More furious jumping!

Continuing my trip up Empire's top 20 films of 2024

#8 :  Poor Things

We were all left holding onto our top hats by The Favourite provoc-auteur Yorgos Lanthimos’ multiple Oscar-winning adaptation of Alasdair Gray’s cult classic novel. Both a strangely beautiful coming-of-age tale and a truly wild steampunk feminist reframing of the Frankenstein myth, Poor Things sees a never-better Emma Stone lead an all-star ensemble (Mark Ruffalo! Willem Dafoe! Ramy Youssef!) as Bella Baxter, a young woman who undertakes an Odyssean journey of self-discovery after being resurrected by a mad scientist (Dafoe). With its Gilliam-esque acid trip visuals, bold embrace of female sexuality, and carefully executed high-wire balancing act between gonzo absurdism and emotionally precise introspection, Lanthimos’ sci-fi fable truly has to be seen to be believed. And even then, you’ll still probably be left wondering if the whole thing was just some weird, wonderful, unapologetically bawdy fever dream after all.

I'm expecting this to be somewhat strange, but don't really have any concept as to how strange because I've yet to experience a Yorgos Lanthimos film.

Yeah - that's pretty damn strange. Empire isn't far off the mark when it refers to Frankenstein and The Odyssey, but it's way more out there than either of those two works. Having said that, it's actually surprisingly easy to follow and always gorgeous to look at, so it doesn't drag in the slightest. And then it has a surprisingly happy ending which feels very out of place and yet also fits in well. This is then followed by some of the most unreadable closing titles I've ever seen - I was kinda impressed by the twisted individual that came up with them.

It is a great performance from Emma Stone - very physical, both in terms of her control of her body (particularly her facial expressions) and also in terms of the amount of flesh on display whilst she's having an awful lot of sex. In her orbit are a most peculiar selection of men - Mark Ruffalo is an amusingly useless cad, Willem Dafoe is a very odd-looking mad scientist and Ramy Youssef is the relatively normal straight-man and they all play their part well. I'm also going to mention Kathryn Hunter because she's a very interesting actor and this is the fourth time she's popped up in something and Margaret Qualley, who has a very minor part but we'll be seeing again very soon.

It's a fantastically steampunk set - there has been some serious imagination gone into first dreaming things up and then implementing them on screen. It's all very impressively done indeed across multiple locations and it often looks utterly gorgeous. It's all well filmed with interesting use of black and white vs colour and various lenses (including fisheye lenses) - I suspect it's all trying to portray specific viewpoints, but I was at a loss at to what they might have been. It also has the most marvellous costumes - most of which are entirely and impressively impractical. There are also most peculiar animal hybrids wandering around the place - you find yourself going "wtf was that?".

The film does make some interesting points with respect to considering various adult themes such a sex, money, love and identity through childlike eyes. I'm not sure it answers any of the questions it raises, but I'm also not convinced it's trying to - it's more just pointing out the ridiculousness of many, many things. It also has some interesting examples of male cruelty and female empowerment - it's certainly a film with the potential for instigating lively discussion (and so obviously I watched it alone). I'd be very interested to know whether the sisterhood really think it's really all that feminist...

I was reminded of The Shape Of Water in that this is a fantastical story which is absolutely ridiculous (whilst also being internally consistent) yet gorgeous to look at, wowing the critics without entirely avoiding (or possibly actively encouraging) the suspicion of style over substance. We're actually on a bit of a run here because four of the last five films have been utterly bonkers but this is possibly the most bonkers of the lot (although I gather the next film might outdo it), but it also has a surprisingly human heart to it. It won't be to everyone's taste but I certainly think it's worth checking out if only for the levels of imagination on display. 

#9 - Absolutely gorgeous, but...
#7 - Two thirds of a good film