Poor Things was as delightful as it was peculiar. This is the duality that director Yorgos Lanthimos seems to live for. It is a balance he, once again, strikes perfectly.
The premise of the film is Frankenstein-esque: after the tortured and mutilated Dr. Godwin Baxter (Willem Dafoe) finds a pregnant woman floating in the river, he takes the brain of her infant and transplants it to the dead mother’s skull. He thus brings to life Bella Baxter (Emma Stone). She walks like an infant, talks like an infant, and enjoys the occasional temper tantrum like an infant.
The pivotal moment in Bella’s awkward development (played incredibly by Stone) is when she discovers masturbation. She is not yet accustomed to the conventions of polite society, so she immediately shares her self gratifying discovery with the maid and God’s wimpy helper, Max McCandles (Ramy Youssef). Max inevitably falls in love with Bella and asks for her hand in marriage. But, someone foils their plans: Bella agrees to run away with the sexually rambunctious and seemingly carefree Duncan Wedderburn (well done Mark Ruffalo). This is truly when her adventures begin.
You’ll note I used the word “inevitable” when discussing Max’s affections toward Bella. That’s because I am certain Lanthimos wants me to characterize them that way. There is something highly predictable about this emotional development—perhaps because we know how ‘boy meets girl’ stories work or because Max lingers when he first sees Bella’s exposed nipple. Or, if you’re a cynic like me, it’s because you know men find something tantalizing about a woman who behaves like a child, who is conquerable like a child, and who is strange like a person new to the world. Lanthimos creates male characters that are completely pathetic in the presence of Bella. There is a reason Duncan refers to her weepily as a ‘monster’---something about her lack of convention, her inability to perform femininity that emasculates him. The gag is that, no matter how predictable these affections might be, it’s simply comical that men could be tortured by a woman who has, quite literally, the brain of a child.
As aforementioned, Bella is not yet aware of needing to restrict her sexual appetite in honor of polite society. This burns her when she prostitutes in a French brothel to earn some money. At first, she sees an opportunity to be compensated for pleasure. Nevertheless, she ends up feeling “empty” after her many clients. This is a moment in the film that has caused me much deliberation. It’s a moment wherein Lanthimos strikes that balance I mentioned in the beginning—that Bella is so excited about sexual pleasure, but she discovers the boundary of when it becomes unpleasurable. At the same time, Lanthimos might be guilty of something filmmakers are simply addicted to: filming women having sex. This montage was nothing short of pornographic. It feels reductive of a woman’s experience in the world when all we do as filmmakers is focus on her sexual escapades. And, why are men so obsessed with prostitution anyway? There is something about the sadness of having no choice mixed with the sexual pleasure that entices them. It is the cynic in me, but I am also merely observing the world around me. I know that Emma Stone had a say in the production of the film, but I am not bound to agree with all women’s choices. In short, I am exhausted by the trope of women getting fucked for the sake of art.
Other than my political apprehensions, the film was highly enjoyable. It is hard to ignore them, however, as much of the film is dedicated to the obsession men have with controlling women. At some point, Bella leaves the brothel to attend a socialist meeting and she quips to Duncan that she “owns the means to her production”. This is an oversight on Lanthimos’ part. This is something the male left struggles with. And I wish that we could let such primitive logic go so it does not muddy the waters of an otherwise high quality script. Anyone who is familiar with truly leftist beliefs knows that selling consent and access to the body is nothing short of slavery.
Congratulations to the actors on such incredible performances.
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