Poor Things

Today a film recommendation. Poor Things.

It’s certainly not for everybody. Quite surreal, with several short but quite explicit sexual scenes. There is also a certain amount of close up surgery.

But I found it remarkable. Like nothing else I’ve witnessed at the cinema. Beautifully filmed, it is a kind of Frankenstein story with Emma Stone magnificent as Bella, a young lady brought back to life after committing suicide while pregnant. And it is the brain of her very own baby who gives her life, through the hands of Godwin Baxter, played by William Dafoe, her father figure, who she comes to know as “God” for short.

It doesn’t get any less strange after that. In a nutshell it is the tale of Bella’s growing up and coming of age, from baby to mature woman, all the time in the body of a mature woman, and mainly in the company of the caddish Duncan Wedderburn, also brilliant played by Mark Ruffalo. Though quite course and explicit in some respects, it is never the less a very nuanced, gentle, wise and often hilarious insights into our humanity and our sometimes confusing experiences of both masculinity and femininity. And there is so much more to it than a sexual coming of age story. With plenty of twists and turns along the way.

I’m loathe to say more. A friend who accompanied me to the cinema said afterwards “I’ve no clue how I could explain that one to anybody”.

I feel the same. It is impossible to describe really. But, from my perspective, very highly recommended, as long as you take the advisory comments on board.

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