One of the hit films of the season by creative Greek director Yorgos Lanthimos, the film has elements of Wes Anderson, of Disney fairytales, of Frankenstein and Pygmalion, of Tim Burton and of something more raunchy and political. It may be a comedy but there are many dark sides to the film as well.
Bella Baxter (Emma Stone, superb) is presented to us as a sort of monster, a project of an anatomical surgeon Godwin Baxter (Willem Dafoe), who with his multiply scarred face managed to save a dead pregnant woman and insert her baby’s brain into the body, thereby raising it to be a woman.
So, at the beginning Bella is like a child in a woman’s body. At first she is captive and protected in her master’s ‘castle’ but eventually seeks to know the outside world and when on the point of being married to Max McCandles (Ramy Yousseff) , her ‘father’s’ assistant and future surgeon, she is kidnapped by an unscrupulous lawyer Duncan Wedderburn (Mark Ruffalo) who soon realizes he has bitten off more than he can chew.
He takes her to Lisbon, Alexandria and Paris. Bella, given the taste of freedom starts to grow up quickly but without a sense of the social conventions of the time. She says and does what she likes and is fond of ‘furious jumping’ or sex.
When she realizes that she can make money from furious jumping and she and Duncan are in a tight spot she has no qualms becoming a whore, regarding it as part of her education. She learns also from the madame, Madame Swiney (Kathryn Hunter is a nice turn) and fellow pro Toinette (Suzy Bemba) who introduces her to socialism. Later, she returns to London to an ailing Godwin.
Apart from being an extraordinary fantasy, Poor Things is also a film about the roles of men and women, of social conventions, of freedom, of the body and the closing message says a lot about the liberation of individuals especially women.
Stone is excellent in the lead role changing subtly at each stage and convincing us as to her character. The rest of the cast are fine as you would expect with actors of this caliber.
Set design is superb, with steampunk elements and nods to different genres and movements and the wardrobe work is great.
I’m not sure if I am a total fan of the film, which could have had a slight trim but it grew on me as the film went on held together by Stone’s virtuoso performance. Good camerawork by Robbie Ryan and music from Jerskin Fendrix.
4 stars plus
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