Having seen the news that Emma Stone won best actress in a lead role at the academy awards last night and then subsequently discovering that Poor Things was available to stream on Disney+, I had to check this out.
I am no stranger the wonderfully marvellous, magical, albeit, unhinged worlds that director Yorgos Lanthimos can conjure. The first film of his which I happened upon was The Lobster. Secondly, The Killing of a Sacred Deer. While this style of film making it definitely unique, it can leave the viewer slightly bewildered. That can sometime be an understatement. I was heavily dazed by The Lobster and even more so by The Killing of a Sacred Deer. But here, with Poor Things, it has clicked. The penny has dropped.
Whether I happened to be more invested in the story and characters of Poor Things will require me to rewatch the previous two films discussed. But Poor Things shows to me the culmination of Lanthimos’ style. This film oozes it. From the set design, costume design and unusual choice to incorporate a fish eye lens. Everything works together here to build a world of the unknown, the strange and the beautiful.
Like with all of Lanthimos’ previous works (or at least the ones I have seen), the performances are dry, the dialogue stale as five day old bread. However, this is the charm of this style of filmmaking. People saying the most crass and unhinged things without batting an Eye. The choice to have this set in England, with English characters is a masterstroke as the accents and typical English humour elevate this script and subsequent performances to another level. Some of the accents were a little hit or miss, looking at you DaFoe… I didn’t realise he was attempting a Scottish accent for the longest time. Ruffalo has a few slips here and there but Stone was flawless. At time I forgot she wasn’t actually English.
There is so much right with the film. Every aspect felt packed full of detail, love, care and attention. The music and art pieces used, from the intro credits and closing to the landscapes painted as each new city is introduced.
All I can say it, Oscar well won for Emma Stone and if Oppenheimer wasn’t in the other corner of the ring, this would most definitely have stolen best picture. Quite possibly Lanthimos’ magnum opus, but until I view more of his work, that remains to be seen!
4.5/5
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