This week sees the release of a hot Oscar contender that you don’t see every day. The retro sci-fi film starring Emma Stone is as funny as it is provocative
Last year, Barbie declared the gynecological revolution in the cinema, this week it’s Poor Things’ turn. This article advises against taking doll-obsessed children to the new science fiction film by Yorgos Lanthimos (The Favourite), but it is recommended for all adults.
Poor Things stars an excellent Emma Stone in the lead role, whose character discovers her sexuality between slit ribcages and removed brains
The retro sci-fi film Poor Things features a great Emma Stone
The Barbie comparison is no coincidence. Poor Things is Barbie for adults and picks up where Margot Robbie’s plastic doll disappears in the credits. But instead of a pink PVC land, you can expect a journey through a cyber-punk Europe between black and white gothic horror and brightly colored airships.
Poor Things is a retro sci-fi film with its own Victor Frankenstein. His name is Dr. Godwin Baxter (Willem Dafoe). The scarred genius brings corpses back to life. Bella Baxter (Emma Stone) is his most successful experiment to date. Godwin transplants the brain of a baby into a dead woman and lo and behold, a new human being is born
(Emma Stone in Poor Things)
Bella soon outgrows the good Godwin. The initially infantile babbling woman discovers her body, her sexuality and with it questions about her identity. When she runs into the sleazy womanizer Duncan Wedderburn (Mark Ruffalo), Bella breaks free and embarks on a journey through Europe
Disgusting, funny, provocative: what to expect in Poor Things
Poor Things won the main prize at last year’s Venice Film Festival and is also a favorite at the Oscars. Whether it wins or not, Poor Things is already one of the most unusual and funniest films of the year. Director Yorgos Lanthimos and his team let off steam in the over-stylized scenes of London, Paris and Lisbon. The bizarre bon mots in the screenplay by Tony McNamara (The Favourite) are in no way inferior to the film’s exterior.
However, the quirky characters and locations, the flying alternation between autopsies and sex scenes are not provocations for their own sake. Instead, they fit harmoniously into this strange Bildungsroman. Like Frankenstein’s monster, Bella is a creature from the future, created from the victims of the past. Risen from the dead, she sees this rigid world full of controlling men with new eyes. And blithely breaks every rule imposed on her contemporaries.
The emancipation of Bella Baxter, and Emma Stone in particular, is a must-see
