Movie Review: ‘Poor Things’ Is Emma Stone’s Graphically Sexual Homage to ‘Frankenstein’

If Greta Gerwig’s Barbie was about an artificial woman rejecting gender roles and romantic relationships for independence, Yorgos Lanthimos’ Poor Things goes about this theme by having an artificial woman embrace sexuality.

The plot is very much James Whale’s Frankenstein (1931) and Bride of Frankenstein (1935), but as a character study with social commentary rather than straight horror. Emma Stone — who we can now safely say has graduated from cute matinee starlet to versatile lead — reunites with Lanthimos five years after their critical period hit The Favourite (2018) in one of the most anticipated films of the season.

In late 19th century Europe, crackpot surgeon/scientist Dr. Godwin Baxter’s (Willem Dafoe) latest experiment is reanimating a woman’s corpse by using an infant brain to create a brand new person he’s coined Bella (Stone). While Bella mentally develops from ages 2 to 20 with the body of a 30-year-old at rapid speed, she catches the attention of four different men.

The are Godwin’s assistant Dr. Max McCandless (Ramy Youseff), who is kind and concerned for Bella’s well-being; womanizing lawyer Duncan Wedderburn (Mark Ruffalo), who is only interested in her body; nihilist Harry Astley (Jerrod Carmichael), who wants to intellectually enlighten her; and controlling and boorish Alfie Blessington (Christopher Abbott), the husband of her body’s previous persona. Kathryn Hunter, Hanna Schygulla, Suzy Bemba and Margaret Qualley make appearances throughout Bella’s journey into the world.

Poor Things is based on Alasdair Gray’s 1992 novel and adapted by Tony McNamara, who also worked with Lanthimos and Stone on The Favourite. To channel the Frankenstein theme, Lanthimos shoots the entire first act in B&W until Bella insists on discovering what lies outside her creator’s estate and we are suddenly in a vibrantly colorful universe worthy of a Michael Powell & Emeric Pressburger classic.

Stone is eerily spot on with her toddler mannerisms and reactions in the early portion of the film, no doubt from her own, real experience raising a two-year-old. Her transition into confident, mature woman by the end is seamless and unsurprisingly leads to critics calling it one of the best performances of 2023. All of the supporting men are solid, and Ruffalo performing against type as a deplorable snake is rather memorable in itself.

Poor Things has been getting a lot of attention for its graphic sexual content, and there are a lot of sex scenes. It was to the point that I wondered if this movie was partially Lanthimos’ answer to discussions about Hollywood’s regressive take on sex and romance in new releases.

Poor Things doesn’t really bring anything fresh to the feminist text, and one might assume only a man would make a film about woman’s discovery of independence with sex (the “born sexy yesterday” trope). Yet the execution cinematically makes it interesting enough to be a part of the conversation. The token Lanthimos-isms might turn off some viewers (i.e. crass language and mixed with absurdist, childish slang), plus some stylistic choices like the constant use of zooms, dolly shots, wide angle lens and fish-eye shots.

But Lanthimos’ distinct direction, Robbie Ryan’s striking B&W and color cinematography, and the chemistry from the cast still help end the year with a memorable film.