Hideously disfigured doctor Baxter is parent (or is he?) to young woman Bella, who is plainly not anywhere near "normal". He engages young Max McCandles to be a live-in recorder of Bella's development and progress. Then seducer and cad Wedderburn arrives on the scene, and entices Bella away to a vacation of exploration, both geographical and sexual. This bare bones synopsis skips backstories as well as what happens on and after the tour, but all of which are integral to what happens
At the outset, let me say that production design, set design, costumes and sound design are all stunning, and I will be surprised not to see Oscar recognition in these areas. As for the rest...
We humans learn from experience - we experience people, our environment, and also fiction. From text and screen we learn the language of fiction: how stories are told, and their content. And, usually, if a fiction is fantasy and the setting is not immediately recognisable, we will nonetheless recognise the characters and the relationships between them.
This is the third Yorgos Lanthimos film I have watched (after Dogtooth and The Lobster) and, like its predecessors, it is an arthouse film presenting huge problems for a viewer expecting anything conventional. Dogtooth had a relatively conventional setting and character dynamics which were anything but, and The Lobster was skewed in every way. Poor Things is also skewed (it appears to be set in the late 19th century in a world which is not really similar to our own), but it is far more recognisable as a conventional story - not one which will please anyone unprepared for something peculiar and discomforting, though.
Publicity pitches this as a comedy. I beg to differ. There is undoubtedly some very funny stuff here, but I felt like a lot of the comedy was, like Wes Anderson or the Coen brothers: a lot of sniggering behind the camera, and not so much in the audience. Even so, Bellas's mannered thesaurus-driven dialogue is frequently very entertaining.
In fact, I became much more invested than I thought I would, and I was pleased at the fairly conventional resolution.
Emma Stone's performance as Bella has rightly drawn praise (her English accent is wonderful). I don't know if Mark Ruffalo was supposed to be so overstated but, if so, then I guess he deserves praise too.
A word of caution: the film has some extremely fruity language, male and female frontal nudity, some fairly frank sex, and some graphic gore. This is not for the faint-hearted, the conventional, or anyone who dislikes being made uncomfortable.
At the outset, let me say that production design, set design, costumes and sound design are all stunning, and I will be surprised not to see Oscar recognition in these areas. As for the rest...
We humans learn from experience - we experience people, our environment, and also fiction. From text and screen we learn the language of fiction: how stories are told, and their content. And, usually, if a fiction is fantasy and the setting is not immediately recognisable, we will nonetheless recognise the characters and the relationships between them.
This is the third Yorgos Lanthimos film I have watched (after Dogtooth and The Lobster) and, like its predecessors, it is an arthouse film presenting huge problems for a viewer expecting anything conventional. Dogtooth had a relatively conventional setting and character dynamics which were anything but, and The Lobster was skewed in every way. Poor Things is also skewed (it appears to be set in the late 19th century in a world which is not really similar to our own), but it is far more recognisable as a conventional story - not one which will please anyone unprepared for something peculiar and discomforting, though.
Publicity pitches this as a comedy. I beg to differ. There is undoubtedly some very funny stuff here, but I felt like a lot of the comedy was, like Wes Anderson or the Coen brothers: a lot of sniggering behind the camera, and not so much in the audience. Even so, Bellas's mannered thesaurus-driven dialogue is frequently very entertaining.
In fact, I became much more invested than I thought I would, and I was pleased at the fairly conventional resolution.
Emma Stone's performance as Bella has rightly drawn praise (her English accent is wonderful). I don't know if Mark Ruffalo was supposed to be so overstated but, if so, then I guess he deserves praise too.
A word of caution: the film has some extremely fruity language, male and female frontal nudity, some fairly frank sex, and some graphic gore. This is not for the faint-hearted, the conventional, or anyone who dislikes being made uncomfortable.