Disney+ Dramatic Comedy Is The Wildest Frankenstein Story Of All Time
I went into seeing Poor Things without knowing much about it outside of the fact that Emma Stone and Mark Ruffalo star and there’s some kind of strange dance scene. I was pleasantly surprised by the dramatic comedy that does take a page out of the legendary 1818 novel Frankenstein.
Poor Things
Poor Things is the tale of the evolution of Bella Baxter (Stone), a woman brought back to life by the brilliant, but unorthodox scientist Dr. Godwin Baxter (Willem Dafoe). Poor Things is based on the 1992 novel by Alasdair Gray. It’s a postmodern revision of Frankenstein, replacing the traditional monster with Bella Baxter–a smart, beautiful, captivating woman.
Basically, anyone who meets her falls in love or becomes obsessed with her.
The Cast
Stone plays the main character and the audience is invited along for her engaging and often comedic journey. One of the notable quotes from the film include Baxter’s “I am finding being alive fascinating.”
Baxter’s loves in Poor Things include Max McCandles, played by Ramy Youssef. Audiences may know him from his Hulu show Ramy. Also, there’s Mark Ruffalo who portrays Duncan Wedderburn, someone who delivers some of the biggest laughs in the film, although Wedderburn is not in on the joke at all. Ruffalo received an Oscar nomination for his performance.
Not For Kids
On the subject of loves, one important note–Poor Things may be available in the Hulu section of Disney+, but don’t let the Disney thing fool you. Poor Things is rated R and you see plenty of what goes on between Baxter and her lovers. Don’t watch around the kiddos.
A Critical Darling
The reception for Poor Things has been top notch. It has a 92 percent on Rotten Tomatoes. The Hollywood Reporter called it “Non-stop bonkers brillance.”
Poor Things garnered 11 Academy Award nominations and it won for four of those: Best Achievement in Makeup and Hairstyling, Best Achievement in Production Design, Best Achievement in Costume Design, and, the big one from the night, Emma Stone won Best Performance by an Actress in a Leading Role.
Stone’s win was a surprise since many expected Lily Gladstone from Killers of the Flower Moon to walk away with the award.
Yorgos Lanthimos
If you haven’t seen Poor Things, according to ABC News, “[y]ou won’t know what hit you.” However, if you are familiar with director Yorgos Lanthimos’s work, you should know you’re in for something different and special.
He’s also behind the films The Lobster and The Favourite. The Favourite represents Stone’s first feature collaboration with Lanthimos, and she received an Oscar nomination for that one as well.
Kinds of Kindness
Following the success of Poor Things, Stone is teaming up with director Yorgos Lanthimos yet again for Kinds of Kindness. This will be her fourth project with Lanthimos. Production on the anthology film wrapped more than a year ago, but it doesn’t have a release date yet.
Poor Things is available in the Hulu section of Disney+ which is still in beta and requires subscriptions to both services to access.
