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I must say it is very hard for me to rate this film. The visuals are stunning, the acting is phenomenal, the story intriguing and bizarre. This vision of cinematography would have probably received a full 10 star is if wasn't for the many, many times I asked myself what the $@&! did I just watch.
It seems that now they have to write films as strange as possible to bring people to the cinema. Lantimos is no exception, with this work of his that terribly shakes the consciences of conventional wisdom and emphasizes both human brutality and the capacity for compassion. Frankly, I know both very well, and this film didn't give me any further insights. I'll leave the 3 stars for the monumental interpretation of Emma Stone, a well-deserved Oscar.
Poor Things! Damn!
What a thrill!
It seems to Barbie's Jeff Koons feminism as I felt that The Zone Of Interest was to Oppenheimer... one no more than a war movie (at best), the other war art.
Lanthimos' and Stone's gifts are truly otherworldly.
I get the point. Emma Stone was great. But have to say, it was awful. Apparently you love it or hate it. Alice in wonderlandesque. Dreadful.
A little over-long? Perhaps. Self-indulgent? Absolutely. But (as it would seem is customary for Lanthimos) it is weird, thoughtful, visually inventive and - most importantly - the product of a singular vision. The movie contains a lot of sex and sexual themes but I didn't feel it was a sexy film - it was more a film of ideas, principally about love and obsession. I personally think his vision of humanity is rather darker than my own, but it took me on a terrifically entertaining (and often hilarious) trip. Mark Ruffalo's acting was (deliberately) absurd and a little too mannered for me, but Emma Stone was note-perfect and worth the price of admission alone. I was I admit startled that a movie with such adult content (but not actually pornographic) could have been such a mainstream as well as popular success. I have to imagine word of mouth kept theatres filled, and word of mouth was right.
Want to watch something artistic with your family in a feel good atmosphere. Well then watch the "Wonka" musical and enjoy how it burns away all provokative aspects that made the previous movies so awesome.
The movie "Poor Things", is not for the faint hearted harmony loving care-bears out there. It is dark, raw, grotesk, weird, rude, noisy and very perverted. The director did a great job in making you feel as uncomfortable as possible while watching. A must watch for people with style.
Really weird movie to start with, but have patience and stick with it, it gets a lot better.
Two points subtracted for being one of those egotistical directors who forces us to watch with two black bars on the side of our TV's.
I went into this movie with absolutely no idea what to expect. If you had me guess 100 different things I was about to watch, I am not sure I would have even been remotely close. It was awkward, quirky, often overly cheesy, but also graphic and batshit crazy! I thoroughly enjoyed what I watched, but how this was greenlit and got the cast it did I will never know.
Rating: 3.5/5 - 80% - Would Recommend
Poor Things is an absolute triumph of storytelling that left me utterly enchanted. Emma Stone delivers a tour de force performance as Bella Baxter, imbuing her character with depth, humor, and heart. Mark Ruffalo's portrayal of Dr. Archibald Baxter is equally mesmerizing, adding layers of complexity to the narrative.
what the heck did i just watch !!
Master piece surreal and visual!!
Master piece surreal and visual!!
This film should be seen knowing a few things beforehand: first, it is a Lanthimos film, second, it is a film that relies on surreal fantasy and black humor. With this in mind, the film stands out especially for its artistic section, and also for the performances of its actors. As for the story itself, it is somewhat weak in my opinion, although the social criticism and character study are quite solid.
An interesting film as an artistic study and a study of the evolution of the human mind and morality in society, taking the form of a gothic tale. The second half is much better than the first, with several interesting points.
I can understand why critics are loving this movie, but I am a bit surprised that its audience scores are almost equally high. I guess it's more digestible than some of Lanthimos other films, but it still feels more arthouse than your typical best picture nominee. But maybe I'm just underselling the appeal of watching Emma Stone's explicit adventure of uninhibited sexual discovery. But, while that element of the movie certainly appeals to some of my baser instincts, I was never fully on board with the rest of it. It just feels like some of the decisions are trying to inject weird for weirdness sake, rather than tying it to any sort of character/story motivation. It's that feeling of an online video that is trying too hard to go viral. In terms of pacing, the final act (or at least everything from the interrupted wedding onward) felt rushed. Now, with all of that said, I still enjoyed the movie. There were lots of interesting characters and ideas being explored and, despite feeling intentional/manufactured, some of the quirky humor still lands.
I enjoyed this film a lot. The story is very unique and the art style is just breathtakingly beautiful. Also great score and brilliantly acted as well.
Whimsically unsettling. In a good way.
The mind of God in the General's body; seems like a missed opportunity. Of course, they avoided that to keep with the tone of the story.
It was great.
Visually stunning, but there's too many filler scenes I find. It could've been shorter.
Great ideas and well performed. The direction is a bit chaotic and so is the beginning of the story but it gets better. Awesome writing as well
I've never been much for steampunk fantasy aesthetics but it sorta works here except where it doesn't and looks like some less inspiring edition of Heavy Metal anno 1991. The plentiful selection of fisheye lenses becomes kinda overbearing artsy experimental film school tiresome half way in until you accept it and ignore it. The story itself is engaging and interesting from the protagonist's perspective, from childlike girl to girl-child in self discovery to a nubile male sexual fantasy to an independent sexual contractor that owns her means of production and then some post-sexual intellectual conquest of her libido towards the end. Despite the idealism, I stay clear from making it political from a feminist perspective and likewise from the lingering socialism agitprop of which I may agree with both but still decide to keep as referential entertainment rather than an educational statement. As far as I can tell, everybody did a bang on job what they set out to do. It's mostly the final act and the finale that brings it down for myself. After an hour and a half roller coaster ride, the last act is expected but feels uninspired and is there by necessity to choose the arc, not to mention the interesting side lines that are seemingly dropped for a quick and clean finale. Watching it I felt like this started off from a seven and rose to a nine, then it dropped to a seven bordering to a six, and now that it has settled I think an eight minus sounds fair because hey, it's still a damn good ride.
A young woman in search of happiness in a cruel world, surrounded by a baroque, exuberant staging of saturated colors. Lanthimos offers a bizarre tale from Belle's point of view, shown through fish-eye lenses in settings inhabited by those who subdue and those who are subdued. And despite that, it is a fascinating story of female liberation, where the man becomes infantilized as she matures, driven by satirical humor. It is a complex film that possibly manages to be more incisive than others by the director in the representation of power dynamics.
Bella Baxter, our Prometheia with a touch of Alia Atreides.
Such a stylized movie. Emma Stone did great, as did Mark Ruffalo.
Superb! It's quite the ride!
I don't have the film school-esque analysis to adequately describe all this, so I'll very much leave that to others. What I can note, though, is that I had a great time watching 'Poor Things'. It's incredible. I have many a positive, though the main one is obvious: Emma Stone. All I can say is: Bravo! A truly outstanding performance!
Another major, major plus is the music. Wow! Sensational. It's so commanding throughout, blowing me away in what felt like every few minutes... and yet, it never distracts or takes you out from any scene unfolding onscreen. One of the greatest scores I've heard in a very long time. That aside, the visuals are amazing - from the colours to the sets, major props to all those behind the scenes. It all looks exquisite.
Stone isn't alone in impressing, as Willem Dafoe is brilliant too - loved his showing in this, the accent is particularly well fitting. Mark Ruffalo is praiseworthy too, as is everyone else to be honest - e.g. Ramy Youssef and Kathryn Hunter. They all partake in a quite bizarre plot, but one that is absolutely absorbing from beginning to conclusion.
Pre-watch I was somewhat expecting that this was going to be one of those (having not researched anything, as per) overly artsy flicks that I wouldn't connect with, delightfully I was totally wrong. I also felt, when Christopher Abbott's character appears, that the film should've ended earlier, though again I was incorrect because the film simply manages to continue at such a hugh quality.
To wrap it up: I loved it. Credit to all involved.
I'm a fan of Yorgos Lanthimos, especially "Dogtooth." I also like Wes Anderson's fantasy movies, but "Poor Things" didn't quite click for me. Despite its impressive acting and visuals, I found its story too complicated and focused more on style than substance. Plus, it felt too long, and its attempt at deep philosophy seemed to miss the mark.
Amazing movie. Emma is simply flawless
Wow...
After a long time, a movie that felt good
This Movie blew my mind..
The utter definition of CINEMA...
I can only say Wow...
Just WOW...
A masterpiece.. Each screenshot could be a painting
I didn't like the movie. It looked and sounded great with beautiful costumes and settings, and the story and characters were interesting. But the plot was boring, like other stories about someone discovering society. It talked about socialism and worker unions, but not in detail. Even when it talked about prostitution, it didn't say much. Overall, it felt like the writers didn't try hard enough. It's not worth watching because it doesn't say anything meaningful about the topics it brings up.
I could say that it is a very psychological film, obviously it is not for everyone,... I can't say that I liked it but I don't dislike it either, it's difficult to explain, I could say that it is a strange film.
It's as if Anderson, Kubrick and Burton (with a little bit of Tarantino) all were inspired by a Mary Shelly novel.
Thus, it transports you into a fantastical world with all these elements at play.
An amazing achievement in cinema!
I think this is THE comedy of the year. And I also consider this is the best performance by Emma Stone. The script is inventive, interesting and entertaining. The story of Bella Baxter, of whom we don't know a lot at the beginning and we can't understand why she is like that, is attractive. As the film moves forward we get the story behind this strange girl and everything becomes more alluring. It is very sexual, but seen through her eyes I did not find it offensive or tacky. The cinematography is great, the production design is inspired and the costume design is ingenuous, very well suited for the characters. Makeup and hairstyling are remarkable as well. It might be a little too long, and that might be its disadvantage.
What should be the Oscar winner of this year. It knockouts Cronenberg and The Holdovers, as it covers similar themes much better.
Not for everyone, amazing, great cast, Emma did an excellent job, the development of the film is precious. The story and how it explains many things is incredible. However, I felt there were a lot of unnecessary sex scenes. Amazing cinema experience!
Watched the movie yesterday evening at a cinema.
If I wanted to be mean, I would call this movie an artistical porn. But I'll be good and say that everything in the movie is "beautiful" exceptr the horible music and in general sound. Oh my god, it was just noise.
Aside those aspected, the idea of the movie is great and innovative. The world created is somehow different but let's be honest, it's just normal fictional world without something really fancy. It also looks like a rip off from some schience fiction during the mid period of industrial revolution. Still, the world as it is present is a work of art. Looks like a constant painting, though it is not too much liking because actually it is HDRed 1000 times and I don't like the HDR effect.
The movie lost my interest quite early around the 1/4th. Maybe it was the music, which I still find horrible. What I didn't like about the movie is that it was trying to hard, it was unnecessarily slow and repeatative. Worst of all, was the unnecessary volume of nudity and sex, interupted with gross scenes. When it happened way too much, I was mentally off to be honest and the greatness of the idea was just lost. I trully believe that the art of a director is to imply the emotion to the audience, instead of bombarding with the actual raw footage.
if the movie tried less to show itself, it might have been the excellence that they are promoting it to be. It has the script nailed anyhow. It has been a long time since I last watched a bad "cultural" movie, not because it was bad and pretentious but because it would stretch everything so much, it would try so hard innevitably killing the excellent ideas.
What a waste? Who made the music score really?
An interesting mix of steampunk and Frankenstein. Emma will probably win an Oscar?
The thing about Poor Things is that sometimes is just a bit too much about everything and nothing at once. But in a way, that is what director Yorgos Lanthimos knows how to do best. Emma Stone delivers, without question, one of the best performances of her career by bringing Bella Baxter to life. Her colorful and visually stunning journey through the gorgeous and surrealist versions of London, Lisbon, Alexandria and Paris is every bit funny, nasty, grotesque, dark, sad and emotional. I love the structure of the entire story, how it evolves with color, by development and world building through Bella’s experiences. As the main character discovers hard truths about the world, we get to know fascinating and bizarre characters all around her, with truly remarkable perfomances of the entire cast. At the very end, is a film about female liberation, sex, love, obssesion and science that may not be everyone’s cup of tea but that is ok for me.
While pitch-black humor has always been a defining element of Lanthimos' films, his approach has typically leaned towards subtlety and wryness, often paired with deadpan delivery. However, in "Poor Things," there is a noticeable shift towards more straightforward comedy, eliciting laughter from the audience with many moments of humor. Even when the jokes are on the silly and juvenile side, the overall impression is that of encountering a sophisticated work, where the context and, notably, the entire visual and expressive dimension play a crucial role. The runtime could have been more compact (it tires a little towards the end), but we are undoubtedly facing a film playing in a league of its own, capable of fascinating a wide audience despite its quirks and exaggerations. It’s a shame the first part is in black and white, which flattens the stunning visuals and colors of the sets and costumes.
Rated a Connor 10, normal 9
A Surreal Journey of Self and Society
In Yorgos Lanthimos' "Poor Things," the film's opening enigma gradually transforms into a profound exploration of identity, manipulation, and the quest for autonomy. The story of Bella (Emma Stone) is a symbolic journey through a surreal Victorian landscape, where her early life in Godwin Baxter's mansion serves as a microcosm of her broader experience with male figures in her life.
The relationship between Bella and Duncan Wedderburn (Mark Ruffalo) initially promises a journey of liberation and self-discovery. However, this evolves into a nuanced portrayal of control and exploitation, symbolizing the film's critique of gender dynamics. Bella's navigation through this relationship, from naïveté to a growing awareness of her exploitation, is poignantly captured in scenes where she grapples with her own identity against the backdrop of societal expectations.
A key aspect of the film is its treatment of the theme of exploitation by male characters. Even those who appear well-intentioned, like Godwin Baxter, subtly perpetuate control over Bella, highlighting the insidious nature of exploitation. Her journey is marked by a series of realizations about the intentions of the men in her life, each contributing to her evolving sense of self.
Additionally the concept of a baby managing adult freedom and power, unfiltered by established norms, is a critical aspect that further complicates the film's narrative. The portrayal of Bella’s childlike mind in an adult body navigating a world without the usual societal constraints raises intriguing questions about innocence, corruption, and the natural development of moral and ethical understanding. This element adds a layer of complexity to the film, as it challenges the viewer to consider the impact of societal norms on personal growth and the often problematic nature of unbridled freedom.
The visual storytelling of "Poor Things" is another remarkable aspect. The transition from monochrome to vibrant colors is not just a visual treat but a metaphor for Bella's expanding consciousness. However, the film’s aesthetic brilliance occasionally overshadows its narrative, leading to moments where the story's depth seems secondary to its visual appeal.
Throughout the film, Bella's bold public appearances in attire that defies Victorian norms serve as a powerful symbol of her rebellion. These scenes, combined with her gradual empowerment in the face of male dominance, create a rich narrative tapestry. Yet, the film's portrayal of societal reaction, or the lack thereof, to Bella's defiance raises questions about the depth of its social commentary.
In conclusion, "Poor Things" stands as a visually stunning and thought-provoking film. Lanthimos masterfully illustrates Bella’s transformation amidst a complex web of gender dynamics and societal expectations. While the film excels in its visual storytelling and symbolic depth, it occasionally falls short in narrative coherence, leaving some thematic elements underexplored. Despite these shortcomings, "Poor Things" remains a captivating and intellectually stimulating cinematic experience.
This exact same thing happened to my cousin
Love. The unconsciousness and innocence of every creature. Absolutely Formidable.
So proud of my boy Jerskin now being 'Oscar-nominated Jerskin Fendrix'. From playing at the Windmill in Brixton (my favourite music scene of all time) to half-empty rooms to now scoring Yorgos Lanthimos's best film, with a killer cameo too! And my God he does such a fantasic job - it won't win the Oscar because it's too weird for them suited squares (although I am pleasantly surprised at the noms this year) but this is perhaps one of the best front-to-back scores I've ever heard - because it truly stands on its own but also always takes you back to the world of 'Poor Things' each track at a time.
Everyone go listen to his one and only album 'Winterreise'. It's a masterpiece and has always been one of the most overlooked albums of the 2020's but Poor Things goes to show that you don't need millions of spotify streams to catch the ear of the right people. The music videos' imagery for that album feel right in the lane of Yorgos and shows the art world actually becomes small AFTER you finish projects.
And yeah, this is the best film of the year. Emma Stone might be my favourite actress at this point. I was stunned. It's cliché but genuinely true for me here: I am not the same person I was before the movie.
From the start, the crazy story begins and you feel entranced, wanting to understand where it will take you. Enjoyed this from beginning to end. Watching at the cinema was great with some truly laugh out load moments. Emma Stone is great but so ate many other actors throughout. I can only recommend it.
Give Emma Stone the Oscar already! What an awesome performance. This movie is so weird but in all the right ways. I loved the cinematography, score, and the costumes were fantastic. It was also great to see Mark Ruffalo play a different character for once! The story is really interesting the only nitpick I have with the film is there’s little bit of a lull in the third act. The ending manages to pick it back up though! I still think The Favorite is the directors best work, but I think it’s safe to put this as 2nd! Will definitely be rewatching.
The Island of Emma Ruffoe.
Like when your little sister is ten times smarter, cuter, and more grown up than you and it makes you love her all the more.
This feminist forward story of a beautiful creature struggling to remake dystopia in her own image is insightful and thoughtful in the sense it's both respectful of the audience and full of thought.
Shout by tylerm2000BlockedParent2024-03-19T04:42:01Z
Good movie definitely recommend watching high if you would like, but not really for me.