Poor Things

There are two things L&D want you to know about Yorgos Lanthimos’ Poor Things, out in theaters just in time to disrupt your holiday season.  

First off, it is a masterpiece.

Second, it is not for everybody.

In fact, it might not be for most people.  It is full of sordid characters, blasphemy, torture, maiming, dismemberment, houses of ill repute, objectionable animal husbandry, live-action surgery, graphic sex, and a lot of things that could be dealbreakers for you that possibly didn’t even register for me.  And in many cases what is implied in the script is even worse than what we actually see on the screen.  I admit to some squirming throughout and covering my eyes and wincing at least twice.  It is probably not a great holiday movie choice for you and the kids.

On the other hand, the production values are extraordinary, at least three movie stars are at their best (or better), and the story is cerebral in more ways than you can count on one hand. 

The movie begins with an in-color shot of Emma Stone taking a nosedive off a bridge and into the drink.  What follows is not a flashback, but does initially revert to black-and-white with Stone awkwardly walking, playing, eating, urinating, etc… in a cognitively primitive state.  She is within the confines of the home of a heroically patient yet grotesquely disfigured Dr. Godwin Baxter, played by Appletonian Willem Dafoe (!).  “God”, as his inner circle immodestly addresses him, is a pure empiricist — a surgeon or a man-of-science of some sort.  

L&D were huge fans of Emma Stone’s performance in The Favourite, another Lanthimos film, so we were expecting good things. But five minutes into this one I was pretty confused as to what was going on, and thought to myself that there is no way Stone’s character can carry this movie. Boy was I way off in that initial assessment. I was also not expecting Mark Ruffalo to show up and attempt to steal the show with a bravado performance. But a bravado performance it is, with his portrayal of the the rakish Duncan Wedderburn.   

And then there is Dafoe. For a horribly disfigured guy who is on the front-end of surgical innovation, it is a pretty understated performance. But as we were leaving the theater, we were debating whether this was the best performance of his career.  Although the movie does not reveal the backstory on the heavy scars covering his face, we have enough clues to put together the likely source.  It becomes more and more heartbreaking as the movie goes along.  

So to sum up, a crazy feminist science fiction steampunk storyline, an abundance of edgy content, several great performances, a number of big laughs, and a visually challenging yet gorgeous backdrop.  

In short, a masterpiece.  

L&D were duped into paying full price for this one, but it was still way over the bar. I wouldn’t be surprised if we catch this one again before it leaves the theaters.