‘Poor Things’ is lewd and disturbing, thought-provoking and fascinating
By Juliana Smith-Etienne
If you miss out on the chaotic and captivating award-winning film “Poor Things,” the only poor thing will be you.
This film by Searchlight Pictures follows a woman with a child’s brain as she explores the world and what it means to be a member of society. All the men in her life constantly try to control her, but Bella Baxter (Emma Stone) stubbornly breaks them one by one as she learns and grows.
The sheer amount of nudity and sex in this movie can be quite jarring, to the point where it has caused a lot of controversy among viewers about whether the scenes are necessary. However, Bella’s unabashed exploration of the world and its complexities explains the presence of these scenes and is executed believably and entertainingly.
Garnering a whopping 11 Oscar nominations last month, the film was directed by Georgios “Yorgos” Lanthimos, whose previous directorial works include “The Lobster,” a movie in which a group of people are required to find a romantic partner or they’ll be turned into animals, and “The Favourite,” a period comedy about a pair of backstabbing cousins vying for the favor of a dying Queen Anne. Clearly, Lanthimos has a bit of a penchant for dark comedies, which made him the perfect mind to conduct the rollercoaster that is “Poor Things.”
The film promptly acquaints us with Godwin Baxter (Willem Dafoe), Max McCandles (Ramy Youssef), and a human tornado of a young woman named Bella. Through Max’s curiosity, we learn that Godwin, very much a mad scientist-type, found the freshly dead body of a pregnant woman and decided the only reasonable thing to do was to surgically remove her unborn child and replace her brain with that of the fetus.
Thus was born the titular character of the film, a fully grown person with the brain of an infant — literally.
Being that her brain is in an adult body, it develops a lot faster than your average baby, and Bella soon begins to become curious about the world. She runs off with sleazy lawyer Duncan Wedderburn (Mark Ruffalo, who makes a surprisingly good scumbag) and travels to several cities, rapidly and shamelessly learning about things like sex, money, philosophy and socialism.
One of the highlights of “Poor Things” is Stone’s seamless performance as Bella gains all that knowledge. As Bella’s brain develops throughout the film, there are no stark, random changes in her behavior — rather, the changes occur smoothly. Her development is present and noticeable, but it never feels manufactured or unnatural.
“Poor Things” has been hailed as a feminist movie by some viewers due to Bella’s sexual freedom throughout the film, but these scenes don’t read as female sexual liberation — they simply serve to highlight Bella’s curiosity and the human need for exploration. If anything in the film is feminist, it’s the fact that Bella persists despite every man she meets (save for maybe one, who doesn’t have much screen time to begin with) being absolutely terrible in one way or another, almost comically so. They clash and accuse each other of taking advantage of Bella, but are all guilty of doing just that.
Godwin brought her into existence by selfishly making her his experiment, and Duncan essentially sexually assaults her and coerces her into running away with him, having a complete mental breakdown when she stops acting the way he wants her to. Even Max, who is fully aware of the fact that she is a child in an adult’s body, tries to marry her several times.
Although the themes the film touches on aren’t necessarily groundbreaking, the avant-garde way in which they’re presented is unique, entertaining and thought-provoking.
With its nonstop gore, nudity and sex scenes, “Poor Things” is definitely not for the faint of heart. But despite the chaotic package it comes in, this film ultimately allows audiences to peer through the eyes of an endlessly curious woman as she discovers life and all its beautiful and ugly faces with the wonder of a child.
And piss off a bunch of men while she’s at it.
4 out of 5 stars.
Watch “Poor Things” in theaters near you. It is not currently on any streaming services.
