Poor Things

"Poor Things" emerges as a cherished cinematic treasure in my repertoire this year. Meaningful without being pretentious, its significance lies not in affected grandeur but in its profound exploration of many themes, without actively trying to put on a display of a "woke" story or character. Instead, we encounter Bella, a truly multilayered character of remarkable depth and complexity, and a manifestation of personhood, growth, what it means to be human, and what it means to emancipate the self from whatever constraints possible. She is what it means to escape that which is forced upon you. I would consider this a feminist masterpiece, not because it tries to be one, but simply because Bella is not reduced to her femininity. She "happens" to be a woman, more than anything, and her gender is not the central focus of the story, although her life experiences are shaped through it. In other words, she transcends the idea of being a woman and arrives at personhood, through accepting her own suffering, while realizing that there is much greater suffering in the world she is not subject to. I also loved the film's visual composition. It stayed with me the dialogue when Bella looked upon the ocean, uttering to herself something along the lines of "blue, blue, blue...". It may be a reach, but I thought it a metaphor for her confinement, evoking her past life within the blue colors that decorated the walls and floors of her paternal home, the blue of the same China she once broke as a captured naive soul, yet to experience life.