- Title: Poor Things
- IMDb: link
Welcome back to the weird world of writer/director Yorgos Lanthimos whose latest bizarre tale offers us Emma Stone as the reincarnated corpse of a woman with the brain of a baby brought back to life by mad scientist Dr. Godwin Baxter (Willem Dafoe). Rechristened Bella, the restless young woman eventually desires to leave the confines of Victorian London heading out in the world with smitten scoundrel Duncan Wedderburn (Mark Ruffalo) despite the affections of Baxter’s assistant (Ramy Youssef) for her.
Closer in tone to The Lobster than The Favourite or The Killing of a Sacred Deer, Poor Things embraces the oddness and absurdity of its premise releasing Bella unto a world not ready for her. Stone, Ruffalo, and Dafoe are all wonderful here. Bella’s journey is one of self-discovery but also discovery of a world larger than she imagined as she eventually grows into a new life just in time to deal with the holdovers from her last one. While being borderline too goofy to take seriously, there isn’t a doubt that Poor Things is one of the most unique and memorable films of 2023.
Watch the trailer
