Poor things

Year of release : 2023

Run time : 2h22m

Genre : Fantasy / Drama / Dark Comedy

Cast : Emma Stone, Mark Ruffalo, Willem Dafoe, Ramy Youssef, Christopher Abbott

The movie is based on the 1992 novel of the same name by Alasdair Gray.

The movie opens with a woman who jumps from a bridge.

We then see, in black and white, a woman who tries to play the piano. She seems to be having mental problems. Her father, whom she calls God, gets an assistant, to help him with taking care of her.

The assistant, Max, starts to ask questions,as the scientist doesn't allow her to leave the house, and finds out she is a woman who jumped off a bridge, and the mad scientist (he has half bird,half pigs in his home) brought her back to life.

 

Seeing the way Max looks at Bella, and how well they get along, the scientist proposes they should marry. Max agrees.

The scientist brings a lawyer into his home, for he wanted a weird contract among them be put together. The lawyer wanders around the house, as he wants to see who's this woman they draw such a contract for. He meets Bella, and they run away together.

In Lisbon, Bella's life turns into bright color,as until then it was black and white. She learns about the food,'the birds and the bees',and explores the city alone when the lawyer is sleeping. The lawyer, although tells her he's not the marrying type, but the 'love them and leave them' type, falls for her, and doesn't like her adventurous side.

While fighting about her being gone,all day, alone,in Lisbon (the action of the movie takes place in the 1800's) a woman approaches her and calls her 'Victoria'.

In order to keep her in check, the lawyer tricks her to get into a chest, and takes her on a boat, cruising to Athens and Paris.

Although at first she liked him, Bella starts to dislike the lawyer more and more, staying away from him as much as possible, driving him insane, as he wants to marry her now, but she refuses, and he has fits in front of people.

The movie was a visual delight, starting with the costumes (which reminded me of the ones in Crimson Peak and Francis Ford Coppola's Dracula; I didn't quite like hers, as they seemed to have been way over the top), the interior designs, the CGI landscapes,and ending with the architecture.

 

The movie was about the journey of a woman to self discovery, what she wants and what she needs. I personally don't like it when the leads take the route to the wh0rehouse, as I don't find it that inspiring. You can't find anything good in there, but she couldn't understand why the lawyer was upset at her for what she's done! He calls her and her friend, wh0res, and her reply is ' we're our own means of production', as if all a woman could do back then was wh0re herself, in order to support herself!

She also annoyed me when she took all of their money to give it to the poor, but gave it instead to the sailors on the boat who kept it!

When we see her 'real' husband at the end, we understand why she jumped off a bridge. I would have liked it if they put the scientist's brain into her crazy husband's head, but I guess the creators didn't think of it.

It also felt the characters had no debt, as there was no love between them,they were just animals with cognition.

SPOILERS

One of the things that bothered me was, how can one put the brain of an unborn child,which must be so small,into the skull of a grown woman?! And why would a young mind discover s3x so fast and be obsessed with it?! Towards the end they suggest maybe this is why she k1lled herself, this, and her husband's madness.

Then there's a scene of a deranged father who takes his two male kids to the wh0rehouse to give them lessons about how to have s3x. Why would a father bring such young kids to a wh0rehosue, and why would he demonstrate to them such things?! What kind of deranged person does this?!

Then there were the half animal-half bird creatures - there's a chicken with the head of a pig. I just want to say, a pig's head is very heavy, it wouldn't sit on a chicken's body! The chicken is lighter than the pig's head, it cannot hold it!

The visual effects were great, everything was so beautifully crafted!

The actors were great.

The soundtrack was good.

 

Viewer discretion is advised, as the movie contains a lot of frontal male and female nudity, and its intended for mature audiences.

The movie premiered at the Venice Film Festival in 2023, where it won the Golden Lion. It received 5 BAFTA awards, 2 Golden Globes, and 4 Oscars, Emma Stone winning Best Actress at each of these ceremonies!

The movie was loved by critics, being named one of the best movies of 2023, by the National Board of Review, and the American Film Institute; and by the audiences, as it grossed 117.6 million dollars against a budget of 35 million!

The movie is free for 30 days on Hulu, and for rent / sale on Amazon, AppleTv, Fandango at Home.

Rating : Worth a watch !