Why everyone should now run to the cinema to see Poor Things
Last month I treated myself to a Cineville pass. Let's start by saying that it's the best gift you can give yourself, especially if you live like me right in the middle of five cinemas within a radius of twenty meters. Eight cinema films later, I have two favorites: All of Us Strangers (so beautiful it makes you cry) and Poor Things. The latter won three awards at the Oscars last night, and rightly so.
Poor Things is a kind of Frankenstein story with a feminist Frankenstina in the lead role. Emma Stone plays a crazy Bella Baxter, who ends her life at a young age but is saved by Godwin Baxter (Willem Dafoe). The brilliant scientist implants the brain of her unborn child into Bella's head, who is reborn into the light of life. The rest of the dark comedy is just as absurdist as this beginning.
I don't often laugh out loud in the cinema, but Poor Things managed to do it several times. Stone portrays the role of a baby in an adult body fantastically and subtly develops her character into a powerful, yet still quirky woman. For the eager Bella Baxter, the house quickly becomes too small, and at a rapid pace, she transforms from a strange toddler with way too long legs into a nymphomaniac who doesn't hold back. She devours men as if it's nothing and dominates the biggest macho (Mark Ruffalo) into a lovesick and lost heap of misery. Without becoming annoying, because Bella discovers the world as a playground and takes every step with the enlightening innocence of a child. Her journey to adulthood is one to be envious of, without social boundaries and without pressure from society.
The cinematography of Poor Things is equally impressive. Director Yorgos Lanthimos loves the fisheye lens, starts the film in black and white, and switches to color halfway through. Bella Baxter not only grows in character but also in clothing: she starts off dressed quite modestly, ventures into the wide world in extravagant outfits with puffed sleeves and tiny pants, and retains the sleeves but ends up in adult Victorian attire with a modern twist. The sets are both futuristic and historical at the same time and are one big artistic cabinet of curiosities with hidden phalluses and duck-goats.
Three Oscars went to Poor Things last night, exactly for the reasons why I am so lyrical about this film. Stone won for Best Actress, there was an Academy Award for Best Costume Design, and one for Makeup and Hairstyling. Run to the cinema, because this is one that truly pays off on the big white screen.
Image: Poor Things
