I went to see the new Yorgos Lanthimos film, Poor Things, one Sunday alone, on a whim, without much knowledge of the plot. Thinking about it now, this was the perfect way to watch it and despite being over 2 hours long I was enraptured the entire time. This inventive and experimental film follows a woman named Bella Baxter, played by Emma Stone, who has had the brain of a child put into her by the mad scientist Godwin, Willem Dafoe. The narrative is essentially a coming-of-age story as we follow the scientific marvel that is Bella Baxter figuring out her place in the world and everything that comes with being human.
Emma Stone does an excellent job of mapping out the development of Bella from a naïve, innocent child to a more knowledgeable and astute adult. The movement is particularly incredible, and we witness Bella becoming more and more controlled in how she moves around, perhaps reflecting her assimilation into ‘polite society’ or even civilisation in general. However, despite Bella conforming to convention, in some ways she completely disregards them. As she has not been brought up around society, she has yet to feel much embarrassment or shame. I think the film expertly interrogates what it means to be ashamed of things and whether it is due to moralistic reasons or collective thought that has become dominant in our society. One way the film does this is through sex. Despite its beauty and relevance to the narrative, I would not recommend watching this with your parents! The sex scenes (which there are many) are a vessel to reflect the time of exploration in your life, Bella is working out many things about herself and an important one is her sexuality. I found this quite moving (despite the humour) as I think it is rare to see sex on film being shown without shame, with female pleasure at the forefront. I do not wish to diminish another film by comparison, but it immediately made me think of Saltburn, Emerald Fennel’s film which has been all anyone has been talking about due to the shocking nature of some of the sexual imagery in the film. I thought that film did not go into depth enough for those scenes to make a real and profound impact on me like Poor Things did. However, these films coming out in succession does suggest to me that we too are in an era of exploration; audiences want to be shocked and see something that will provoke a meaningful conversation.
In my opinion, what elevates the physical illustration of Bella’s journey is the theme of books and reading. It is not as shocking, but Bella starts to be drawn towards reading to broaden her mind and increase her knowledge of the world. This proves as important as exploring her sexuality as it is another way of her figuring out her opinions and thoughts about life. I really love how this is presented and structured in the film as it shows a consideration to creating a completely whole and rounded character. Bella Baxter truly feels like a real person, despite the scientific experimentation which is the foundation of the story. Bella as a character seems to not only overcome this but embrace this and she becomes the driver of her own narrative, making her own decisions and particularly unsettling all the men in her life.
Perhaps my favourite thing about this is the similarities and references to Frankenstein, by Mary Shelley. There is the obvious point that both depictions start with scientific experimentation which brings someone back to life, and both are more concerned with the consequences and the story of what happens after rather than the science itself. It seems that it is a narrative tool to explore humanity from a slightly different and destabilising perspective. There is also a lovely reference to Shelley’s father, William Godwin, who was a radical philosopher in the late 18th century, as the mad scientist, Godwin, a sort of paternal figure to Bella. I think the creators of this film certainly are giving the respect to Shelley’s novel and in my opinion this film does owe Shelley a lot. She pioneered this genre and if this film seems radical today imagine what Frankenstein felt like to the readers in 1818! Both stories are fun, and dark at times, but above all they are philosophical musings on our society and what it means to exist within it, experiencing all the pain and joy that comes with living.
Poor Things feels revolutionary because other characters in the film want to imprint their meaning and understanding of life onto Bella and to her this is endlessly confusing and illogical. Bella allows us as the audience to consider more possibilities about things in our society and to challenge our initial instinct to judge something strange and unusual. This film gives us the permission to release our inhibitions and perhaps embrace our inner child, which was filled with curiosity and an open mind. I think you will leave the cinema feeling a lot freer than when you entered.