Hello film fanatics! Slick Dungeon here back to review the oddest of all the Best Picture nominees for the year, Poor Things. There will be spoilers in this review so if you haven’t seen the movie and you care about that sort of thing, book yourself a cruise to Paris, watch the movie, and come on back here to read the review. Before we get into it though, some content warnings for this one. The film has some pretty intense body horror, a whole lot of nudity, and hints of steampunk. If any of those things are something you’d prefer to avoid, don’t watch the film or read the review.

What’s it About?

Hoo boy. I don’t even know where to begin with this one but I’ll give it my best shot. Imagine the story of Frankenstein. Now, think of Frankenstein’s monster as following in Victor Frankenstein’s footsteps to become a surgeon and person who experiments on corpses. Then have that person find a pregnant woman who has thrown herself into the river. This Frankenstein’s monster who is highly educated and well respected in the community, if a bit fearsome to behold, is Godwin Baxter (Willam Defoe). Godwin takes the dead woman, extracts her live baby, and implants the brain of the live baby into the body of the dead woman and brings her back to life. This is Bella Baxter (Emma Stone). With me so far? Good because, it gets strange from here on out.

Godwin’s medical student, Max McCandles is hired to document Bella’s development. Bella has poor motor coordination, limited verbal skills, and is experiencing everything for the first time. Max falls in love with her. Godwin thinks it is a good idea for Max to marry Bella so he hires a lawyer to draw up a rather intense marriage contract that essentially keeps Bella a prisoner. This lawyer is Duncan Wedderburn (Mark Ruffalo) and he is a cad. He basically convinces Bella to run away with him, which is not hard because Bella is looking for new experiences anyway. And he also wants sex from Bella, which Bella is curious about herself.

The two run off to Lisbon where they are happy for a while. But soon Bella is saying things in public that are considered rude in polite society because she does not know any better and she seems to enjoy getting under Wedderburn’s skin a bit anyway.

To gain more control of her, Wedderburn tricks Bella into getting onto a cruise ship with him. His plan backfires, however, as Bella makes friends on the ship and is exposed to philosophical ideas and the cruelty of the world. Deciding to make a difference, Bella tries to give money to the needy, although it’s clear the deckhands who take her money to give it to the needy are just going to keep it. Thus, she and Wedderburn are kicked off the boat in Paris.

Back in London, Godwin and Max try to replicate the experiment that created Bella but the results do not go as well and the resurrected woman’s cognitive faculties don’t develop nearly as fast as Bella’s did.

Here, Bella discovers she can trade sex for money and decides to do so. Wedderburn has become enraptured with her at this point but is horrified at her behavior. Bella pretty much tells him to kiss off and goes about her life there. She stays in Paris getting money in the same way for a while, learning more about herself and humanity. But she receives a letter that Godwin is dying so she decides to go back to London.

In London, Godwin tells Bella the truth of her origins and Max says he still wishes to marry her. But before the ceremony is complete the man who was married to Victoria (Bella’s mother before she became Bella) shows up and demands to have his wife back.

Bella thought she knew cruelty before but this guy, General Alfie Blessington (Christopher Abbott) is malicious on another level and tries to cut off Bella’s, uh parts. Bella doesn’t take this lightly and she shoots Alfie but decides to save his life. However, she implants a goat brain in him as well. She also decides to become a doctor. Godwin dies and we end pretty oddly, just as we began.

Throughout the film there are hints of gothic horror, steampunk vibes, absolute body horror, animal experimentation along the lines of The Island of Doctor Moreau, and the repression of sexuality in society, especially for women. There are layers of metaphors here I am still trying to wrap my head around and I can’t say it all makes sense but it’s certainly memorable.

This odd combination of factors added up to one of the most nominated films of the year so let’s take a look at those.

The Awards

Poor Things was nominated for a whopping 11 categories this year.

Supporting Actor

Mark Ruffalo is up for his cad of a character, Duncan Wedderburn who goes from selfish to lost, poor and selfish. There is notable competition with Sterling K. Brown for American Fiction, Ryan Gosling for his role as Ken in Barbie, and Robert De Niro for Killers of the Flower Moon. It’s never smart to bet against Robert De Niro winning an Oscar. I think he’s the most likely but we’ll have to see.

Best Actress

Emma Stone had to put on quite the show for this role. She also had to have a good bit of bravery to do it. And she is good at conveying Bella in different stages of development. I won’t say she is a lock for the win, but she is definitely in the top two here. She’s facing off against Annette Benning for Nyad, Sandra Huller for Anatomy of a Fall, Carey Mulligan for Maestro, and Lily Gladstone for Killers of the Flower Moon. At this point, I see this as a competition between Gladstone and Emma Stone with both having an equal shot at winning. If Stone does win, it can’t be denied she put a huge amount of effort and went places not many actresses could for the part.

Cinematography

The cinematography here is really interesting. The color palette is wide ranging, the camera makes use of lots of different lenses, and the framing of the shots can be pretty wild here. I could see this sneaking in a win but it’s facing off against the juggernaut of Oppenheimer and I still think that one is more likely to win. The other nominees are, Killers of the Flower Moon, El Conde, and Maestro.

Costume Design

Okay, the costumes are fantastic here and the choices are beyond bold to the point of being almost surreal. This movie must be in the top three, if not the top two in this category. It might go to Napoleon, but honestly, I think Poor Things is much more creative. It’s also up against, Oppenheimer, Killers of the Flower Moon, and Barbie.

Directing

The directing is certainly interesting and there are a lot of bold choices. I’m not sure all of them work but they at least try something new with this film. But, yeah, sorry, Christopher Nolan still has the upper hand with Oppenheimer and I don’t think Poor Things is going to beat that out. It’s also up against Justine Triet for Anatomy of a Fall, Martin Scorsese for Killers of the Flower Moon, and Jonathan Glazer for The Zone of Interest.

Film Editing

Another category where, in my opinion, Poor Things will lose out to Oppenheimer. The editing in Poor Things is decent although there were moments I wasn’t sure if the best choices were being made as far as when to exit or enter into a scene. The other nominees are Anatomy of a Fall, The Holdovers, and Killers of the Flower Moon.

Makeup and Hairstyling

Yeah the makeup is quite good. Willam Dafoe in particular has the most striking look and the makeup is an integral part of the film. I have to say, I think this film is the most deserving of the award this year. It’s up against Oppenheimer, Golda, Maestro, and Society of the Snow.

Music (Original Score)

The score is fine but I didn’t find myself overly paying attention to it here. It fits well but it’s not as striking as the rest of the film and it’s the part of the film I least remember.  think Killers of the Flower Moon has a much better shot here. The other movies in question are American Fiction, Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny, and Oppenheimer.

Best Picture

I can’t see this winning over Oppenheimer, although it is a very inventive film. I think it’s still going to take me a few viewings to fully believe I understand the thing, whereas Oppenheimer is unforgettable and makes sense on the first viewing. I’ve got two more films to see in this category so I can’t say for 100% certain I think Oppenheimer is the best but those movies would have to impress me a lot more than Poor Things did to change my mind.

Production Design

There is pretty fantastic production design, especially surrounding the cruise ship and Paris scenes. But, in this category, I still think Barbie did the best job. This category does have some other notable films including Oppenheimer, Napoleon, and Killers of the Flower Moon.

Writing (Adapted Screenplay)

There are a lot of well written films in this category this year. Poor Things does have good writing but sometimes it may actually reach to far and trust the audience a little too much to get what is going on. It is up against American Fiction, Barbie, Oppenheimer, and The Zone of Interest. I think this one is going to go to American Fiction or The Zone of Interest but honestly any of these winning would make complete sense.

In Conclusion

Poor Things is a tough one to completely wrap your head around. If you don’t mind body horror, a wild, wild, story, and more nudity than most films get away with, this might be one for you. It’s got good acting, great sets, amazing costumes and makeup, and is mostly well written. But there are times that the audience is left more confused than anything and the film seems to try to go a little further past the edge than makes sense. I can see why it was nominated but it’s definitely not for everyone.

Awardingly yours,

Slick Dungeon