'Poor Things' Review | A wild and weird tale with a Frankensteinian touch by Yorgos Lanthimos

Lanthimos, McNamara and Emma Stone have yet again created a magnum opus after 'The Favourite' in this adaptation of the 1992 novel by the scottish author Alasdair Gray which is a retelling of Mary Shelley's 'Frankenstein' (1818). Story takes place in Victorian London where a woman named Bella Baxter who has an unborn foetus's brain implanted in her by Godwin Baxter, a man of science and a twisted surgeon. Stone walked on the water by playing such a character as Bella and nailed it down to the detail of having a walk, talk and behaviour of an infant in a body of grown woman. Lunacy shown in the movie is best justified with McNamara's depictions of the characters i.e. Willem Dafoe who plays the wicked surgeon Godwin Baxter a.k.a God who's a practical guy at arduous limits and a non-believer of emotions. Archibald McCandles in the novel is Ramy Youssef as Max McCandles in the movie who is an intrigue assistant to Godwin and a liberal romantic to Bella. McCandles portrayed a great example of a humane and permissive person in world of egoistic and acquisitive men. Mark Ruffalo continues to strike with another performance as Duncan Wedderburn; to be seen as an opportunist primarily but later finding himself as an experimental prodigy of  Bella.

McNamara has done great work with character development of all the leads especially of Wedderburn as to how he approaches Bella and delude her into providing her freedom and adventure just for his physical needs; to develop a bond with her; to finally being disturbed and heartbroken by the ideologies of her. The movie does displays a wider and wiser meaning to modern day feminism while showcasing in a subtle way of Bella being growing and learning child from mind. In this journey of growth of Bella's brain, she comes across through many emotions such as joy by self pleasuring of herself physically at first and later being vulnerable for 'Furious Jumping' to then finding out about the rich and the poor of the society to then seeing money as a cause of such fatalities in the world. The movie does exist in a fictional world but sheds light on acts which are indeed the roots of a humiliating society in our real world and Bella is the one breaking stereotypes while portrayed as a child who is learning on her own of what's right and wrong.

This product of Lanthimos would have been 2023's most gore movie if not for Vicki Pepperdine who punched through the screenplay with her satirical comedy in the movie whether Bella reaching out to punch the baby in the face or having a pig headed chicken present on screen as an experiment of Godwin. A scene in the movie shows when Wedderburn screams in anger to Bella and her colleague and refers to them as "WHORES!!" in a demeaning way to which Bella imperturbably replies "We are our own means of production" which slaps the degenerate thinking of a normal human by a freaky experiment of a surgeon. Depiction of emotions is also portrayed through Robbie Ryan's fisheye lenses, lomography petzvals and other limited lenses which added a comical side to the scenes and intensification of a scene through sharp portraits and the oil painted skies and wavy blue seas which makes it's cinematography as much of a character as others.

The movie throughout the whole run of 142 minutes keeps the audience sit strapped as the screenplay and story justifies the time with help of it's eerie and grandiose background music which makes every scene a very underlined elevation or impactful scene. The score also included acoustic intruments which in turn made Jerskin Fendrix's entry to the years academy awards which is well deserved for the work done. The story is divided in parts of destinations where Bella journey's for adventure as she leaves the so-called prison of Godwin. Initially the film opens in a monochrome leaning visually towards James Whale's 'Frankenstein' but also it might depict life of Bella as a bore who is yet to discover things which she hasn't to later when she is free of the four walls starts adventure and exploring the world in a polychrome. Stone does justice to Lanthimos' work arch and shapes herself into it, as same the box office and the awards does justice to the movie.