FILM: POOR THINGS- WE’RE ALL FLAWED, EXPERIMENTING, PEOPLE AND IT’S TOTALLY OKAY
BY IRVIN RIVERA
Yorgos Lanthimos' 2023 film "Poor Things" tells us that life is not just black and white, but rather layers and spectrums of colors in various hues and saturations.
It's a memorable, surreal sensory feat- it's visually enticing and appealing, sonically engaging (the sound design, omg), emotionally captivating and mentally challenging the audience to think and reflect on a lot of the themes presented in this film.
Starring a talented ensemble of interesting characters portrayed by talented actors- Willem Dafoe (Dr Godwin Baxter), Emma Stone (Bella Baxter), Ramy Youssef (Max McCandles), Mark Ruffalo (Duncan Wedderburn), Christoper Abbott (Alfie Blessington) and more, director Yorgos Lanthimos with screenwriter Tony McNamara adapted and brought this compelling story to life based from the 1992 Alasdair Gray novel of the same name.
Did I mention that it’s very visual?
As a very visual person, this film made it to the top of my list as one of my favorite all time films that I have ever seen. I cannot tell you how excited I got every time the camera pans, zooms in and out, uses different lenses, the swirly bokeh, the anamorphic and wide lens shots, the magical CGI and set-design, the gorgeous chapter title vignettes, the incredible fashion- this film is one undeniable visual orgasm.
It’s like witnessing versions of the combined visuals of Hieronymus Bosch, Tim Walker’s fashion editorials and Tarsem Singh’s film The Fall come to life to share the incredible, fantastical magic realism tale about the evolution of Bella Baxter.
We’re first introduced to Emma Stone’s character (as Victoria Blessington) jumping off a London bridge, then slowly immersed in the wide-lensed view of Dr Godwin Baxter’s (Willem Dafoe) (a.k.a. God) house and laboratory where we see Emma’s character (now as Bella) walking like an infant, testing and exploring different things as if she’s experiencing life for the first time.
Well, she technically was, because we’ll learn that she’s a product of some sort of a Frankenstein experiment from God (Dr Godwin Baxter). Bella Baxter was a combination of the physical body of Victoria (the one who jumped off the bridge) and the brain of the baby that she was carrying when she died. Mind you, there are a lot of things and creatures pieced together in this film that reminds me of the underdeveloped homunculus from Full Metal Alchemist, the series.
Then we witness Bella quickly develop as a human- in the beginning, devoid of repression from society, but slowly learns about rules, regulations, and social constructs. We see her experience physical, emotional and mental joys, pain and everything in between. She’s curious, and loves to explore and that’s what propelled her to go to different places, and explore life as a human being experiencing and witnessing human things.
Going back to the visual power of this film, you’ll notice the switch from black and white to colors. We start from Black and white then slowly transition to colors and would go back to black in white at times. I love this way of visual storytelling as it adds so much more dimension to the film. You’ll notice that the more Bella explores the world, the richer the saturation of colors around her become.
The more you delve deeper and see the intricate and subtle hues of the colors of each little experiences, moments and feelings that life has to offer, the colors around us changes; our feelings shift, our thoughts ebb and flow, and our actions sometimes doesn’t coordinate with whatever we’re feeling inside, thus revealing our flaws- making us more human than ever.
At some point in the film, when they’re in Paris, Bella exclaims to Duncan (Mark Ruffalo): "Im a flawed experimenting person” This line was so beautiful because it encapsulates the central theme of the film- that we all have broken pieces in ourselves, and that’s okay.
This act of piecing together broken things and embracing imperfections reminded me of a concept long practiced in Japan referred to as Kintsugi- the Japanese art of putting broken pottery pieces back together with gold and making something better out of already broken things.
Bella, although a product of a scientific experiment, is probably one of the most human characters in the story mainly because she was fueled by curiosity and enthusiasm- she was full of passion, lust, joy and is inspired to do and say anything sans the confines of the “polite society.” Initially, she will say what she want, she will do what she want she will express what she wants, and she will act however she wants because she’s not bounded and repressed by the complex layers of the world until she discovers the other side, the other colors of the spectrum- the gloomy, dark hues of humanity. But Bella also learned about the power of choices, and having the conviction to stand up for your choices and was able to regain her power and feel more grounded and sure of herself.
By the way, I would also love to commend and highlight the powerful performances in this film who effectively conveyed the intertwining narratives of the characters (Willem Dafoe, Emma Stone, Mark Ruffalo, Ramy Youssef etc)
Being a “poor thing” is subjective as it depends on the perspective of the one saying it, but within the realm and the context of this story, the poor things are not the scientific homunculus hybrid animal experiments, or the ladies at the whorehouse, or Dr Godwin Baxter with fucked up face or Frankenstein Bella herself, but rather the seemingly normal people who are bound by the shackles of their society, religion, and preconceived notions of the world, living under the shadows of the darker hues of the world they live in.