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Poor Things is very much a Frankenstein fantasy tale, where Dr. Godwin Baxter (Willem Dafoe – The Boy and the Heron) performs autopsies to his student class, whilst also having a freakish appearance because he was subject to many operations performed on him as a child, by his father.
He’s also adept at ‘creating new life’, such as fusing a dog and a duck, and a pig with a chicken, but however Bella Baxter (Emma Stone – Zombieland: Double Tap) came about, when he invites student Max McCandles (Ramy Youssef – Wish) to meet her – to which she doesn’t know how to respond, so punches the man square in the face, Godwin describes her as a damaged individual for whom “The brain hasn’t yet caught up with the body”.
Bella is allowed to perform them, but only on dead bodies – and clearly as playthings, as we can see when she repeatedly stabs a cadaver in the face and declares, “They go squish!”
There’s one particular aspect of Bella which I’ll hide behind a spoiler, so if you don’t want to know before you watch the film, look away now…
As well as Max, lawyer Duncan Wedderburn (Mark Ruffalo – All The Light We Cannot See) also becomes a potential suitor to Bella, as she turns heads everywhere while at home and on her travels – the film initially being in black and white, but changing to colour after she reaches Lisbon (Why? No idea, but then that explanation could be said about a lot of aspects of this film).
When she gets to Paris, she even meets a man who wants to educate his young sons in the ways of the flesh (which Bella describes as “furious jumping”), and here’s where the BBFC have insisted upon an edit, since while you do still get the scene in question, the BBFC have a strict line that they know want to mix both the children and shenanigans on the screen simultaneously. Hence, you either see Bella and the man, or the children. Not all at the same time. I think this version works better, anyway, since you see some shenanigans, and then it cuts back to the children, with one boy observing, then looking down to his pad to studiously make notes.
Set in an alternative Victorian era, Poor Things certainly has an inventive style to it, with sumptious sets and stunning locations such as Libson having an olde worlde version of cable cars, plus a steam-powered horse carriage, which is just one of the bizarre Heath Robinson-style creations being made, also befitting the Frankstein tag. Additionally, Godwin occasionally burps some huge gross bubbles! Again, an element of this film with zero explanation.
Plus, with Bella’s curiosity in ‘jumping’, at one point she puts fruit up her (ahem), whilst in another, she grabs at housekeeper Mrs. Prim (Vicki Pepperdine – Worzel Gummidge) who declares, “She touched my hairy business!”
Poor Things certainly has a lot to like about it, but even though it does reach a good conclusion, it still outstays its welcome in running for almost two-and-a-half hours.
Now, as for the presentation of this film, I had originally planned to see four films in one day – Poor Things (in a regular screen), Boys in the Boat, Night Swim and Ferrari – but for some reason, ‘Boat‘ had been cut down from 3 screenings per day at the weekend to 2, thus must be tanking badly, and with Poor Things being shifted about in its timings – some in Dolby, some in regular screens – it was the former which ended up being the one convenient for timing. However, that comes at an additional £3.
So, I gave Odeon my 3 shekels, so I could still get some semblance of a schedule, removing ‘Boat‘, but still keeping the last two films. And God knows how Poor Things ended up in the Dolby screen, since I got nothing out of it which I wouldn’t have done with a regular screen. Anyone hazard a guess why? It’s not exactly a special effects extravaganza, apart from some weird bits here and there.
Oh, and they don’t look after the Dolby screen THAT much, since as soon as I went in, it was like the picture was a 3D image, with two versions laid on top of each other, one slightly off from the other, so text appeared twice. I pointed this out & a guy sorted it, but does no-one check this?! As it was during the ads, there’s a lot of text onscreen, so it was easy to spot (well, for me, but not for anyone else, it seems)
Poor Things has been nominated for 11 BAFTAs, and while the director has certainly made better films with The Killing of a Sacred Deer and The Lobster – the latter of which I absolutely love, every now and again, the bigwigs who make these choices over-nominate a new film in order to address the director’s body of work, which the largely ignore over the years. After all, while Christopher Nolan has 13 nominations for Oppenheimer, and while it IS a very good film, even better is both Interstellar and, my favourite of his, Memento.
Still, as for ‘Boat‘, I could’ve also gone a little earlier and still have seen it, but quite frankly, I tried watching the trailer twice and still couldn’t see the entertainment in it. Looked formulaic and dull as ditchwater.
Poor Things is in cinemas now, but isn’t yet available to pre-order on Blu-ray or DVD. However, once announced, it will appear on the New DVD Blu-ray 3D and 4K releases UK list.
Detailed specs:
Cert: 
Running time: 142 minutes
Release date: January 12th 2024
Studio: Searchlight Pictures
Aspect Ratio: 1.66:1 (Super 35)
Cinema: Odeon Trafford Centre
Rating: 7.5/10
Director: Yorgos Lanthimos
Producers: Ed Guiney, Ildiko Kemeny, Yorgos Lanthimos, Andrew Lowe, Emma Stone
Screenplay: Tony McNamara
Novel: Alasdair Gray
Music: Jerskin Fendrix
Cast:
Bella Baxter: Emma Stone
Dr. Godwin Baxter: Willem Dafoe
Max McCandles: Ramy Youssef
Duncan Wedderburn: Mark Ruffalo
Swiney: Kathryn Hunter
Fops: Jack Barton, Charlie Hiscock
Mrs. Prim: Vicki Pepperdine
Alfie Blessington: Christopher Abbott
Harry Astley: Jerrod Carmichael
Toinette: Suzy Bemba
Kitty: Kate Handford
Gerald: Owen Good
Winking Man: István Göz
Reviewer of movies, videogames and music since 1994. Aortic valve operation survivor from the same year. Running DVDfever.co.uk since 2000. Nobel Peace Prize winner 2021.