Poor Things
2023
****
Director: Yorgos Lanthimos
Cast: Emma Stone, Mark Ruffalo, Willem Dafoe, Ramy Youssef, Christopher Abbott, Jerrod Carmichael, Hanna Schygulla, Suzy Bemba, Jerrod Carmichael, Kathryn Hunter, Vicki Pepperdine, Margaret Qualley
In Victorian London, an eccentric scientist Godwin Baxter resurrects a young woman using the brain of her unborn child. The childlike Bella embarks on a journey of self-discovery and learns the pleasures and horrors of being a woman. Yorgos Lanthimos' dark comedy is funny, sexually explicit, and definitely unique. Bella Baxter is a wonderful creation and Emma Stone deservedly won an Academy Award for her courageous and multi-layered lead performance. Bella's story does lose its grip a bit in the second act during the extended trip across Europe, but the film has a very satisfying conclusion. Robbie Ryan's camerawork (shallow focus, fisheye lens, and pinhole cameras) and the fantastical Oscar winning production design, costume design, makeup and hairstyling carry an air of artificiality that occasionally feels alienating. Tony McNamara scripted from Alasdair Gray's 1992 novel.
