Poor Things
Director: Yorgos Lanthimos
Starring: Emma Stone, Mark Ruffalo, Willem Dafoe
Genre: Pornless
Poor Things is surreal, deep and meaningful, tiptoes around political correctness, varies between darkly comic and slapstick, and is sexually complex. If that sounds like you, then Poor Things is your perfect film – and you’re an immense character much like most of the characters in the film.
No doubt you love Monty Python, The Addams Family (original version), The Munsters and plenty of offerings from David Lynch (Twin Peaks) and Peter Greenaway (The Cook, the Thief, His Wife & Her Lover).
That’s not to say that if this doesn’t sound like you that you’d hate the film. It’s visually fascinating, indeed the director Yorgos Lanthimos is probably going to be the next Wes Anderson (you heard that here first) given his great attention to detail in weird set designs, characters ranging from subtle to extreme, and highly interesting and obscure stories selected and written with big ideas and complexity.
Poor Things may focus on the massive role that sex has in society and with individuals, but it’s in the context of social classes, ageism, European history, health and all sorts of gender issues. As a result, it may be too obscure and stimulating to pick up any of the Academy awards it’s been nominated for, but it’s deserving of much greater interest than the limited box office takings suggest.
Being R-rated may also explain that, but don’t let that hold you back from checking out the most interesting film of the year.
Rating: Five O faces
