“Poor Things” stars Emma Stone, Mark Ruffalo, Willem Dafoe, Ramy Youssef, Christopher Abbott, and Jerrod Carmichael. Released on December 8, 2023, the film has a revived Victorian woman embarking on a journey of self-discovery and liberation. The film was directed by Yorgos Lanthimos, who also directed films such as “My Best Friend,” “The Lobster,” “The Killing of a Sacred Deer,” and “The Favourite.” It is based on the 1992 novel by Alasdair Gray. This year’s awards season is already heating up, with the “Barbenheimer” phenomenon continuing to take the world by storm with its amount of nominations. However, several critically acclaimed movies seek to spoil the thunders of Barbie girls and nuclear bombers. One of those films comes from the uniquely imaginative and bizarrely narrative mind of Yorgos Lanthimos. His latest feature is just as absurdly odd as one would expect from the filmmaker, as he puts a steampunk twist on a woman’s coming-of-age journey who happens to have the mind of a child. Since I enjoyed Lanthimos’s previous film, “The Favourite”, it would be fair that I go further down his darkly comedic rabbit hole in preparation for the upcoming awards shows next year. So, if you’re wondering why I saw this movie first instead of “Aquaman” or “Migration” over the Christmas weekend, that’s why. With that in mind, let’s dive into its Victorian steampunk wonderland and see if the movie is as weird as it is hilarious and thoughtful. The story takes place in an alternate steampunk version of Victorian London. It centers on a young woman named Bella (Stone), who was brought back to life by surgeon Dr. Godwin Baxter (Dafoe) after committing suicide following her pregnancy. However, Baxter resurrected Bella by swapping her brain for her living baby’s brain, resulting in her having an infant’s mind. After becoming the wife of Godwin's medical student, Max McCandles (Youssef), Bella becomes fascinated with being free. This resulted in her running off with a fancy lawyer named Duncan Wedderburn (Ruffalo). As Bella and Duncan embark on a sexy and bizarre journey across London, Bella explores life around her and discovers what it means to have free will. My first experience with the director’s presentation dates back to 2018 with his previous movie, “The Favourite”. While I didn’t love it as much as everyone else due to its sluggish pacing, I enjoyed it enough to see what Lanthimos was cooking next. I know he’s got other movies that are as weirdly compelling as his recent ones but don’t worry, I’ll get to them eventually. This brought me to “Poor Things”, which looked more interesting than the period black comedy starring Olivia Colman based on the marketing. But, of course, a unique concept always comes down to the execution and whether it’s suitable for audiences to watch a woman act like a six-year-old for two and a half hours. For the former, it’s a surreal and visually bonkers treat that’s also engagingly reflective in its themes. For the latter, it’ll depend on how much they can handle its risqué material. “Poor Things” is what happens when Tim Burton and Wes Anderson make an old-school science romance film together, with Lanthimos being in charge of the editing. The bizarre yet wonderfully vibrant Victorian steampunk settings have an oddball fairy-tale essence that only Burton knows how to conjure. The film also includes plenty of dry adult humor resembling those from Anderson’s works. But at its core, Yorgos Lanthimos takes complete control of its unique storytelling and visual presentation, and the result is just as weird, freakish, and sexy as one would expect from Lanthimos. However, that’s not the only reason I adored this subtly wacky cinematic art. It’s the artistic craft and refreshing perspective of its coming-of-age story that sells its weirdness. The film’s story depicts Bella’s quirky odyssey that leads her to discover herself and experience sexual desires, but that’s not all it has to offer. Underneath its series of bizarre and risqué encounters lies a reflection on the complexities of humanity through philosophy, socialism, classism, and pleasure. More importantly, it represents the meaning of free will, in which Bella learns to understand how she wants to be treated. Its feminist commentary can be pretty tricky to get right, especially when you have a main character who’s obsessed with sexual pleasure. But when the movie focused on providing a uniquely bizarre and hilariously compelling experience, “Poor Things” became more entertaining than I expected. However, it can also be concerning when half of the film’s runtime is spent on displaying graphic sex scenes. If you’re easily uncomfortable seeing people perform soft-porn acts, you probably might want to spend two and a half hours at a church instead. Besides the sex scenes, “Poor Things” delivered an effectively written, well-paced, and bizarrely sublime experience whose story and humor carry the weight of its cast and technical aspects. This is the latest collaboration between Emma Stone and Yorgos Lanthimos, following “The Favourite”, and I remember liking Stone’s performance in that movie. After seeing “Poor Things”, I’m convinced they might be one of the best cinematic pairings I’ve seen. Emma Stone was equally charming and incredibly humorous, thanks to her award-worthy performance as Bella. Her portrayal of a wondrous child in a woman’s body was delightfully odd and fittingly deranged. Willem Dafoe was also marvelous as Godwin Baxter, and Mark Ruffalo’s performance as the ungrateful Duncan Wedderbum never ceased to amaze me. Duncan is a butthole, but Ruffalo knows how to portray one effectively. Ramy Youssef also did very well as Max, Bella’s fiancé. As for everything else, I feel that “Poor Things” may have a chance of sweeping most, if not all, of the technical awards, especially for its cinematography and production design. The Victorian settings have a colorful sense of awe and wonder that combines the steampunk-like essence with a Burton-esque flair. It’s a vibrant, London-like wonderland filled with adult themes and sex. Lots and lots of sex. The costume designs by Holly Waddington also did wonders in displaying its mixture of Victorian clothing with imaginative bizarreness. Finally, we have the movie’s musical score by Jerskin Fendrix. Unsurprisingly, the music fits the strangeness and punk-classicalness of the film’s characters and settings, and it’s impossible to resist. Overall, “Poor Things” is a fantastical and oddly compelling character-driven odyssey that’s anything but poor. Its graphic material may force specific people to cleanse their eyes with holy water. However, those willing to stomach these risqué sequences may find themselves with an astoundingly bizarre and subtly thoughtful depiction of humanity and free will. The cast was marvelous, especially Emma Stone, Lanthimos’s vision was creatively influential and loopy, the screenplay was well-written and amusing, and the technical aspects were imaginative. Usually, I’d start the holiday season with a traditional blockbuster or family movie, but this film proved that there’s no harm in celebrating Christmas with something artistic, weird, and delightfully challenging. A
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