Poor Things (2023) movie review

Poor Things is a fantasy/comedy movie that combines a fairy-tale-like plot with the realities of living in human society with its complex web of relationships, structures and systems. At the 96th Academy Awards, it won 4 awards surpassed only by Oppenheimer, including Best Actress for Emma Stone. That is a significant achievement in a year with so many great movies being released. Is it worthy of the accolades it has received? If it isn’t, it comes damn close to deserving them.

This is the story of Bella (Emma Stone). A full-grown woman with a child’s mind brought to life by Dr Godwin Baxter (Willem Dafoe) who Bella fittingly calls ‘God’. A disfigured but brilliant doctor, Godwin treats Bella like an experiment. He needs help to document Bella’s development so he hires Max McCandles (Ramy Youssef) to assist him. Max is immediately mesmerised by Bella’s beauty even though her mental capacity is that of a 2 or 3-year-old.

Being a curious and intelligent individual, Bella learns fast. Especially, discovering sexual pleasure has a profound effect on her. She questions Godwin’s adamance on keeping her locked in his house when there is an entire world out there she wishes to experience. As a ploy to protect Bella and to keep her to himself, Godwin suggests Max marry her. Enter the devious Duncan Wedderburn (Mark Ruffalo). The promise of danger and adventure that Duncan offers is too tempting for Bella to pass on.

The movie is set in a world reminiscent of the late 19th century. However, there are scientific inventions present in this world that don’t exist in ours. This world is a visual representation of Bella’s experience of a culture clash between the patriarchal society of those times and the modern free-spiritedness she inherently possesses. This is achieved by the wonderful production design which gives the whole film a fantastical appearance. 

Robbie Ryan’s cinematography also illustrates this duality with the transition from black and white to colour the moment Bella leaves Godwin’s house and sets off on her journey. And she does that, with an orgasm. Bella’s journey is internal as well as external as she explores the world, the people around her, her body and their bodies. The scene where Bella discovers dancing is a visual and rhythmical highlight.

Poor Things is quite funny because of the story’s whimsical nature and the delightfully entertaining performance by Stone. Bella is a beautiful character that’s portrayed masterfully and stands to be one of the very few comedic female performances awarded with an Oscar. Ruffalo has given an equally amazing performance. In an unusual turn in his career, he’s playing a character that’s vain, transparent and self-centred. I couldn’t stop laughing every time he appeared. Duncan has his own journey in the movie but quite different from Bella’s. He begins with just being interested in Bella’s body, however, he slowly falls deeper for her, finding himself in a constant state of puzzlement laced with rage.

Dafoe in a more serious role as Godwin is under heavy makeup but he’s too good an actor to hide his raw emotions. If someone makes a list of the number of unusual performances given by any actor, Dafoe will be high on that list. Christopher Abbott and Ramy Youssef play opposing sides of masculinity and are excellent in their respective roles. All the actors in the movie are very good and fit the facade of the movie adeptly. 

Yorgos Lanthimos often tells stories that take place in an alternate universe but Poor Things is his most optimistic movie. Bella confidently takes the road less travelled despite all the men in her life trying to possess her. While it is a feminist movie that seriously made me wonder how horrible we men are, the movie is also about growing up. The confidence and curiosity we all inhibited as children got lost along with our innocence along the way of growing up. If it didn’t, we would be happier, like Bella. Maybe.