You know I watch a lot of films every month to write these reviews and maintain an understanding of what's happening in the general realm of today's cinema climate. But I also watch a lot of films because I love them, and I'm always open to watch something new and exciting. With that preface, I have to say the strange comedy Poor Things, released nationwide on January 12th, was absolutely insane.
While watching Poor Things in the theater, and afterward when I drove home, I couldn't stop thinking, "This film is unlike anything I have ever seen." And I think most other movie lovers will have this same reaction.
Greek director Yorgos Lanthimos (The Favourite, 2018) smoothly blends his expected awkward dialogue with dark humor in this romantic, child-like fantasy adapted from the 1992 novel Poor Things by Alasdair Gray, a famous Scottish novelist of post-modern literature. Many literary historians would describe this Scottish novel as a philosophical take on Scotland the country, its relationship to England and its place within the rest of the world.
But this film adaptation takes a different turn to instead focus the story on female identity and the steps to finding independence. When a woman falls from a bridge to her death in 19th century London, an unorthodox surgeon (Willem Dafoe, Asteroid City, 2023) pulls the dead woman's body from the river below, implants the brain of an infant in the woman's skull, and reanimates her back to life.
This bizarre experiment is the catalyst for numerous odd situations as the adult woman's body learns the world around her with a freshly unused and rapidly developing baby's brain. (If you think that's weird then this is just the beginning!)
Playing this woman with a blank second chance on life is Emma Stone (Cruella, 2021) who gets to express almost the entire spectrum of human emotion in this film as her character discovers wondrous things outside her home, from pastries and travel....to men and sex. These discoveries happen, of course, after she learns (or re-learns?) to walk, speak and behave herself.
Emma Stone's tour-de-force performance, as Bella Baxter, shows us what life can be like for a woman who grows up without learning shame or fear. And because Bella approaches the world without those feelings, the film shows her discoveries as plainly as possible, from the excitement of breaking dishes to the joy of masturbating with fruit at the dinner table.
Poor Things is like Frankenstein meets Alice in Wonderland with a heartfelt feminist core on the development of womanhood. Indeed, Bella Baxter seems to represent the entire universe of female evolution. Not only does this film show the cheeky and hilarious moments of Bella's clumsily developing womanhood, it also shows how various men try to control it. The trappings of this film are dark and unexpected, but the message is one of optimism and ambition.
I personally think there's too much sex and female nudity in this film, but that's just my personal opinion. (Maybe I have too much shame of my own on sex and sexual discovery.) I understand that sexual development is part of Bella's progress as a whole person, I just don't think I need to see so much of it.
Poor Things has a boldly unapologetic portrayal of sex, and it also presents this leading woman with no judgement as she fumbles on her journey of self-discoveries. The surreal, steampunk set designs and large, dramatic costumes make Poor Things a magical, bawdy, and surprising night at the movies. Even as women's reproductive rights still remain a polarizing news item, Poor Things gives a strong middle finger to misogyny and control of the female.
