Director: Yorgos Lanthimos
By Darren Cunningham
Bella Baxter (Emma Stone) is an experiment. She is also very much her own person. Unencumbered by the rigid constraints of the Victorian society she inhabits with its strict code of morals and mores, Bella embarks on a journey which challenges the conventions of her era, her place in it as a woman and the patriarchal control that men want to hold over her. The paradox being, Bella’s free-spirit, impetuous sexuality and unfettered manner of communication is something that makes her even more desirous for men who want to possess her.
After being saved by Godwin (Willem Dafoe), a mad scientist whose intentions are in the right place, Bella’s life begins as a child in a woman’s body and as she evolves, transforms herself into a bright, intelligent and even sage like woman, yet she is also one out of her time. She is a fine-tuned work of progress.
Director Yorgos Lanthimos (The Favorite, The Lobster), is an unconventional and original filmmaker. Here, Lanthimos presents us a heightened representation of the Victorian age with surreal set designs, gothic trappings and avant-garde costuming, garnished with dark and wicked humour. Bella herself is breath of fresh air as she breezes her way through varied circumstances, making an impressionable impact upon those she meets. Even when suffering is present, she maintains a collected outlook channelled through a buoyant philosophy of being.
Bella’s first step into exploring the world beyond Godwin’s mansion is at the behest of his manipulating lawyer Duncan (Mark Ruffalo) Wedderburn. Bella is also engaged to Max (Ramy Youssef), Godwin’s assistant. Duncan is fixated on Bella, and Godwin reluctantly allows her to travel with him to the vexation of Max. Godwin knows the world is what will mould Bella, and her unconditioned mindset is something she will learn to fine tune through the snobbish, scheming, yet somewhat jolly Duncan.
At the heart of film is Emma Stone’s performance. Stone won a much-deserved Oscar® and she is a thing of beauty to behold. Stone portrays all the required layers throughout her character’s metamorphosis with revelatory skill and ease. Bella is a fascinating character to watch, and she has you on her side the whole way. Willem Dafoe as Godwin is the soul and through his own disfigurement and emotional wounds, his pain gets funnelled through his mad science. This has allowed him to become a compassionate father figure for Bella he himself never had.
Mark Ruffalo as Duncan is the comedy relief. Teetering on the precipice of parody yet reigning himself without toppling over into absurdity, he is amusing to watch as he teaches Bella about social composure which can get innocently distorted.
The sexuality represented in Poor Things is uninhibited, brazen and even amusing at times. It doesn’t shy from expressing itself openly and freely, (something Bella herself would do), yet it never comes across as gratuitous. It takes a thematic resonance represented in the film’s substance that also reflects in the style. The themes could also be considered relevant today, yet the film is ultimately kept on track by focusing on Bella’s journey as a woman empowering herself amongst men.