Poor Things (18)
Directed by Yorgos Lanthimos
★★★★★

 
BE prepared for one of the wildest and most visually arresting on screen rides from film-maker Yorgos Lanthimos (The Favourite, The Lobster) who has turned the bizarre into a thrilling art form. 

Set in Victorian England, the film follows the evolution of Bella Baxter (Emma Stone), a young woman who has been brought back to life by the brilliant scientist Dr Godwin Baxter (Willem Dafoe) who considers her an experiment. 

Based on Alasdair Gray’s 1992 novel Poor Things and adapted by Tony McNamara (The Favourite) for the big screen this surprisingly funny period sci-fi inverts the classic Frankenstein tale. It turns the monster into a perceptive, beautiful and inquisitive woman and makes her male lovers the real monsters. 

Teaming up with Lanthimos for the fourth time, Stone, who is also one of the film’s producers, is extraordinary and fearless delivering the performance of her career as the intoxicating Bella. Stone bares all both physically and emotionally as her character develops from a child into an adult with a growing hunger for knowledge, new experiences and to learn what the world has to offer her. 

She acts and speaks her mind without filter. When she discovers the euphoria of self-pleasure she is ecstatic and performs it happily any place and at any time to the horror of her creator and his young male assistant Max (Ramy Youssef). When she explores sex with the slimy, narcissistic and misogynistic lawyer Duncan Wedderburn (Mark Ruffalo, a revelation playing against type), whom she runs away with across continents, it is another joyous discovery. She indulges in it at every opportunity for her own gratification and guilt-free. 

She is this wonderful free spirit who decides to live on her own terms and to stand for equality and freedom while the men in her life just want to dominate and control her. It is a fascinating examination of the liberation of a woman living in a repressive male society. 

Meanwhile the cinematography by Robbie Ryan (The Favourite) is exquisite, featuring stunning sets and shot in black and white to depict Bella’s early development turning into vibrant colour as she awakens intellectually and sexually. 

Completely bonkers, this film shows Lanthimos is in a league of his own, while Stone is one of the most remarkable and daring actors of her generation. 

Out in cinemas today.