"Poor Things" -- Movie Review

 

On the opening weekend of the 61^st edition of The New York Film Festival, I attended a screening of the new science fiction comedy “Poor Things”, directed by Yorgos Lanthimos and starring Emma Stone, Willem Dafoe and Mark Ruffalo. 

Synopsis

When an acclaimed surgeon successfully revives a dead woman, will he be able to control his new creation?

Story

In Victorian Era Scotland, Dr. Godwin Baxter (Dafoe) teaches surgery to medical students at a college in Glasgow.  While some of his students think he’s a bit of a kook, there is one who happens to believe him to be a genius – that is Max McCandles (Ramy Youssef).  Dr. Baxter invites Max to his home where he maintains a laboratory and offer him an opportunity to assist in a special project:  the development of Bella Baxter (Stone) as a fully-formed human being.  Baxter found this woman after her untimely death and revived her – but she is now childlike and must relearn everything from scratch.  That’s where Max comes in – he will monitor her, document his findings and report her progress to Dr. Baxter.

Over time, Max finds himself attracted to Bella and Dr. Baxter suggests he marry her – especially now that both her speech and motor skills have advanced to the point where she has discovered how to give herself sexual pleasure.  Complications develop when Bella meets Duncan Wedderburn (Mark Ruffalo), a successful lawyer who is also drawn to Bella.  With Bella realizing there is a world much bigger than what Dr. Baxter allows her to see from the limited views of his estate, she accepts Duncan’s offer to travel with him throughout Europe where they frequently engage in a physical intimacy Bella calls “furious jumping”. 

Ultimately, Bella and Duncan have a falling out; stranded in Paris, she decides to take a job as a prostitute, partly to earn money, but also partly to have her needs satisfied.  Eventually, Bella manages to make it back to Scotland, where she reunites with Dr. Baxter.  Once home, they learn that Dr. Baxter doesn’t have much longer to live, so they quickly plan the wedding between her and Max.  Those plans become foiled when a man claiming to be Bella’s husband shows up; he takes her back to live with him and continue their life together.  But when Bella finds him to be controlling and abusive, can she somehow find a way to escape?   

Review

How to characterize “Poor Things”?  A very difficult task indeed.  Suffice it to say that it’s a warped romantic comedy wrapped in a science fiction framework, with a darkly funny resolution that’s appropriate to the story and the main characters.  It’s a daring, creative story that Yorgos Lanthimos tells in an equally daring and creative manner; given the director’s past films, this one fits right in his wheelhouse rather nicely and while it may not necessarily be for everyone, some of the more sophisticated audiences – Lanthimos fans in particular – should truly appreciate the quality of its craftsmanship.  

It has been rightly said that “Poor Things” is a cross between “Frankenstein” and “The Island of Dr. Moreau”.  However, thematically, there is one thing that cannot and should not be overlooked:  it is ultimately a very feminist story.  That’s not to say that it would pass The Bechdel Test (quite the opposite, in fact), but there is an argument to be made that it is staunchly feminist because of the fact that Bella takes full ownership of her sexuality and controls with whom she decides to have orgasms.  Promiscuous?  Maybe, but she rejects lovers when they display cruelty to her and is strong enough to move on to her next “victim”.    

The movie is based on a novel written by Alasdair Gray some 30 years ago.  In a post-screening question and answer session, director Yorgos Lanthimos said that he met with the author back in 2011 when the Scottish novelist was then around 80 years old.  (Gray died in 2019)  Lanthimos said that he wanted to shoot the film in something of an old-fashioned way in that much of it was in a soundstage with many sets having been built for the project.  He frequently used a very wide angle lens and occasionally this presented problems such as the ceiling of the soundstage would appear in certain shots.  Some shots appear as though you’re looking through a peephole.