Pauvres Créatures

Yorgos Lanthimos is known for his work from Dogtooth to The Lobster to Killing of a Sacred Deer to The Favorite. His work is divided among audiences but never fails to get a conversation started. Like most of his audience, there are movies of his in which I find myself drawn and can't look away and there are others which I find myself pulling away from. While Dogtooth and Sacred Deer never manage to grab my attention The Lobster and The Favorite are incredible. Poor Things is his most audience friendly film and maybe his biggest treat. Since the trailer alone shows how strange this one is going to be people are probably showing up for Emma Stone but the journey of Bella Baxter from child in an adult's body to fully developed woman is a journey that audiences should want to take. Poignant and surprisingly sweet for this director Emma shines in her best role yet. Everybody is great and Mark Ruffalo makes for a strong and funny support. Worth checking out for this alone.

This isn't an easy film to watch and capture everything it tries to convey, on the contrary, it's quite complex.

I'm not a deep connoisseur of Freud, on the contrary, I studied some of his texts when I went to journalism school, but I remember very little, I'm actually unfamiliar with the subject, but clearly "Poor Things" seems to me to work with some points of psychosexual development human developed by Freud.

I may be talking nonsense, but it seems to me that the sexual phases of children described by Freud (oral, anal, genital, etc.) are shown in Bella's development during the projection, as well as her total independence and freedom in relation to the world and in the passage of each of those phases, without being repressed, allowing her to reach the superego.

While working with complex concepts of the development of the human psyche, the film also flirts wonderfully with the frustrations of love, and social, political and human issues, and I honestly couldn't capture everything the work was offering me, a lot of details must have escaped my attention.

So much content, so much complexity, inserted in a spectacular, wonderful cinematography, with exuberant sets, elaborated down to the smallest details, with perfect use of vivid colors and black and white, actors shining on the screen, all of them without exception, incredible direction, and a soundtrack very strange that fits like a glove.

I rate it 8 out of 10 because my ignorance really didn't allow me to capture everything that was being offered to me, and at some moments I felt a little tired from demanding so much of my brain, but it's a great film in all aspects. It's just not for everyone, as it's not what you would call popcorn entertainment cinema, on the contrary, it's the opposite, and perhaps the trailer could mislead certain types of audiences.

I went into the theatre now knowing what to expect as the fiancé had booked the tickets. She said she'd heard it was "artsy" and "special". Those words were a gross understatement.

The setting is basically a fantasy and everything is off - but that's the point. It is gory but not in a disgusting way. There's a lot of nakedness.

But god damn - the acting is the best I've seen for some time. Mark ruffalo and Emma stone are amazing in their roles and they're being pathetic and hysterically funny all the way at the same time but their progressions in terms of being pathetic run diagonally forward towards each other.

I'm not going to recommend this movie to but a specific crowd of people though. It's not an attempt at pleasing a wide crowd. It's a vision by the director that's been clearly set forth and executed brilliantly and you as a viewer feel amazed that you get the chance to have a glimpse into this very weird mind that's written this. It's not a must see in terms of the story but in terms of creating art it definitely is.

I loved it and felt disgusted at the same time. I was amazed and very troubled at the same time. It's a challenge to anyone who views it to open up all pre-conceived notions and completely throw them overboard. Be prepared to accept the dichotomies of the world for what they are and experience all the ugliness you can imagine and you will be fine.

But just to lay out how disgusting this movie can be at times - a middle aged couple walked out of the theatre approximately 15 minutes into the movie. But we all know how some middle aged couples can be.

Where to begin with this one....

First off, the performances presented here are top of their class. Absolutely phenomenal! In a film with characters as strange as these, you need a strong cast and every player here was up to the task and more! Just brilliant!

Secondly, the story is insane. I mean padded room, straight jacket type of insane. When reading the synopsis, I was thinking about how wild of a concept it was and did not think they could pull off such an audacious plot. However, Yorgos and company had a specific vision for this film and it shows in the amount of detail in both the screenplay and the visionary artistic decisions. I can say, they completely nailed it!

Thirdly, exploring the human condition through sexuality, in all emotional forms, has been done before. Though, never quite like this. It was refreshing to see it through the eyes of someone reborn and ready for everything life had to throw her, as opposed to the usual timid youthful eyes.

Lastly, the cinematography is wonderfully done. Mixing between black and white to full color, with wild scenery and beautifully detailed architecture. Sometimes the film felt like a dream captured within a painting. It was quite beautiful.

Overall, I would highly recommend it. I don't think it will be everyone's cup of tea. It is very artsy, very sexually uncomfortable, and very strange. However, if you enjoy great storytelling and truly original visions on film, better see this on the big screen.

4.5 surgerys out of 5.

I very much enjoyed Poor Things and the performances done by Emma Stone, Mark Ruffalo and Willem Dafoe. I was absolutely taken by the surrealistic set design and even psychological interaction depiction between the doctor and his patient Bella. A complicated and fanciful character is Bella inhabiting the resurrected body of her mother via a brain transplant. Oh my such medical technology. It's a good thing that's not possible yet today. Bella was gifted a free experience as she became conscious of the world and herself by her brilliant surgeon father a vocation as it turns out would become her lifetime vocation. The story continued on briefly after her father's death and an extensive excursion through life, relationships, and time. Generally speaking storyline, cinematography, set design, location, interactive character development we're all done to perfection. I've only touched on it a microscopic portion of the scope of this film. So much to enjoy here this little paragraph doesn't even begin to do it justice.