A wildly inventive, darkly funny, and visually extravagant fable that mixes sexual liberation, social satire, and grotesque fairy-tale energy. It’s provocative and polarizing, but the craft, performances, and sheer imagination make it one of the most distinctive films of 2023.
Poor Things
Where to watch: Buy
Movie · Science Fiction · Romance
Thu · 2h 21m
Director: Yorgos Lanthimos
Starring: Emma Stone, Mark Ruffalo, Willem Dafoe
Overview
Brought back to life by an unorthodox scientist, a young woman runs off with a lawyer on a whirlwind adventure across the continents. Free from the prejudices of her times, she grows steadfast in her purpose to stand for equality and liberation.
Director
Yorgos Lanthimos
Cast
Emma Stone, Mark Ruffalo, Willem Dafoe
Curator Review
Verdict
A wildly inventive, darkly funny, and visually extravagant fable that mixes sexual liberation, social satire, and grotesque fairy-tale energy. It’s provocative and polarizing, but the craft, performances, and sheer imagination make it one of the most distinctive films of 2023.
Best for
Viewers who like bold auteur cinema and formal experimentation
Fans of dark comedy, surrealism, and offbeat romance
People interested in feminist, body-horror-adjacent, or anti-patriarchal storytelling
Audiences who enjoy lavish production design and maximalist visual style
Skip if
You want naturalistic acting or a conventional narrative
You’re uncomfortable with explicit sex, taboo humor, or grotesque imagery
You prefer movies that clearly signal moral positions
You dislike provocation or films that feel deliberately alienating
Overview
Poor Things is a feverish blend of fairy tale, sex comedy, and social critique, carried by a performance that keeps shifting from innocence to self-possession. It is less interested in realism than in creating a world where every costume, set, and camera move feels like a joke, a dare, or a thesis statement.
Worth noting
What makes it work is the confidence of its design and the commitment of its cast. The film is funny, unsettling, and often beautiful in the same breath, with a rhythm that turns discomfort into momentum. It can feel abrasive, but that abrasion is part of its point.
Bottom line
For some viewers, it will read as a bracingly liberated fantasy; for others, as a knowingly messy provocation about desire, power, and identity. Either way, it is unmistakably a filmmaker’s movie: ornate, confrontational, and impossible to confuse with anything else.
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Themes
female autonomy, sexual liberation, identity formation, social satire, body horror, feminist allegory, class and power, coming-of-age
Topics
surreal, dark comedy, feminist, body horror, period fantasy, sexual politics, auteur cinema, maximalist visuals, satire, romantic adventure