Poor Things – Film Review
by Brian Merriman

Director: Yorgos Lanthimos
Writers: Tony McNamara and Alasdair Gray based on the novel of the same name by Alasdair Gray
Stars: Emma Stone, Mark Ruffalo, Willem Dafoe, Ramy Youssef, Christopher Abbott, Suzy Bemba, Jerrod Carmichael, Kathryn Hunter, Vicki Pepperdine, Margaret Qualley, Hanna Schygulla.
Costumes: Holly Waddington

Golden Globes – Winner – Best Motion Picture – Musical or Comedy
Best Performance by a Female Actor in a Motion Picture – Musical or Comedy

The award-winning black comedy ‘Poor Things’ advertises itself in the context of it being a ‘bonkers’ film. It is also a black comedy fantasy film that justifies the description. But ‘bonkers’ has many attributes and a long continuum.

It is a fantasy that runs 141 minutes with a thin but macabre plot, that never veers into horror or suspense. It is highly explicit with more explicit copulation scenes than most films! We get a pot of fantasy plots, with hints of ‘Beauty and the Beast’ (the leading role of Bella instead of ‘Belle’ – a ‘Gaston’ and a ‘Beast’ caricatures, Frankenstein’, ‘Dracula’, ‘Bride of Frankenstein’ with possibly a bit of ‘Rocky Horror’ too and a strong visual touch of ‘The Grand Budapest Hotel’.

So how does a predictable, thin plot last 141 minutes?  Simple – you visually stimulate every minute, with exquisite settings, a palate of riotous colours, luscious Victorian sets with futuristic touches, stunning costumes and inventive props. If the design team don’t sweep a few ‘gongs’ this year, they will take some beating.

We meet a young woman ‘Bella’ (an uninhibited dark, Emma Stone) who has been created by a mutilated genius ‘God’ a particularly impressive Willem Dafoe. Following an earlier incident, she is re-assembled from various human parts and we witness her development from infancy to new adult. She is an object of desire from Mark Ruffalo’s lecherous ‘Duncan Wedderbum’ and the empathetic young Doctor McCandles, a sensitive study from Ramy Youssef.

‘Bella’s life journey brings her on a tour of a reimagined 1895 London, Paris, Lisbon and Alexandria – very Gaudi in style. She moves from a cloistered home to a luxury ship and a brothel. Her social skills, giving rise to dark comedy, are early ‘Eliza Doolittle’ and searingly blunt. Clearly, Stone relishes the role and develops a walk, mannerisms, vocabulary and appetite that empower her, rather than victimise her circumstances.

‘Poor Things’ is a lavish visual feast, that keeps the eye constantly seduced, so that the thinness of the plot almost seems irrelevant. It is explicit, colourful and an intriguing production of a fantasy that certainly lives up to its ‘bonkers’ expectation.