Poor Things

⭐ 8.0/10

(Originally written by Tim)

Yorgos Lanthimos makes crazy movies, and this once is somehow more bizarre than the rest. Emma Stone plays a woman who commits suicide while pregnant, but her body is revived by putting the brain of the baby into the mom's body. So she is growing and learning rapidly but in an adult's body, kind of like a female toddler Frankenstein's monster.

I'll say off the top the set design is unique and great, and I loved the oddball music throughout. Emma Stone is amazing in such a weird performance - its hard to imagine signing on to a role like this. She is the star, but Mark Ruffalo is maybe the standout, I thought he was so funny as this insecure pompous arrogant jerk.

So its worth mentioning that this movie is like 50% sex. Bella, Stone's character, quickly learns about pleasuring herself, and quickly becomes fascinated with it. She has a lot of naivety, wondering why everyone doesn't just do that all the time, and quickly does exactly that with many different partners. She becomes a prostitute at one point, with a montage that is pretty uncomfortable to watch.

I think there were some people complaining that she is essentially a child, making this movie perverted, but that thought never crossed my mind while watching. I was thinking how maybe this is a movie about female empowerment, taking control of what is hers and doing what she wants, but then I thought, this movie wasn't written or directed by a woman, but by a man. Which brings me back to the Ruffalo character, who I think represents all men and the desire to control women. He is enamoured by her freedom and innocence and eagerness, but the second he looses the tiniest bit of control over her he throws a temper tantrum. Probably a pretty shallow reading, it just felt like a movie that was begging to be explained.

Eventually Bella does grow fascinated with things other than sex, which brings me back to the female empowerment and knowledge and all that. I thought the last 15 minutes were great, in a Freudian mess of another man trying to control her. There are probably 5 different men in this movie all trying to leash her, but the final one is the most harrowing. So ya, a super weird movie, and I am shocked it is getting so much praise given the explicit content throughout. Bold choice from Emma Stone, which I respect. I was thinking about how insane it is to be nominated for La La Land and now this, similar to Damian Chazelle and Babylon last year, polar opposite movies. It was funny, and interesting to think about, but hard to recommend.