Poor Things * * * * ½

The Cad gives Bella her first lesson

Not many directors could subject his audience to multiple scenes in fisheye and keep them enthralled.  Likewise, not many directors could shoot in black and white for some scenes, and then switch to full colour (and I mean FULL colour) and full screen for other scenes.  In the hands of many directors these techniques would seem unoriginal, pretentious and naive.  

But such is the genius of Yorgos Lanthimos these techniques come across as not only appropriate but inspiring, even enthralling.

Poor Things is Yorgos Lanthimos latest film.   Adapted from a novel of the same name, Poor Things might remind you of Frankenstein.  

It is set in the Victorian era and in the opening scenes (black and white and fisheye) we meet Dr Godwin and his young charge Bella - a living experiment.

Bella is a strange creature, a grown woman with an uncoordinated body and limited language and infantile behaviour.  We are soon to learn why. (I don't want to spoil this for you), but let's just say she has been rescued, then re-assembled by Dr Godwin.  

When Dr Godwin employs a handsome young man to help him observe and document Bella they fall in love.  But he believes Bella should wait until she is mentally mature before they marry.  Unfortunately for her chivalrous fiance, Bella is stolen away by a cad who wants her for his own sexual gratification.  The cad had noticed Bella has no concern about naively expressing her ever increasing sexual appetite.

The cad (superbly played by Mark Ruffalo) and Bella set out on a journey, each day having sex to the point of exhaustion.  That's his exhaustion not Bella's.  She seems to be insatiable. At this stage she still has infantile expressions and inappropriate manners.  A child's mind in the body of a woman. 

As they travel from London to Lisbon to  Alexandria to Marseilles, on board a steam ship like no other, Bella is rapidly learning and becomes hungry for more knowledge. Especially when she is befriended by a couple of colourful philosophers with their many books.

She becomes assertive and opinionated. Her caddish abductor is not happy. He has lost his cost-free whore and gained an ever exasperating problem, a woman with a mind of her own. Things get particularly bad when Bella starts banging on about philosophy and human rights, and gives away all his money.

Soon they are down and out in Paris. But Bella learns that she can make a tidy income with her body. She loves sex anyway, so what the heck.

Eventually she returns to Dr. Godwin and not a minute too soon as he is not long for this world.  Her original suitor  - Godwin's assistant - still waits for her and wants to marry her. But then another unexpected twist, which I don't want to tell you about... 

This marvellous rambling story is told on a canvas of scenes from a world like no other.  And I'm, not just talking about another time.  Aside from moving from monochrome to vivid colour, the costumes and the sets are among the richest you will see.  And as for the buildings, and even the steamship, it's all like a world designed by Antoni Gaudi if he were on acid or something.  If you enjoy the weird and wonderful world of Yorgos Lanthimos, Poor Things will not disappoint. Incidentally, he makes the mad dance scene we saw in The Favourite look quite normal. 

Yet, after all this, the real triumph of Poor Things is the extraordinary acting.  Emma Stone is simply amazing as Bella: a tragic, childish, crazy, over sexed, stitched up, weird being that is evolving into a remarkable woman.  Mark Ruffalo makes a cad like no other: handsome, dashing, selfish, but very funny.  Willem Dafoe as the repulsive unconscionable but fascinating Dr Godfrey even gains our sympathy, especially as he talks about his childhood.

If I have one minor complaint, sometimes Lanthimos takes it a wee bit too far and the bedazzlement can undermine some scenes which could otherwise be more emotionally impactful.