As usual, January is awash with a lot of awards contenders. One film with a lot of buzz, particularly surrounding the performance of Emma Stone in the lead role, is Poor Things from director Yorgos Lanthimos and writer Tony McNamara who has Alasdair Gray’s book. Olivia Colman won the Best Actress Oscar for her performance in Lanthimos’ previous film, and Stone may follow suit following her nomination this week.
She stars as Victoria Blessington, a desperately unhappy, pregnant, woman living in Victorian era London who commits suicide by jumping into The Thames. A controversial scientist, Godwin Baxter (Willem Dafoe) recovers her body and brings her back to life by removing her brain and replacing it with her unborn baby’s before running electricity through her. She, therefore, is a fully grown woman with the mind of a child and he names her Bella.
This is undoubtedly a visually spectacular movie but with its bizarre sets, weird camera angles and mannered performances, it feels self indulgently over directed. I was also perturbed by how all men seemed to lust after a woman with a child’s mind, and how even that seemed to make her more desirable. Then when Bella finds freedom and fulfilment by becoming a prostitute, it feels very much like a male fantasy.
Of the cast, a restrained Ramy Youssef stands out as Baxter’s assistant, Vicki Pepperdine is amusing as his housekeeper and Emma Stone gives a good physical performance.
It looks great and has a few good comedic moments but I fear that Lanthimos is heading down the Wes Anderson route of all style and little substance.
Rating: 5.5 out of 10