Poor Things

[Author: Samuele Nichetti]

"Poor Things" is the umpteenth success of Yorgos Lanthimos. An astonishing comedy masterpiece published in 2023 that, in two hours and twenty-two minutes, explains, with great artistic power, the entirety of the author's beliefs of women's position in a relationship, all grounded in the contemporary view of society.

Cast

The movie’s cast includes some actors of great stature: the protagonist is Emma Stone, interpreting the character of Bella Baxter, a woman rescued by Dc. Godwin Baxter, impersonated by William Dafoe, the unconventional scientist responsible for bringing back to life Bella. Mark Ruffalo, in the role of Duncan Wedderburn, is a lawyer who accompanies Bella in her journey of self-discovery. The cast also includes Ramy Youssef, Christopher Abbott, and Suzy Bemba.

Setting and ColoursLanthimos leads us on a grand tour through evocative cities in the late 19th century: London, Lisbon, Alexandria in Egypt, and Paris. With surreal visions and a distinctly steampunk style, he depicts how the past might have looked if the future had arrived ahead of time, wisely implementing some of our own societal characteristics with that of a time. To better highlight the connection between past and present settings in the familial and social context, Lanthimos opts for a deliberately Victorian society. London, in the latter half of the 19th century, is the epicentre of morality decor and modesty, the first World’s Fair, and a hub of industrial and scientific advancements. In general, all the locations are a metaphor for our current society, used to highlight the inheritance those contexts have on us.

The colour palette used to depict the panorama reflects the journey towards emancipation of Bella: the film starts in black and white, representing the immaturity and unconsciousness of the protagonist. Scene after scene, the filmmaker smartly substitutes the monothematic, but extremely expressive, black and white with a palette of colour that represents Bella’s progressive knowledge of the world in Bella’s autodetermination journey. For example, Lisbon features abstract and vibrant colours indicating youthfulness. Alexandria is dominated by the red of physical and social violence, and Paris is portrayed with soft and acid tones.

Movie’s Plot and Interpretation

The role of Emma Stone is pivotal. In her journey of emancipation, she is facing different situations with her partner, “Duncan Wedderburn”. As she travels to Europe, she discovers herself on a journey that can be seen as a path to reach self-consciousness, self-determination, and emancipation. As she grows, she starts realising that people, especially his partner, have sexist and manipulative behaviour. The intent of those is mainly to keep her segregated in a state where she is incapable of doing, seen as a doll without a brain. Basically, the extreme, but not as much as we may believe, state of contemporary society. 

During Bella’s journey, each secondary character reacts differently to her emancipation process. Some try to constrain it, some approve it, and others have already internalised it. We can classify those characters in two categories: the positive and the negative ones. The Positive ones have understood what society should be, recognise abuses, and do not exert control in a relationship. They value freedom and liberty of being and of expression; basically, they represent a standard to converge on. On the other hand, we have negative characters. They represent the personification of the toxic male traits: possessiveness, manipulativeness, and exploitation of women just for personal needs. They get frustrated and devastated by the consciousness of the partner as well as by her freedom. They are incapable of real love but just submission; they do not value the woman as a peer but as an inferior being to be controlled with the great narcissistic sense of self. In all parts of the film, we can clearly identify the “negative characters” as Bella grows. The filmmaker takes advantage of this: Lanthimos creates a mirror of society, emphasising those negative traits with the intent to make people reflect on those negative behaviours and hopefully change them.

To conclude, I really recommend watching it. I believe that this film is extremely powerful. It is a magnifying mirror on the issue of gender and patriarchy that can be used by people as an input for growth and change in the behaviour adopted by us in society.