‘POOR THINGS’ Is A Breath Of Fresh Air Audiences Have Been Waiting For

The exploration of womanhood through the centuries is a topic film has only touched the surface of. Films about the female experience generally have to categorize the topics they want to focus on. Compiling all the nuances of being a woman in a man’s world into one film is a seemingly impossible feat. Yorgos Lanthimos’ 9th feature film, Poor Things, attempts to do just that. The two-and-a-half-hour film crashes into theaters as an incredibly avant-garde exploration of the complexities of womanhood with a ferocity that shall not be tampered with. 

Adapted from the novel of the same name from Alasdair Gray comes the tale of Bella Baxter that begs the question: Who are you, and what do you want? Bella searches for just that, and all those around her help her find that out. Poor Things takes on a seemingly impossible question in one go and does it with grace, excitement, humor, and inventiveness. Poor Things is a beautiful film. Played by Emma Stone, Bella Baxter is a tabula rasa of a woman who explores herself and the world with honesty and curiosity that would make Socrates himself so proud. Eccentric scientist and Bella’s creator, Dr. Godwin “God” Baxter (Willem Dafoe), acts as her father and caretaker and is soon presented with the challenge all parents fear as his creation yearns to explore life outside her home. 

Stone has the role of a lifetime with Bella and Yorgos’ direction, becoming a top contender for the Best Actress Oscar this year. Bella requires extreme physicality and curiosity, neither knowledgeable nor dumb. Most of its themes can be compared to Greta Gerwig’s Barbie; however, Poor Things takes the lessons from the Mattel-inspired film and raises it quite a few octaves. Where Margot Robbie’s Barbie has to find out that the real world does not allow women to flourish, Stone’s Bella Baxter has no regard for society and is happily taking what she wants, just like the men around her. Ms Baxter cannot comprehend that there is a difference between her and her male counterparts, where true freedom lies.

Part of what makes this comedy so powerful is that suspension of disbelief. Lanthimos created a magnificently stylized world that allows audiences to be completely immersed in this oddball story with these near-fantastical characters. Rarely does the creativity in cinematography and production design work so symbiotically, but Poor Things knows what it is with one cohesively chaotic vision. Cinematography Robbie Ryana and Production Designers Shona Heath and James Price have created true movie magic with their collaboration in visual imagery. Each frame is hand-crafted to perfectly convey the feelings and thoughts of Bella, from the lighting to the architecture of the buildings. The immense care and meticulousness with every shot is astounding; the world is very much alive because of it. 

It would be a dishonor not to mention Mark Ruffalo in his career-best performance as smarmy Duncan Wedderburn. Duncan lures Bella away with promises of lust and adventure, and soon, he comes to find that Bella is not his plaything, but he is hers. Bella begins her sexually liberated journey with Duncan and finds herself having whoever she wants whenever she wants, just like Wedderburn taught her. What is so enchanting about their relationship is that Wedderburn cannot fathom that a woman can do exactly as he does. Bella sends men into a tizzy as many of them have never encountered a female who acted on her belief to be their equal.

Bella is searching for herself as she discovers the world around her. Soon, she realizes that the polite society of Victorian England is not somewhere that embraces a free woman. Through her experiences outside her home, she discovers a new part of herself, good and bad. However, the story is not as simple as right and wrong or black and white. Bella discovers the grey area within herself, where convention and freedom meet in the middle. Where many find chaos in the twilight of independence and society, Bella finds peace. Miss Baxter understands that what society deems moral is subjective, but her freedom is non-negotiable.

Poor Things gives you the scandal and raunchiness of The Favourite, even sexier and more elaborate lessons in womanhood than Barbie, and creates more emotion in two and a half hours than Oppenheimer did in three. It is a stunning film that will leave audiences giddy and hopeful with a twinge of shock. Lanthimos created one of this year’s most original films, not for the faint of heart but for the curious. 

Score: 4.5/5

I wholeheartedly believe Poor Things is the best film of 2023. Barbie was the 101 version of lessons on women’s place in the world, and Poor Things was the advanced seminar. Stone and Ruffalo have the best performances of their career, and Emma Stone deserves that Best Actress Oscar more than anyone else. What I love the most about Lanthimos’ drama/comedy/romance is that he does not hold back and trusts that audiences are smart enough to understand the film and its little nuances. I miss movies that believe audiences are just as clever as their filmmakers. Poor Things gave me hope for the future of cinema, for the ability to unashamedly make fully fleshed-out films about the female experience, and for all of the dirty details that make women like myself whole.