I think we’re all aware of Emma Stone’s upcoming big screen appearance – Poor Things. We’ve been getting stills from 2022. The film is about, “Brought back to life by an unorthodox scientist, a young woman runs off with a lawyer on a whirlwind adventure across the continents. Free from the prejudices of her times, she grows steadfast in her purpose to stand for equality and liberation.” Apart from Emma Stone, the film stars Willem Dafoe, Mark Ruffalo, Ramy Youssef, Margaret Qualley and Christopher Abbott. It is a Yorgos Lanthimos which means we’re in for some great concepts and visual imagery. The way he weaves drama in his sci-fi setting is inspiring. Watch The Lobster you’ll understand what I mean. This is his first film since The Favourite (2018). Poor Things is shot in 4:3 aspect ratio (original cinema ratio), with b/w sequences as well. I love whenever someone uses this kind of treatment. The film premiered in the Venice Film Festival and received an eight minutes long standing ovation. At the time of writing, Poor Things has a 100% rating on Rotten Tomatoes and an IMDb score of 8.5/10. Today, we have gathered the critics’ thoughts on the film. Check them out below:
Poor Things Reviews Roundup – Movie of the Year?
Maureen Lee Lenker (Entertainment Weekly) – “Bella is a cinematic heroine for the ages and Poor Things is a unique piece of artistry. With Yorgos Lanthimos behind the camera, it’s not hard to find it fascinating to be alive.” Original Score: A-
Stephanie Zacharek (TIME Magazine) – “It’s Lanthimos’ finest movie so far, a strange, gorgeous-looking picture that extends generosity both to its characters and the audience.”
Jo-Ann Titmarsh (London Evening Standard) – “Together, Lanthimos and his team of players and crew have conjured up a delight that – like its protagonist – is eccentric, smart, a little dark, lovely to look at and charming as hell.” Original Score: 5/5
Steph Green (Inverse) – “Flamboyant, florid, fantastic, and freakish, this might well be one of the most unique movies you’ll ever see.”
Donald Clarke (Irish Times) – “What we have is a twisty variation on the Frankenstein mythos – or do we mean Bride of Frankenstein mythos? – that never lets up in its interrogation of power imbalance between the genders. It is funny, beautiful and incisive.” Original Score: 4/5
David Rooney (Hollywood Reporter) – “Sheer bedazzlement.”
Ryan Lattanzio (indieWire) – “The best film of Lanthimos’ career… mordantly funny, whimsical and wacky, unprecious and unpretentious, filled with so much to adore that to try and parse it all here feels like a pitiful response to the film’s ambitions.” Original Score: A
Guy Lodge (Variety) – “Oddly moving in its fervor and abundance…”
Justin Chang (Los Angeles Times) – “It may be the first Lanthimos movie in which this unsparing filmmaker doesn’t just slice his characters open but actually likes what he sees.”
Nicholas Barber (BBC.com) – “It’s easy to forgive any film which is as gleefully excessive as this one. Lanthimos may get carried away, but the results are daringly outrageous and often hilarious.” Original Score: 4/5
Geoffrey Macnab {Independent (UK)} – “It may prove too subversive and oddball for more mainstream tastes, but it’s an exquisitely made film. As for Stone? She gives a wildly inventive star turn.” Original Score: 4/5
Richard Lawson (Vanity Fair) – “In making a film about growing up (among other things), Lanthimos seems to have matured some too.”
Robbie Collin {Daily Telegraph (UK)} – “Poor Things is a madcap creation myth with thrillingly humanist stakes.” Original Score: 5/5
Hannah Strong (Little White Lies) – “It’s a tour de force performance from Stone, gamely matched by Ruffalo, and complimented by the dreamy, madcap world Lanthimos and his talented collaborators have created.”
Kevin Maher {Times (UK)} – “Expect an Academy Awards deluge.” Original Score: 5/5
Jonathan Romney (Screen International) – “Even as the film sails insouciantly into a rarefied imaginative stratosphere of its own, it’s anchored to emotional reality by a dazzling performance by Emma Stone – if anything, outdoing her revelatory turn in The Favourite.”
Peter Bradshaw (Guardian) – “Everything in it – every frame, every image, every joke, every performance – gets a gasp of excitement.” Original Score: 5/5
Alonso Duralde (The Film Verdict) – “It’s a film that’s constantly throwing set pieces and absurdist humor and over-the-top outfits at the audience, but the effect is exhilarating rather than enervating.”
Poor Things will next be screened at Telluride Film Festival and New York Film Festival. The movie will open in theatres from December 8.
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