Poor Things

This movie was not like other Yorgos Lanthimos movies. It was much less, “woah, that was very weird?” And more, “wow, that was incredibly empowering!”

Bella Baxter (Emma Stone) is learning about the world. Her relentless curiosity takes her first to the forest, and then throughout Europe to a place of independence. At every step of the way, Bella is learning more about her place in the world, and how hard she can push against it using her strength of naïveté.

Bella, against the world.

A strange coming of age story, with a heart of feminism.

Lanthimos has created an incredible cinematic world, with many ceilings and open spaces. The extremely wide angle fish-eye lenses capture all, leading to cuts between normal close ups and fish-eyes that reveal surprising details.

Also included in this world are a cacophony of castrated cattle, curious cable cars, and carriages with colt craniums.

(Animals with swapped heads, interesting cable cars, and carriages with horse heads)

I’d like to remind myself that I also, can tackle the world as confidently and curiously as Bella does.