Poor Things is a highly anticipated upcoming film, directed by Yorgos Lanthimos and starring Emma Stone. The movie is based on the novel of the same name by Alasdair Gray and follows the story of Bella Baxter (Stone), a young woman brought back to life by an eccentric scientist. As she navigates her new life, she becomes embroiled in a complex web of love, deceit and tragedy. With its darkly comic tone and unique style, Poor Things is a captivating and thought-provoking cinematic experience.
Now I have to say that I went to the Cineworld Unlimited Screening without knowing too much about Poor Things which I have to say I think is the best way to go in to see the film at the cinema.
One thing I knew was that the film wouldn’t be my usual cinema trip and I was hoping for something extraordinary from director Yorgos Lanthimos right from the start of the film, I knew that I wouldn’t be disappointed. Opening with Bella (Emma Stone) on a bridge you can see from this scene that the cinematography and style of the film was going to be something that would have me glued to Poor Things from start to finish.
The story is as strange as the film itself, but it’s such a joy to watch as we are introduced to a cast of characters that bring this bizarre and charming book to life on the big screen. Willem Dafoe is somewhat scary and extremely watchable as Dr. Goodwin Baxter who in his strange way has taken Bella under his wing. As the story unfolds we learn so much more about this strange relationship between Dr and the patient that had me shocked in a good way.
Ramy Youssef is great to watch as Max McCandles who is brought in to help Goodwin keep a record of Bella’s changes and reactions, as the story unfolds Max starts to fall in love with Bella. But adding to the mix of their start of falling in love, Goodwin brings in a solicitor Duncan Wedderburn (Mark Ruffalo) and this certainly throws in the cat among the pigeons.
A new adventure starts for Bella and we are taken on a wonderous journey across the world, I must warn you there is plenty of “furious jumping” going on and I released at this point why the film was given an 18 certificate, but all the sex etc is all done brilliantly and keeps in with the tone of the film.
Emma Stone is superb as Bella, throughout the film her performance is amazing to watch as her character develops through the story, I have to say that this is one of the finest performances from Stone that I have seen in years, she is perfectly cast as Bella.
As I mentioned earlier the cinematography in Poor Things is stunning, with its wonderful black and white tones for the first part of the film, we are later treated with some amazing colours and shots that work brilliantly giving the film a feel of something magical, look out for various scenes that give us different styles of lens shot that look amazing such as a round view like looking through a pinhole.
Poor Things is one of those films that you don’t want to know too much about before you go and see it, just go and bathe in wonder of the overall production. It’s been a while since I’ve sat through a film and just wanted to start watching it again as soon as the credits started to roll.
Poor Things opens in UK cinemas on the 12th of January, my recommendation is to go see it on the big screen.