Poor Things

UK Release Date. 12 January 2024
Certification. R
Running Time. 2 hours 21 mins
Director. Yorgos Lanthimos
Cast. Willem Dafoe, Mark Ruffalo, Emma Stone, Ramy Youssef.
Rating. 75%

Review.

The Glasgow Film Theatre held a screening of Yorgos Lanthimos' Poor Things last week with an accompanying panel discussion featuring Rodge Glass (novelist and Alasdair Gray's biographer), Sorcha Dallas (custodian of The Alasdair Gray Archive) and Rachel Loughran (curator and designer of Poor Things: A Novel Guide). The reason? Yorgos Lanthimos' Poor Things is an adaptation of Alasdair Gray's 1992 novel, itself a postmodern revision of Mary Shelley's gothic novel Frankenstein (1818). 

Whilst Lanthimos' screenwriter Tony McNamara has adapted the screenplay from the formidable Scottish author's source material, the universe reimagined is very similar to that found in the Greek director's earlier dark comedies, specifically The Lobster and The Favourite. Gray's novel is cloaked in ambiguity, primarily through multiple conflicting narratives, but McNamara makes the bold decision to employ the earnest young medical assistant, Max McCandless (Ramy Youssef), as the primary narrator of the tale.

In the early scenes, cast in black and white and set in what appears to be 19th century London (not Glasgow, as in Alasdair Gray's novel), the film has the feel of an old Universal Studios horror film of the 1930s (e.g. Dracula (1931), Frankenstein (1931), The Mummy (1932), The Invisible Man (1933) or The Black Cat (1934)). The film even pays homage to the regeneration scenes in Bride Of Frankenstein (1935) in which Elsa Lanchester is brought to life.

Lanthimos has gravitated towards exploring patriarchal constraints in the past. His third feature, Dogtooth, centres around a father and mother who keep their children locked indoors, ignorant to the world outside. While Poor Things' Dr Godwin Baxter (Willem Dafoe) is apparently a loving and benevolent father figure, there are parallels in the patriarchal control of his imprisoned creation. 

Dr Godwin is a horribly scarred experimental surgeon working at the very limits of steampunk science; his creation, Bella Baxter (Emma Stone) is an adult woman literally with the brain of an infant, literally. Stone delivers surely the boldest performance of her career so far, in a role that places heavy physical and psychological demands upon her. Reuniting with Lanthimos after she was nominated for an Academy Award for her portrayal of Abigail in The Favourite, Stone is wonderful, and well deserving of the accolades that will undoubtedly come her way this awards season. 

As Bella matures - rather rapidly - she develops a voice and discovers her own sexuality, which becomes a key contributing factor in many of her decisions going forward. Bella elopes with the seductive cad, Duncan Wedderburn (played by Mark Ruffalo, in fine comic form) and travels from London to Lisbon, then on to Alexandria and finally to Paris. Each new city is created in fantastical style, with Lanthimos rekindling memories of the work of Wes Anderson, in particular The Grand Budapest Hotel and The French Dispatch. Bella's thirst for life (and Pasteis de nada), instinctive desires and refreshing independence are infectious, as she gleefully navigates her sexual (and eventually, intellectual) awakening.

Bella's impulse for enlightenment leads her, in the final act, to investigate the life her body led before the mind of a baby was implanted inside of it. This chapter is the weakest by far, and the point where the allegory becomes cumbrous rather than clever. 

Poor Things explodes off the screen thanks to the magnificent cinematography of Robbie Ryan and the resplendent costume design of Holly Waddington. The film is shot using a variety of innovative lenses (including an endearing fisheye lens), mixed depths of fields and different film stock. As mentioned previously, the first part of the film is shot in a grainy black and white, and it isn't until Bella escapes to Europe that the film switches to colour. The innovative cinematography creates a sense of wonder and allows the audience to view the world with the same awe as Bella views it herself. 

Lanthimos' vividly cinematic worldbuilding brings the novel's core themes to life, exploring social constraints on women, and the value of experiencing all that life has to offer, good and bad. Lanthimos uses surrealism and extreme stylisation to present his points, resulting in a film that is both brilliant and deeply unsettling. Whimsical humour and misogynistic fantasy sit side by side. Less vicious than some of his other work, Poor Things is more tender and approachable. And above all, enjoyable.