Poor Things Makes A Break For It

By Adam Kamp

Following a string of successful films in the past 10 years, Yorgos Lanthimos returns to the screen with Poor Things, a film characterized by its meticulously shot chaos. Led by Emma Stone and Willem Dafoe as Bella and Godwin Baxter, Poor Things is nothing short of a best-picture nominee, if not the film that will dominate every category.

Lanthimos iterates on themes of captivity and parent/child relationships seen in many of his most popular films such as Dogtooth (2009), The Lobster (2015), and The Killing Of A Sacred Deer (2017), which all suppose violence as a means to imprison others or escape that same imprisonment.

What makes Poor Things unique among this venerated company is how it interprets the role of violence. Through Bella Baxter, the film positions violence as a tool of the patriarchy, and intelligence as a tool of liberation from the normative system which traps Bella throughout the film. While Gordon Baxter, Duncan Wedderburn (Mark Ruffalo), Max McCandles (Ramy Youssef), and Alfie Blessington (Christopher Abbott) are literal depictions of the various forms of patriarchal violence that are exerted on Bella, her rapid adoption and passionate assertion of leftist ideals helps paint a picture of these men as idiots who populate and bolster this system that imposes on her a violence far more vast.

Take, for example, Max McCandles. While reticent to participate in Godwin’s “experiment,” he nonetheless mistakes his silence for resistance and follows Godwin in rendering Bella’s initial sheltered, stunted existence. It is only when confronted by Bella herself that he sheepishly admits his conscious wrongdoing.

Each man that Bella interacts with shows similar traits to Max. Godwin exemplifies this pattern with his literal rationalization that reeks of willing ignorance in the face of unprocessed trauma. He desperately attempts to justify his own abuse at the hands of his father by clinging to the scientific method that was used to disfigure him. Much in the same way that men in real life will rationalize the inherently abusive aspects of patriarchal manhood to shroud their own pain, “God” restarts the cycle with the intent to prove its virtue.

Poor Things is a triumphant exhibition of the collaborative effort that defines filmmaking, making a spectacle out of each minute aspect of the art. The efforts of Robbie Ryan (cinematography), Yorgos Mavropsaridis (editing), Jerskin Fendrix (music), and many, many more help to build a world that underscores the narrative with such a glut of detail that I have no choice but to revisit my local theater to see it again (and again).

Poor Things had its theatrical release on December 8 and received its wide release on the December 22. Poor Things is a production of Searchlight Pictures, owned by Disney, making it likely to land on streaming in the coming months.

Adam Kamp (they/them) is a senior at Carleton College in Northfield, Minnesota. Born and raised in Manhattan, Adam grew up around theater and the performing arts of the city. They now study Film and Media Studies while pursuing their goal of encouraging critical thought across the arts and humanities.