Poor Things

Poor Things is a film only because it functions as one. It is a video of a story that people consume. It's a film, sure. But it's also an entirely new creation. A totally revolutionary way of telling a story. I think this is why describing the premise of the film has been so difficult; we have never seen something like this before. It's like describing a new shape; explaining a new color. You can't do it. I can't describe this movie. It is so incredibly expansive, beautiful, and complex. What I can do is tell you that the themes of Poor Things are not new; they are the most explored concepts present in film, in fiction, and humanity. Feminism, sexuality, autonomy, creation, society. Yorgos Lanthimos has found a way to ask questions that have already been asked so many times, but for the first time, they are effective. This is such an incredible thing to experience as a woman. I have never seen a character like Bella Baxter, I probably never will again. But she is so relatable for me and, I imagine, the majority of women, in the way that she has to build herself from the ground up; she has to fight the ever-present force of oppression, she has to work, over and over again, at communicating the fact that she is not under the ownership of anyone. Anyone! Not Godwin, or Max, or Duncan, or her pimp! Her frustrations got me by the heart--her experience in the world reminded me so much of how frustrating my female youth was; how simply existing felt like walking into a brick wall over, and over, and over again. This film is visually surreal and stunning and also fucking disgusting, and it's hilarious, it's scored beautifully and, ultimately, it gives the world Emma Stone's best performance of her career, by far the best performance I've seen in a film this year, maybe one of the best performances of all time. This is so much more than a film; there's so many more themes I'd love to discuss but I'll be here all day. I also think I need to watch it again, I think I could understand it even more; I'd also like to be confused by it even more. Anyway...this is a good movie.