Poor Things (film)

Poor Things (film)
Poor Things is a 2023 black comedy fantasy film directed by Yorgos Lanthimos from a screenplay by Tony McNamara, and starring Emma Stone, Mark Ruffalo, Willem Dafoe, Ramy Youssef, Christopher Abbott, and Jerrod Carmichael. Based on the 1992 novel of the same name by Alasdair Gray, it focuses on a young Victorian woman who, after being crudely resurrected by a scientist following her suicide, runs off with a debauched lawyer to embark on an odyssey of self-discovery and sexual liberation.
Produced by Film4 Productions, Element Pictures, TSG Entertainment, and Searchlight Pictures, development on the film began as early as 2009, when Lanthimos visited Gray in Scotland to acquire the rights to the novel. Following a period in development hell, the director revisited Poor Things while filming The Favourite (2018), which starred Stone, and approached her with the lead role. The remaining cast joined the project in 2021, with principal photography occurring in Hungary from August to December of that year.
Poor Things premiered at the 80th Venice International Film Festival on September 1, 2023, where it won the Golden Lion. The film is scheduled to be theatrically released by Searchlight Pictures in the United States on December 8, 2023, and in the United Kingdom on January 12, 2024.
Premise
A young woman, Bella, is brought back to life by her guardian, the scientist Dr. Godwin Baxter. Initially naïve, Bella is eager to learn about the world around her, albeit under Baxter's protection. Wanting to see more, she runs off with Duncan Wedderburn, a slick and debauched lawyer, and travels across continents. Free from the prejudices of her times, Bella demands equality and liberation.
Cast
Production
Development
Lanthimos read Poor Things years prior to developing the film and met with the author, Alasdair Gray, in Scotland to acquire the rights. "He was a very lovely man," Lanthimos shared, "Unfortunately, he died just a couple of years before we actually made the film, but he was very special and energetic; he was 80-something [when we met], and as soon as I got there, he had seen Dogtooth and said, 'I had my friend put on the DVD, because I don’t know how to operate these things, but I think you're very talented, young man.'" Lanthimos shared that Gray took him on a personal tour of Glasgow, where Gray showed Lanthimos several places that he had incorporated into the story.
While filming The Favourite (2018), Lanthimos revisited the project, which he discussed with Emma Stone, who also starred in the film. Lanthimos began developing Poor Things more actively following the success of The Favourite: “After the relative success of The Favourite, where I actually made a slightly more expensive film that was successful, people were more inclined to allow me to do whatever it is that I wanted, so I just went back to Gray’s book and said, ‘This is what I want to do.’ It was a long process, but the book was always on my mind.” While developing the film, Lanthimos and Stone collaborated with each other on the short film Bleat (2022).
Pre-production
Poor Things was officially announced in February 2021. Lanthimos felt that working with Stone again gave him an advantage to the production, as they developed a mutual trust towards one another. Stone also discussed how the process of making Poor Things was different in comparison to The Favourite, due to also acting as a producer: “It was so interesting to be involved in how the film was being pieced together, from cast to department heads to what have you. Ultimately, Yorgos was the one making those decisions, but I was very involved in the process, which started during the pandemic; we were reaching out to people and casting and everything during that time, because we couldn’t go anywhere.”
Casting
Willem Dafoe entered negotiations to join the cast in March 2021. By April, Ramy Youssef was in talks to join. Dafoe and Youssef were confirmed to join in May, with Mark Ruffalo and Jerrod Carmichael also added to the cast in May. In September, Christopher Abbott was cast. In November, Margaret Qualley and Suzy Bemba were cast, with Kathryn Hunter revealing she had a role in the film as well.
In preparation for her role, Stone took dance lessons and dyed her hair black, which she admitted was accidental. Lanthimos reflected that the dark hair contrasted with Stone's fair complexion so much that they agreed to go forward with the look. Describing her characterization of Bella, Stone was attracted to the idea of portraying a woman reborn with a liberated mindset free of societal pressures: "It's such a fairy tale, and a metaphor—clearly, this can't actually happen—but the idea that you could start anew as a woman, as this body that's already formed, and see everything for the first time and try to understand the nature of sexuality, or power, or money or choice, the ability to make choices and live by your own rules and not society's—I thought that was a really fascinating world to go into." Stone especially appreciated Bella's lack of shame in regards to her experiences:
Youssef revealed that in preparation for their roles, he and Dafoe attended mortician school. Reflecting on the "experimental theater games" Lanthimos assigned the cast prior filming, Dafoe shared, "You’re very patient with everyone, and everyone’s patient with you. They need to be confident in what they’re doing, because what we’re doing is quite risky. It’s not a normal film."
Discussing the male characterizations, Lanthimos acknowledged that while each male character was different and had their own individual motivations, they each represented male attitudes typical of the story's Victorian setting. Lanthimos stated: "There are variations, I guess, but in this film, there's a general tendency to try to control [Bella]—even if it's done in a caring or subtle way, in the way that a parent might or that [Dafoe's character] Baxter does, or just being infatuated in the way that Ramy is. You know, being a nice man deep down, but still having the characteristics of a man of that era." Stone also asserted that "the more agency Bella gets, the more she learns and grows, the more it drives these men insane. The more she has an opinion and her own wants and needs and all of that, it makes them crazy; they want her to stay this sort of pure thing."
Filming
Filming began in August 2021 in Hungary, at Budapest's Origo Studios.
Costumes
Lanthimos worked closely with costume designer Holly Waddington in order to reflect Bella's growth and development through her wardrobe, from the more puffy silhouettes of her childlike era to the nearly corseted gown she wears at the film's climax: "Holly […] and I realized early on that costumes and production design would be a very important part of not only telling this story, but creating a world. […] We looked at materials they used in the '70s and thought about how they would work in a costume, from latex to plastic to all sorts of things."
Stone further elaborated on Bella's growth reflected through her costumes, detailing how in the beginning of the story, Bella dresses in more traditional clothing of the era, and, following her transformation, begins to dress herself in more bizarre clothes. Stone said "[…] I loved that element of, how would Bella put clothing together with the way her mind works at this point? At the end, there are these very military-looking dresses that look like nothing you've seen Bella wear; things are much more form-fitting and constrained, but that's because she's come to a place where she's grown and decided who she is and what she's going to do. She's not assimilating, necessarily, but there's just more structure there."
Release
Poor Things had its world premiere at the 80th Venice International Film Festival on September 1, 2023, and was also screened at the Telluride Film Festival, the New York Film Festival, the BFI London Film Festival, the Busan International Film Festival, and the Sitges Film Festival.
The film is scheduled to be released by Searchlight Pictures in the United States on December 8, 2023. It will be released in the United Kingdom and Ireland on January 12, 2024. It was previously scheduled to be released on September 8, 2023, but was delayed to its December date due to the 2023 SAG-AFTRA strike.
Reception
Critical response
Stephanie Zacharek of Time wrote that Poor Things is "Lanthimos' finest movie so far, a strange, gorgeous-looking picture that extends generosity both to its characters and the audience". She found Stone's performance "wonderful—vital, exploratory, almost lunar in its perfect oddness." Peter Bradshaw of The Guardian called it a "virtuoso comic epic" and added that Stone had given a "hilarious, beyond-next-level performance".
David Rooney of The Hollywood Reporter termed it "an insanely enjoyable fairy tale", adding that Stone "gorges on it in a fearless performance that traces an expansive arc most actors could only dream about". Variety Guy Lodge also believed that the film "rests on a single astonishing performance by Stone".
BBC Culture's Nicholas Barber found the film "outrageous and hilarious", comparing it to the work of Wes Anderson and Terry Gilliam. The review also noted that the novel's realistic nineteenth-century setting had been changed to a fantastical "steam-punk wonderland", and that some of its satirical humor and most of its socialist and feminist themes had been toned down.
Accolades
References
External links
2023 films
2020s American films
2020s British films
2020s English-language films
American comedy-drama films
American science fantasy films
British comedy-drama films
British science fantasy films
English-language Irish films
Film4 Productions films
Films affected by the 2023 SAG-AFTRA strike
Films affected by the 2023 Writers Guild of America strike
Films based on Scottish novels
Films directed by Yorgos Lanthimos
Films shot in Budapest
Golden Lion winners
Searchlight Pictures films
Surrealist films
Irish comedy-drama films
Irish fantasy comedy films
Georges Delerue Award winners