Poor Things is as daring as cinema gets

Among film fans, to say that something has a Lynchian or Cronenbergian vibe means that a film is really bloody weird.

With his new film Poor Things, Greek director Yorgos Lanthimos has emerged as the new candidate to take the throne from the godfathers of weird cinema.

Poor Things is one of the most refreshing films to come along in recent years, and the film succeeds because there is a sense that the director and star are egging each other on to push the envelope that bit further.

The other half of the equation is Emma Stone, who is using her clout as a Hollywood A-lister to get films like this and esoteric shows like The Curse on Paramount+ off the ground.

Emma Stone’s performance in Poor Things is one of the most fearless performances a major star has ever given, and she deserves every single accolade that is coming her way.

It isn’t exactly a state secret that Emma Stone is one of our most captivating actors, but watching Stone play Bella Baxter is like watching someone inventing a new sound or colour; it is on the bleeding edge of what an actor can do.

Lanthimos and Stone previously made the Oscar-winning comedy The Favourite together, and it is apparent that this is a director and actor combo that gets the best out of each other.

Poor Things tells the story of Bella Baxter, a young woman who is brought back to life by the eccentric but doting scientist Godwin Baxter.

Based on the novel by Scottish Alasdair Gray, the simplest way to think of Poor Things is to think of Frankenstein by way of Dali and Swift.

The always wonderful Willem Dafoe gives one of his best performances as Baxter, and there is something about the way that Dafoe looks and acts that would make the film work as a silent film.

It is very difficult to pin down exactly why Poor Things is so brilliant, but that is a big part of its appeal.

Poor Things has the soul of a classic film you watch in film school but also manages to feel as bold and daring as anything that has graced our cinema screens in recent times.

To put it another way, there is no chance in hell a streaming service like Netflix would have commissioned a film like this.

Cinema itself is all the better for having films like Poor Things exist.

The black and white sequences of the film play out like a German expressionist film from 100 years ago, while the gorgeous colour cinematography could have been lifted from the golden age of MGM.

Dublin man Robbie Ryan has shot films for the likes of Ken Loach and Noah Baumbach, yet his work here feels like an artist operating at the absolute top of their game.

The set design, costume design and overall look of the film are mighty impressive, yet the film itself was made at a fraction of the cost of an average superhero film.

There is enough creativity and imagination on display here to fill 20 films, and Poor Things manages to tie everything together in a way that seems impossible.

“Impossible” might be the one word that accurately represents Poor Things.

There have been very few films like this made at a major Hollywood level since Lynch’s Mulholland Drive or Charlie Kaufman’s Synecdoche, New York.

Fans of Lanthimos’ previous work will eat this up with a spoon, while people unfamiliar with his work will quickly fall under his spell.

Lanthimos’ films manage to capture the same sense of what it’s like to be walking in a dream after a night on the cheese.

Not everything is as it seems, you can make out what people look like but can’t see their faces, and everything is about 10 degrees off kilter from where it’s supposed to be.

There are very few cinematic experiences like it, which makes it all the more remarkable that the film is a crowd-pleaser.

Stone has never been better than she is here, and were it not for Lily Gladstone, would be walking away with the Oscar this year.

Stone manages to weaponise the comedy that audiences know her for and flips the script on its head.

We laugh at her a lot in this film; she makes us laugh at the genuinely funny moments and makes us laugh nervously during the more shocking parts.

It is somewhat amusing that Poor Things is a film that will rack up many Oscar nominations, will play in mainstream cinemas across the world and be released by a major studio like Disney; this feels like a film you weren’t supposed to see.

It takes a lot to shock someone who watches films professionally, yet there are sequences and scenes in Poor Things that are enough to make even the most hardened soul go “oh, bloody hell.”

Poor Things is one of those films that will never leave you; once it burrows its way into your brain, it will stay there and take up permanent residence.

The film is challenging to watch and may test a viewers’ will or patience, but like Killers Of The Flower Moon there is a point to the madness.

Films like this push film forward as an artform, and it manages to challenge and provoke even the most seasoned cinephile, yet is is incredibly rewarding in doing so.