Poor Things review: Emma Stone gives a career best

Emma Stone… what can’t she do? From teen sass queen in Easy A through to tap-dancing extraordinaire in La La Land, the woman has range. Already a standout in Yorgos Lanthimos’ previous film The Favourite, Stone excels more than she ever has before in the deliciously twisted Poor Things.

Lanthimos, whose cinematic repertoire has included unhinged classics such as Dogtooth and The Lobster, tackles an adaptation of the 1992 novel of the same name by Alasdair Gray. Unsurprisingly, bringing the two creative elements together is a match made in heaven for the often bleak yet boundary-breaking Lanthimos. In short, audiences meet a woman pushed to suicide by an unknown cause, waking up not only unaware of who she was before, but unable to function as a grown adult.

This is where the plot tips into something resembling a female-led Frankenstein – Bella (who was previously known as Victoria) has had her unborn child’s brain implanted in her head as part of a scientific experiment to keep her alive. Clearly, this isn’t a typically considered approach to take, but it opens viewers up to a reality where a woman can carve her way into the world with an inability to feel shame.

On top of that, Lanthimos’ visual choices are arguably operating in their best form yet. Colliding the sense of period drama from The Favourite with a CGI wonder world of vibrant color, flying trams, and a globe that seemingly exists on top of itself, both director and actor come together to forge a new path in film – and it’s nothing short of spellbinding.

Emma Stone is on track for another Oscar

Poor Things is a viewing experience that is immediately – and even with hindsight – difficult to sum up how it makes someone feel. What can be quickly banked on however is the sheer force that is Emma Stone, barging past any unsure feelings that audiences might be harboring to deliver a character that’s so rambunctious and self-assured, she’s instantly unforgettable.

What’s amazing about Stone’s grasp of Bella Baxter is that this self-assured state comes from a place of not really knowing herself at all. Just like a five-foot-something baby, Bella has to relearn exactly what the world has to offer her, while also choosing to see possibilities of hope where other, more jaded characters can’t. To be in her company is to tire quickly, but it is also an experience that pushes you beyond into something that holds more value than simply watching a film.

This isn’t to say that Stone’s supporting cast isn’t as exceptional, with the likes of Willem Dafoe and Mark Ruffalo providing grappling hooks in human form for Bella to climb into a new world. Typically, this manifests in the form of both Bella’s individual control and her obvious enjoyment of sex and female pleasure. Who knew that women were allowed to enjoy that in exactly the way they’d like to? The revelation dawns on viewers in the same way that Jesus’ post-Easter resurrection had disciples in a spiritual chokehold.

Worldbuilding beyond wildest beliefs

In a wild way, Lanthimos and Stone may have given birth to their own kind of religious figure in Poor Things. Not only does Bella teach her audience plenty in her character, but the way she sees the world offers up an as-yet-unseen perspective on what is around us. When she isn’t the focus, the parallel versions of Paris, Lisbon, and London feel entirely new, enriched with energy in every frame.

Sure, Lanthimos uses CGI and other digital trickery with a very heavy hand, and that’s not going to sit well with everyone. However, combined with Bella’s infant-like mind, what’s presented onscreen allows for a type of worldbuilding beyond our wildest beliefs. In Lanthimos’ hands, everything is possible, and everything happens. Bella takes a walking tour of Lisbon that moves her from tears to laughter to dangerous curiosity in a matter of seconds, undertakes the moving horror that is a luxury cruise, and finds residency at a Parisian brothel and is genuinely able to better herself while there.

Nothing is off the cards for Bella Baxter, unable to frame life through a prism that is riddled with social taboos. She truly is a free spirit, and Yorgos Lanthimos gives her the gift of Poor Things to run wild and redefine what being alive in an ever-changing world can be like. Yes, a lot of scenes are heinous, outrageous, and borderline immoral, but so is life – and audiences would be missing out not to be along for the ride.

Poor Things review score: 5/5

An astounding example of how to make cinema truly your own, there is life before Poor Things and there is life after.

The latter leaves viewers altered – hopefully for the better – and probably questioning what on Earth happened to them during the 141 minute runtime. The answer? Profound change which is necessary, uncomfortable, and downright amazing.

Poor Things heads to cinemas on December 8, 2023. Take a look at more of our upcoming film coverage below:

Five Nights at Freddy’s | Dune: Part Two | The Marvels | Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes