When Yorgos Lanthimos’ Poor Things premiered at the Venice International Film Festival last year, many critics were blown away by it, but unsure whether or not it would be “too weird” for the Academy. Months later, the fantastical dark comedy would win four Oscars: Production Design, Makeup and Hairstyling, Costume, and, of course, one of the biggest surprises of the night, Emma Stone for Best Actress. 

The nouveau-Frankenstein tale was the only Best Picture nominee that we never got around to reviewing before the Oscars. But it recently became available to stream on Hulu, and as such a discussion of the film becomes timely once again.

Poor Things follows the growth and development of Bella Baxter, a woman subjected to the experiments of mad scientist turned adoptive father, Godwin Baxter. It’s a dark comedy that is as much about patriarchal control over the female body as it is about the exaltations and harsh realities of being alive. 

On this episode of The Long Take Review, P.T. and I offer up theories as to why Yorgos Lanthimos makes so many of the bold artistic and narrative choices that he does, and do our best to unpack all the meaning we can find. We talk Brechtian defamiliarization, female hysteria in Victorian literature, social norms, monsters, and ideologies. It’s one of the nerdiest conversations we’ve ever had.

You can listen to The Long Take Review on Substack, Spotify, Apple, or wherever you get your podcasts.

Image Credit: IndieWire

Movie News Update Another Yorgos Lanthimos film on the way. All that SXSW Film Festival buzz. 4:21

The Short Take We each share our general impressions of Poor Things. 16:11

The Recommendation Algorithm Who should see this film? Will it, in fact, be too weird for some? 24:07

SPOILER MODE What is Poor Things trying to say? How does its style facilitate its substance? What do we make of the criticisms of this film? 34:23

The Rhetorical Situation What role does ideology play in this film? 1:45:27

Notes:

Here’s a link the Viktor Shklovsky essay P.T. quotes in this episode.

All music licensed through Epidemic Sound.

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