Dr. Godwin Baxter (Willem Dafoe) is a genius whose skills as a surgeon allow him to bring back to life the dead body of Bella Baxter (Emma Stone). Bella, reanimated without any of her memories or learned skills is effectively a child in a woman’s body. In order to study her personal growth better Godwin hires a young student named Max McCandles (Ramy Youssef) to watch her and document her progress. 

As Bella slowly develops her motor skills her curiosity begins to fire and the draw of the outside world becomes too much. Godwin decides that he must keep his surrogate daughter and research project within the confines of his home and decides to marry Max and Bella on the basis that they live with him. Hiring solicitor Duncan Wedderburn (Mark Ruffalo) to draw up a contract he has not banked on Duncan whisking Bella away on a European odyssey. 

Poor Things is an amazing film filled with unforgettable characters, brimming with philosophical ideas and set in a wondrous fantastical world adjacent to our own. Knowing where to start when describing its brilliance is in itself a conundrum. 

The world Poor Things inhabits, its swirling CGI skies, its Victorian setting with a smattering of fantastical inventions and vibrant characters reminded me of Tim Burton in his pomp. But director Yorgos Lanthimos (The Favourite) does not have Burton’s whimsy. Instead this world is tinged with darkness and has an edge. Lanthimos again continually uses fisheye lenses to keep your perspective off balance and switches from black and white to colour as Bella sets off on her odyssey. 

The story, adapted from Alasdair Grey’s 1992 novel keeps its allusions to Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein. Here the monster, Bella is a beautiful creature, whilst the doctor, Godwin is scarred and deformed. But Godwin is a good father despite his crazy and unethical experimentations. 

Godwin, Bella and Duncan are all amazing characters and it’s a raucous comedy joy to spend time with them. Godwin, or God to Bella talks of the even more crazy experiments that his father conducted on him. They give you a sense of what he was moulded into both physically and psychologically. Duncan is a rake and a bounder who meets his match in Bella. Throughout the film Ruffalo’s delivery of some choice dialogue will have you in fits of laughter. But all eyes (and awards) will be on Emma Stone’s Bella. Her performance is superlative. We get to see Bella grow up as the film progresses. Learning and perfecting her motor skills, language skills and then learning about life and who she is. 

There are many interesting themes explored as well. What would it be like to have no inhibitions as an adult? Perhaps there is some discussion about neurological disorders within that exploration as well. The ethics of scientific enhancement through experimentation. The social values surrounding the poor and sexual activity. 

Poor Things is a wondrous original story filled with hilarity and spectacle.