Movie Review - Poor Things

Director: Yorgos Lanthimos
Genre: Comedy/ Drama
Runtime: 141 minutes
Year: 2024
Starring: Emma Stone, Willem Dafoe, Mark Ruffalo, Ramy Youssef
 
Description: An account of the fantastical evolutions of Bella Baxter (Emma Stone), a young woman brought back to life by the brilliant and unorthodox scientist Dr. Godwin Baxter (Willem Dafoe).

Review: The intense cinematography takes some getting used to. The Victorian world in which monstrous Dr. Godwin Baxter conducts scientific experiments. There are all sorts of strange creatures running around that he has pieced together himself. His latest creation is Bella, brought to life, stomping around the house adrift and throwing everything around like a toddler. Everything is painfully sharp and oppressively portrayed.

Bella is a child inside a grown woman’s body, literally. She develops from a little girl to an adult in a very short period of time, has no understanding about social conventions, has to refine her motor skills. A toddler in a grown woman’s body is frightening and disruptive to watch, but Emma Stone at the same time makes her completely disarming in her dumbfounding looks when she is not allowed to do or say something. Stone won an Academy Award for her role as Bella, which makes perfect sense. She master the art of portraying Bella, she keeps you completely enthralled. She puts everything in her facial expressions and motor skills. It’s also a very daring role for Stone. She was already my favorite, but no one can beat her now. Stone is fantastic in “Poor Things”.

Willem Dafoe plays Bella’s father/ creator. For some reason Dafoe fits this film and its style perfectly. Mark Ruffalo plays the scummy lawyer Duncan Wedderburn, a completely different role for Ruffalo. He is also really strong.

“Poor Things” is wonderfully directed by Yorgos Lanthimos. His previous works, such as “The Killing of a Sacred Deer”, The Favourite” and “The Lobster” are also masterful pieces of art. But “Poor Things” will most likely become a new classic. For the average moviegoer this will be way too weird, because it’s a very weird film. But the good kind and I absolutely loved “Poor Things”. I already had high expectations, but it exceeded them.

Rating: 5/ 5