DallasFrance’s review published on Letterboxd:
(no spoilers)
About a half hour in and it seemed like Poor Things was trying just a bit too hard, but when Bella Baxter’s character arc starts coming into view, the screenplay starts making sense, and the totality of Emma Stone’s amazing performance becomes clear. Stone and director Yorgos Lanthimos created a sense of trust while making The Favourite that made Poor Things possible.
Cinematographer Robbie Ryan and production designers James Price and Shona Heath conjure a world that Bella herself can only partially participate in. When she is loosed out into the larger world, though, we’re thrown into metropolitan settings and deep seas doused with almost hallucinatory color. Throw in Mark Ruffalo chucking 100 mile per hour chin music, and Lanthimos’ patented discomfiting humor levels up.
The fourth act introduces a new character and ends up feeling a bit rushed, but it’s a minor quibble in a film that feels both ballsy and big-hearted. Stone’s Bella Baxter speaks to us in a foreign language of sorts, but she ends up saying so much about self-determination and love. It feels corny to call a performance brave, but fuck it. Partnerships like Emma Stone and Yorgos Lanthimos can keep mainstream cinema weird and wonderful.
