Poor Things

Bella is genuinely unsure what to rate this (so future me will come in and give it a rating) Firstly, truly a beautiful film, visually stunning, every location, costume, and all the cinematography genuinely left me in complete awe - so detailed and intricate and really truly like a dream. Also, the dialogue was also incredible, as it struck a balance between lyrical poetic lines and colloquial language.  Emma Stone is AMAZING just to note The ‘fish-eye’ shots reminded me of that one artist that I can’t name right now, creating a sense of chaos and certainly enhancing the weird, mystical feeling. Yeah, the production was INCREDIBLE, genuinely NO NOTES I am in awe and love that visual creation of this film so so much and I wish that my thoughts on the story weren’t so complicated. I can see how it is a story of Bella Baxter’s escape, her liberation from the control and entrapment of men. BUT, the fact that all these men are so fascinated with her, and the fact that this film is highly erotic in nature and she turns to prostitution, whilst having the mind of a baby is rather fetish-y in my opinion. Yes, her psyche is represented as more of an id, she certainly is very smart and really leads on her impulses, not restrained by societal constrains which makes this film quite profoundly philosophical about the ideas that form our society. YET, you cannot ignore the fact that her mind is literally one of young child’s, and there is a clear sexualisation of the subsequent innocence and vulnerability - but the plot does seem to focus on how she is exploited for her nature, but it still just films weird to me idk. It just feels that the film is like a male fantasy of the idea of sexualising a child, drawn to the ideas of vulnerability and naivity which they can exploit, BUT at the same time she is ultimately liberated - a real conflict for me as it feels that the film is not truly critical of the men exploiting this innocence.  HOWEVER, I do recognise that at the same time, Bella is played to be genuinely curious, fascinated with the outside world as she attempts to learn ideas about sexuality and gender, and these come at her own detriment at times, which really makes it feel human and real. She has been so sheltered during to the fact she encaged by her father (or ‘God’ - I am not going to get into religion), thus she is desperate to explore, searching for this pleasure that is ultimately exploited from her - “curiosity is what killed the cat” an idiom particularly present in this film. She is the one often requesting the “jumping”, and therefore it would be wrong to say she has no agency, she makes many choices within this film which are a form of ‘sexual liberation’ which is a feminist concept (how feminist? is another debate) and I do recognise this. Thus this is a film about the consequences of this curiosity, as she faces the real world, full of crooked men chasing this same desire and curiosity. But you better believe I clocked that Importance of Being Earnest reference "a handbag" OH YES (also links very well to the rakeish pursuit of desire present throughout this film)  I think I am going to do some reading so I can understand more about this film and what it represents so I’ll be back :) SO, I will be giving this film 4 1/2 I think, it is a truly exceptional film that I have decided to be more sympathetic upon with my feminist lens. I think it would be easily 5 but it just lacks the female gaze, it is clearly made by a man leading to the conflict present in my review (aka my attempt to decipher my thoughts), making it quite easy to have a feminist critique, but ultimately it is too pretty for me to give a negative rating - I may be back in when I am filled with hatred for men (will be very likely).  I just think that a film like this NEEDS a woman, not a man in order to achieve its aims