One of the most spectacular films competing at the 80th Venice Film Festival was the film by Yorgos Lanthimos. Poor things. The packed audience in the Sala Grande Venezia smiled, accompanying the show with long applause.
The 141-minute black romantic comedy and sci-fi fantasy, which is a contender for the Golden Lion, has made Emma Stone one of the hottest actresses of our time. She plays an experimental Victorian lady who is resurrected by mad scientist Dr. Godwin Baxter, played by the magnificent Willem Dafoe.
Dr. Baxter’s early experiments were successful: among other things, he replaced chickens with bulldogs to study the results. Bella is the result of this long process as she literally takes baby steps, learning more and more about her surroundings under the guidance of “God” (Dafoe).
Bella’s brain belonged to a child, but her body belonged to a beautiful young woman with a tragic past. Dr. Baxter considers his surgical creation to be his own daughter.
A very patient “father”, he even encourages his explorer Max (Rami Youssef) to win Bella’s heart, but our Frankenstein-like protagonist has other plans.
Bella’s character is absurd, innocent and boasts a huge sexual appetite. This is a film about self-discovery and there is no turning back for our heroine as she gains her independence.
The only way to fulfill her dream is to be with hotshot lawyer Duncan Wedderburn (Mark Ruffalo), who promises to show her the world by taking her to Portugal, Egypt and France.
Bella’s eyes are open to the impolite “polite” society. In everything she does, she is fearless and shameless.
As Bella, Emma showed her true worth as a daring actress, her character cavorting with men of all ages just to satisfy her sexual desires. After an intimate encounter with Duncan, she asks him, “Why don’t people do this all the time?”
She meets a pimp who gives her a 24-hour catering job to satisfy her lust. The delighted pimp calls Bella “the woman leading the way to freedom.”
But what happens to lover boy Duncan? He cannot accept Bella’s independence and joyful outlook on life. Depressed, his life turns upside down.
Our Bella fights for her adventurous spirit at a time when women were slaves to the dictates of society. She makes her own choice, a real winner, no matter how strange and unconventional her actions may be. In her opinion, “there is a world to enjoy and travel around.” Looking back, her actions say to everyone: “To hell with all of you!”
Greek director Yorgos has an uncanny way of visualizing Alasdair Gray’s novel. He is a director who has won four awards at the Cannes Film Festival for his exciting early works such as Fang And Killing of a sacred deer. There is a mischievous quality to his scenes. Many consider his directing brilliant. He belongs to the postmodern film movement known as the Greek Strange Wave.
Special thanks to supporting actors Mark, Rami and Willem. Without these men, we would not have heard Bella’s story of female empowerment.
Poor things rated “R” overseas for “strong and pervasive sexual content, nudity, disturbing material, blood and language.”
After the world premiere in Venice Poor things will be released on December 8 in the US, January 12, 2024 in the UK and Ireland, and January 18, 2024 in Australia.
Let’s just hope that when it reaches our shores, our classification board will be open to this monstrous story, beautifully portrayed by Emma Stone.