Poor Things (film): It starts slow and weird but honestly, it's a work of art

I've been waiting for this one to finally become available on my Plex server for a while. It finally came down yesterday and even though it was quite late I decided to start it up anyway despite the looming witching hour. I figured I would fall asleep or turn it off halfway through and that was almost exactly what I did because the way that it starts out feels like one of those artsy films that is designed to win Academy Awards while having no real appeal to massive audiences. At times the director decisions seemed like the work of a film school student who has no budget but is instead focusing on trying to do things in a different and odd way in order to get attention.


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Now I am going to say this right out of the gate: This film is WEIRD and it's that exact strangeness that is going to chase people with a low attention span away from it in the first 30 minutes. It moves very slowly at first but if you can manage to make it through those slow 30 minutes you will be rewarded with one of the better movies that I have seen in a long time.

Be warned as well though that this is not something you should watch with younger kids because there is a ton of sex in it. I was unaware of this going into it but others may have known beforehand and the fact that many people likely already knew that Emma Watson spends a great deal of time in this with her clothes off, may have been a motivation for many to watch it.


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I don't want to spoil things too much because it is more interesting to discover it as you go along but basically Emma plays the starring role of "Bella" and "Bella" is a fully grown woman who has diminished mental capabilities to the point where she behaves like a toddler and is frequently a danger to others and herself because of this. One other character says something along the lines of "she is quite beautiful for a retard" and I am surprised that they put that line is seeing as how the world is so triggered by that word these days. The film takes place in what at first appears to be the 1800's or something and believe it or not "retard" is actually a medical term to this day, despite what PC rules appeared in the past 10 years or so.


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Willem Dafoe plays the role of Dr. Godwin who is frequently referred by Bella and others simply as "God." He is an unconventional scientist who is considered one of the most brilliant minds of his time by his unseen peers but he also has a penchant for "science at all costs" including mutilating various animals and putting their bodies together such as a bulldog with a duck's head and a bulldog head with a duck body. This is how they introduce us to the fact that somehow, Bella is in fact a creation of his - but I am not going to reveal how that came to be.

"God" acts as a father figure of sorts for Bella and is extremely protective of her since she has the mind of a toddler including not having full capability of speech. She has a playful manner and seeks to destroy things constantly, much like a toddler actually would if they were large enough to reach the plates on the table.

Eventually, Bella's curiosity gets the best of her and she gains enough intellect over an amount of time that we, the audience, are not made aware of, and she is permitted to go out into the world for the first time in her life.


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She approaches everything as a child would in that she has no fear of what others think of her and is routinely the life of the party because of this. The way that she dresses is also the way that a child would dress in that every time she leaves her room she is dressed like a fairy princess or something else equally ridiculous. Yet her beauty and fearlessness of what others think is precisely why others are drawn to her even if she ends up being quite crude at times. There is something else that draws others to her, but I am not going to tell you what that is... you'll have to watch the film to figure that out but let's just say that there is a reason why someone as attractive as Emma Stone was chosen for this role. I'm seriously impressed that Emma pulled off this role as it couldn't have been easy for her to film. You'll see why if you wisely decide to watch this movie.

While the direction and cinematography of the film can sometimes seem a bit strange switching back and forth between black and white and then to almost overly colorful, there is likely some sort of film-school fishing-for-awards something or other that is going on there.


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I am not artsy or refined enough to figure out why, but many of the scenes are suddenly shown through a "peep hole" lens of sorts. Some of this I found annoying and others I just kind of went with it and accepted that they were going to for something different here and well, I can appreciate that since almost all films that make money these days seem to be carbon copies of one another and that is just boring.

This story is definitely something different and many are stating that it is one of the 10 best films of 2023. I think I agree with this idea but since I watch films from across all times and dont focus on any particular year, I don't think I could name 9 other films from 2023 even though I am quite certain I have seen that many.

Should I watch it?

I genuinely think that you should but please go into this understanding that the first 20 minutes or so are going to be quite boring. I don't know why they did this but the pace picks up dramatically from that point forward. I suppose it was necessary for character development. What do i know? I didn't go to film school I just like watching movies. Unlike the cookie-cutter superhero films of late this is definitely something different and more thought provoking. The idea of a woman entering the world with no inhibitions is pretty exhilarating and refreshing and Stone absolutely nails this role, as does almost everyone else in the cast. There is only one actor that seemed a bit out of place in the entire thing.

Unlike other good films seeking an audience, this one actually did find the audience and made $70 million over their budget with very little in the way of promotion. Fantastic! Now I hope other film-makers can carry on so that theaters don't have to be dominated with stupid Marvel and D.C. remakings of essentially the same movie over and over. This film has already been nominated for and won many awards and it will likely be highly regarded at the Oscars as well.


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At the moment the only legal way to watch this film is to purchase it on Amazon Prime or AppleTV+. It is $10... this will likely change as time goes by. Searchlight is owned by Disney, so I would imagine Hulu or Disney+ will be the first places it can be streamed



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14 comments
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Very nice movie, sure oscar for Emma Stone

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Yeah, i was thinking the same thing when I watched it. I wonder if Dafoe will get a nod for best supporting

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No he visto esta película, pero podría darle una oportunidad gracias a tu reseña. Me llama la atención lo diferente en la historia que planteas, la trama y el juego de colores con la cámara.

Vamos a ver qué sorpresas nos traerá. Saludos y bendiciones.

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Honestly, the movie doesn't catch my attention, the trailer is weird, and I don't know why it will be nominated for an Oscar either. I read over there that the movie is based more on the sexual discovery of the main character, so it doesn't catch my attention to see something like that. The plot seems to me to have a lot of illogical things, and although Mark Ruffalo works (who seems to me a high-caliber actor and makes good movies), this one doesn't convince me to see it.

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It is quite a sexual film and that is kind of the entire point. Therefore this would be an uncomfortable film to watch with your parents and I do not advise anyone watch it with kids of course. The basic primal instincts of humanity are kind of the point of the entire thing and how the reason that adults don't behave like this is because of conditioning. A childlike person wouldn't behave the same way though. I enjoyed the idea behind that but can understand that it wouldn't be everyone's cup of tea.

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Within the first 15 minutes of the movie, I told the person I was watching it with that she was going to be a sex addict due to her quick jumps from curiosity to obsession. Boy did I call that one perfectly!

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I didn't see that coming but when it did I though "of course." I bet that this was something that Stone might have been hesitant to take on because of it also. I've always been curious how actors handle those sorts of scenes because it must be a bit unnerving to shoot those scenes over and over and over again.

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Not sold on this one to be honest and the artistry thing puts me off more than the beautiful retard film. I shall see but have to be picky as I don't have the spare time I used to have.

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I normally think of you when I am writing up these things and I don't think this would be a good choice for you based on what I think I know about ya. It takes a while to get going and the artistry is definitely a mainstay of the entire production. I don't think this one would fly with you and since you do have limited time and a lot of obligations in your life I would say that you should give this one a pass.

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I think I will watch it!
I was hesitant to be honest, but seeing a few reviews here .. I will go for it!

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For the right person I think this is one of the better films of the past year