Emma Stone could do anything she wanted, but she gets a baby brain implanted in her skull and quite explicitly explores her sexuality in Poor Things. This is the new film from Greek Yorgos Lanthimos, who Stone previously worked with on The Favourite. Yorgos Lanthimos shoots no outdated biopics, no interchangeable superhero films, no classic Oscar darlings.
Lanthimos makes films in which Emma Stone’s skull is cut open, their brain is removed and a new one inserted. That doesn’t guarantee quality per se, but Poor Things is nice proof of Emma Stone’s willingness to take risks. If the word risk can be applied to a million dollar Hollywood star.
Poor Things is like a cross between Frankenstein and Barbie
The brain transplant is performed by Dr. Godwin Baxter (Willem Dafoe) performed. The modern Frankenstein or Dr. Moreau sews pug heads onto chickens and brings corpses back to life. That’s what happens with Bella Baxter (Emma Stone). She grows up locked in his mansion with the mind of a toddler and the body of a woman.
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poor things
These black-and-white passages of childish chaos are captured in a fish-eye look, accompanied by tones scratching the drums. All in all, they are hard to bear. The more Bella grows mentally and breaks out of this panopticon, the more the bizarre ideas and gags combine to form a grotesque Bildungsroman.
Color takes a turn when Bella elopes to Lisbon with the imaginary Duncan Wedderburn (Mark Ruffalo) to learn about the joys and horrors of human existence. Then Poor Things evolves into one delicious Frankenstein variation in which the monster turns out to be a grown-up Barbie. She skips the trip to the gynecologist. Bella dives into the sea of sexual and intellectual discovery.
Without Emma Stone, Poor Things would be an ordeal
Like Greta Gerwirg’s Barbie, Poor Things tells the story of the emancipation of an artificial being who discovers his womanhood amid male hubris. only sees the real world at Lanthimos hardly looks more realistic than Barbieland. The studio backdrops of Lisbon, London or Paris are staged as a labyrinth. The intricate Bella-Land appears simultaneously historical and fantastic, stylish and tacky.
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poor things
The artificiality is reflected in the mannered acting, the smug intonation and the actors’ own language. However, instead of falling permanently into the unbearable, Lanthimos creates what he does not always succeed. He watches his characters learn to breathe beneath the layers of a script. This applies primarily to Bella.
Emma Stone can be seen in Poor Things as she breathes a few cubic centimeters of spirit into this being from scene to scene. She plays precisely, even in the flat, funny moments. She plays sensitively, even when Lanthimos tries to push the boundaries of his audience’s tastes. Without Emma Stone, Poor Things would be an ordeal, but that’s part of the film’s concept. Bella is the movie, the movie is Bella.
What else remains to be said, except: Lucky that Emma Stone exists!
Poor Things won’t hit theaters until next year, on February 8, 2024.