Supporting Actor, Best Adapted Screenplay, Best Cinematography, Best Film Editing, Best Original Score
Distributor: Fox
Accessibility Index
Subject Matter: Slightly Mature – Progress & Liberation; Female Empowerment; Sexuality; Social & Moral Codes
Narrative Style: Slightly Complex
Pace: Normal
Audience Type: Slightly Mainstream
Viewed: The Projector Cineleisure (as part of Singapore International Film Festival)
Spoilers: No
Emma Stone is in a strong shout for her second acting Oscar, I daresay. She gives her finest performance to date as Bella, a woman who committed suicide but is brought back to life by an eccentric scientist (Willem Dafoe, who probably has the best burping scene in film history).
The film has echoes of ‘Frankenstein’, but it is an adaptation of a novel by Alasdair Gray. And what an adaptation it is as it takes us on an odyssey that may be described as surreal, strange and erotic.
It is also a galvanising piece of cinema, full of aesthetical vigour (director Yorgos Lanthimos really went bonkers with the colourful production design and fisheye lenses) and a parable of how ostracised women can seek individual freedom beyond the confines of ‘moral’ codes.
“Why keep it in my mouth if it is revolting?”
Bella’s character arc is salacious yet profound—she starts out as a medical experiment with no table manners, but later discovers the pleasures of masturbation and sex, and wields them to her advantage. There is a lot of sex and nudity in this one, but Poor Things frames them as emancipatory rather than taboo.
Shoutout to Mark Ruffalo, who deserves an Oscar nomination for supporting actor, playing Bella’s lover-cum-companion, Duncan, as he takes her on a life-altering adventure.
While I would argue that Lanthimos isn’t as consistent a filmmaker as many have imagined him to be (Alps, The Lobster and The Favourite were interesting but rather mixed affairs), Poor Things has got to be arguably his finest picture to date.
In a way, it is a stylistic departure from what he has done before (more Karel Zeman-esque here if I may put it that way), but he retains his signature proclivity for moral provocation and inherent obsession with characters that don’t fit the times that they are living in.
Grade: A
Trailer:
Music:
Eternality Tan 
[…] Poor Things (2023) […]
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[…] Poor Things […]
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Good review. This is one of my most anticipated movies of the year and I can’t wait to see it. I’ve often been a massive fan of Emma Stone who has become a fantastic actress. I admired her astonishing performance in “La La Land”. Here’s why:
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Great review once again. I recently had a chance to see this movie finally and I absolutely loved it. It’s a strange movie but I connected to its strong messages about feminism. Here’s why it resonated with me:
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[…] Director: POOR THINGS – to Yorgos Lanthimos for making arguably his finest film to date, an erotic surrealist […]
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[…] though the unprecedented attention garnered from his previous picture, the superior Oscar-winning Poor Things (2023), should translate into enough marketing buzz for this latest outing—an uneven triptych of […]
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