Poor Things – gutting the normal | PIOTR GZOWSKI
It was 4:30, and Parry’s Pizza was sparsely populated when the server placed two chilled dry martinis on the table. We each took our introductory sip and Artemis asked “So, how are you going to write about this one?” She was referring to the film we had just seen at the matinee across the street. Both of us left the movie theater a bit discomforted by the film, not revulsed, shocked or awed but with enough trepidation that it warranted a cocktail and some discussion.
The film that we had just visited for nearly two and a half hours was Poor Things directed by Yorgos Lanthimos. The screenplay, based on a 1992 novel by the late Alasdair Gray, was penned by Tony McNamara, who had previously collaborated with Lanthimos on The Favourite (2017). The film stars Emma Stone as Bella Baxter, a young woman who after committing suicide is reanimated with a baby’s brain by a scientist named Godwin Baxter (Willem Dafoe), adopted and nurtured by him and his assistant Max McCandles (Ramy Youssef) within the boundaries of scientific objectivity, free of any social preconceptions or prejudices. When her new brain rapidly matures, she decides to experience the world for herself and runs off with Godwin’s debauched lawyer Duncan Wedderburn (Mark Ruffalo) on a personal odyssey of self-realization and sexual emancipation.
The trepidation that Artemis and I felt, however, flowed down not from any puritanical base of values but rather a skeptical fear that the prolonged physicality demanded of the actors in the film was motivated by a conscious attempt to titillate the audience with a shroud of clever sensationalism. Was it necessary to drive the story or gratuitous? Ironically, the answer is the source of the material itself.
As a writer Alasdair Gray was a maverick, a dissident thinker who boldly challenged conventional literary norms with heavy dose of cynical impropriety. He embraced a radical approach in his prose to disturb established order. Politically Gray was also a strong separatist, an advocate of Scotland’s leaving the United Kingdom. Within the novel Gray illustrated Bella and labelled the picture “Bella Caledonia.” Literary critics claim that it is a metaphor for Scotland’s wish to rid itself of English dominance. In the novel, Bella is as promiscuous as she is onscreen. But
her promiscuity and ultimate tenure at Madame Swiney’s brothel is part of her life experiment to whore to discern between the beautiful and the ugly. She follows Swiney’s advice - “You must experience everything. Not just the growth but the degradation.” The result is Bella creates herself as a woman free from shame.
While completing the work on The Favourite in 2017, Lanthimos met with Gray several times to discuss the film adaptation of Poor Things. Gray, unfortunately passed away before the project came to fruition, however in the interviews subsequent to the film’s premiere at The Venice Film Festival, Lanthimos asserted that he remained loyal to Gray’s novel. The only major change between the book and its adaptation to the screen is that in the novel Bella’s story is narrated by several persons, whereas in the film her story is related solely through her own eyes.
As a work of art, Poor Things is remarkable. Emma Stone’s performance is very commendable and considering the permissions that she had to grant herself to play Bella with total surrender is worthy of the Golden Globe awarded to her. Willem Dafoe, as usual, demonstrates his ability to squeeze every ounce of humanity out of his physically mauled visage. And even Mark Ruffalo, who in a You Tube interview confessed that he felt completely out of his comfort zone portraying the debauched Duncan Wedderburn, attained a level of discomfort which ultimately suited the character. However, the real surprise pudding in the ensemble was Kathryn Hunter as Madame Swiney. Her portrayal as the brothel owner was a blend of bizarre wisdom that is not easily forgotten.
Visually the film is gorgeous. The production design by Shona Heath and James Price mated with the costume design by Holly Waddington create a steampunk Victorian world whose anachronistic technology would be envied by Jules Verne and H.G. Wells. And the original music composed and played by Jerskin Fendrix punctuates Tony McNamara’s screenplay as brilliantly as Vince Guaraldi’s music did in the early Charlie Brown cartoon specials.
Since its release, Poor Things has received significant accolades. At its premiere at the Venice Film Festival, it was awarded the Golden Lion. At Golden Globe Awards it won Best Motion Picture – Musical or Comedy. It has received eleven nominations at the British Academy Film Award, and it is a heavy contender for a Best Picture Oscar (as is Emma Stone for Best Actress). It is without a doubt an impressive film.
Nevertheless, some caution is warranted because the film will challenge the viewer’s sense of propriety. It is an honest, but irreverent work, and much like the novel may make the demands that novelist Alasdair Gray made of his readership – to be a maverick, ready to break convention, disembowel propriety and gut the normal.
Of course, as always, this is only my opinion. See the movie, have a cocktail after and judge for yourself.
Author’s note: “steampunk” – is a subgenre of sci-fi which features anachronistic technologies within a retro-historical period. The inventions of H.G. Wells’ Time Machine, and Jules Verne’s Nautilus in 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea, all placed in the Victorian era, are good examples of the steampunk).