Short Stories, Irish literature, Classics, Modern Fiction, Contemporary Literary Fiction, The Japanese Novel, Post Colonial Asian Fiction, The Legacy of the Austro-Hungarian Empire and quality Historical Novels are Among my Interests








Thursday, March 14, 2024

Poor Things - A 2023 Film Directed by Yorgos Lanthimos - Starring Emma Stone (winner 2024 Academy Award for Best Actress), William Defoe and Mark Ruffalo




 Poor Things - A 2023 Film Directed by Yorgos Lanthimos - Starring Emma Stone (winner 2024 Academy Award for Best Actress), William Defoe and Mark Ruffalo

Academy Award 2024 - Best Actress in Leading Role

Academy Award 2024 - Best Production Design

Academy Award 2024 - Best Costume Design 

Academy Award 2024 - Best Makeup and Hair Styling 

I totally love Poor Things. It is incredibly beautiful with a  masterful use of colour. Emna Stone is truly magical as Bella Baxter. Poor Things is Hilarious, Magical, Sensuous, Sexuality Enthalling  and Scary,  Cinema as High Art. 

The story follows Bella Baxter (Stone), a young woman in Victorian London who is brought back to life via brain transplant by an eccentric scientist, Dr. Godwin Baxter (Dafoe). She is eager to learn about the world and soon finds herself on an adventure with a roguish lawyer named Duncan Wedderburn (Ruffalo). 

The movie has settings in London, looking very Gothic Horror Movies style in Black and White, in Paris, Lisbon,  Alexandria and abroad a ship. I especially liked how Bella became an avid reader of philosophy mixed in with some furious jumping.

With a bit of tounge in cheek Poor Thing is kind of a menage of Frankenstein, My Fair Lady, A Beautiful Mind and Debbie Does Dallas.  


Bella Baxter, not unlike the Buddha, leaves her safe environment to discover the real world. Poor Things, as in Don Quixote, depicts an innocent in a corrupt world. Going back to the start of Western Literature, Bella would have enjoyed furious jumping with Gilgamesh, probably exhausting him, and cruising with Odysseus.



Mel Ulm




1 comment:

Buried In Print said...

Hahaha Well it sounds like you had a great time with this. It's in my queue but I haven't gotten there yet. It's been very interesting listening to all the vastly varied opinions about it along the way.