As the famous saying goes, there are three inevitable things in life: death, taxes and the fact that if Yorgos Lanthimos makes a movie, it will be one of the strangest things you see all year. But even by the exceptionally strange standards of our man Lanthimos, Poor things – a strange author will be published soon FrankensteinIan’s fantasy of a young woman who finds herself reanimated with the brain of a baby is truly nuts. And if you don’t believe us, just watch the latest trailer for the film and see for yourself. Cue, Emma Stone threatens to hit a child in 3, 2, 1…
If this? We told you it was weird! But it’s also, as star, producer and Lanthimos’ bonafide muse Emma Stone immediately assures us in this teaser, “very, very funny.” Inspired by and adapted from the 1992 novel of the same name by Scotsman Alasdair Gray Favorite writes Tony McNamara, Poor things Centers around Bella Baxter (Stone), a dead woman who is reanimated by the unorthodox but brilliant scientist Dr. Godwin Baxter (Willem Dafoe, who trained for the film at an actual mortician’s school). “This is Bella. She’s an experiment,” Baxter says as we glance at his subject, hooked up to a retro-futuristic contraption that would make James Whale beam. But Bella is more than just a science project. “She understands what it means to be a member of society,” explains Stone, speaking directly to the camera in the trailer. “And the more autonomous she becomes, the more problems it poses for these men.”
Elsewhere in the trailer, there are laughs as we see Bella interacting with goofy-looking lawyer Duncan Wedderburn (mustachioed Mark Ruffalo), discovering the joys of sex, crotch kicks, sipping cocktails and… uh… promising to hit kids. as she navigates the delightfully strange world of Lanthimos, very reminiscent of Karel Zeman and Terry Gilliam. However, even in a minute-long teaser it is clearly visible how Poor things satirically satirizes and questions archaic gender roles and social norms, as hinted at in the film’s official synopsis; “Freed from the prejudices of her time, Bella becomes steadfast in her commitment to equality and liberation.”
Bella is joined on her odyssey of self-discovery by a stunning ensemble that includes Jerrod Carmichael, Christopher Abbott, Margaret Qualley and Catherine Hunter. Poor things? If you ask us, that sounds like lots and lots of good things!
Poor things will be released in cinemas on December 8 in the US ahead of a UK release on January 12, 2024.