Poor Things is a 2023 film directed by Yorgos Lanthimos, director of critically acclaimed movies such as The Favourite and The Lobster, that takes place in a whimsical version of 1800s England about a scientist (played by Willem Dafoe) who puts a baby’s brain into a woman’s corpse and reanimates it, creating Bella Baxter (played by Emma Stone). Bella then goes on a globetrotting adventure with a sleazy lawyer (played by Mark Ruffalo) and experiences the highs and lows of the world and the human experience.

Poor Things is a movie where it’s hard to find a place to start when talking about it. I’ll start with the acting. Emma Stone as Bella Baxter is my favorite acting performance in a movie of 2023 and one of my favorite acting performances of all time. She plays the naivety of a child as well as the physicality of a child learning how to walk. As the movie progresses and Bella mentally grows, Stone’s performance changes so much that by the end of the movie, her performance from the beginning of the movie and her performance at the end of the movie are completely different. She always has a lot of great comedic line deliveries and facial expressions. Emma Stone embodied Bella Baxter perfectly.

Mark Ruffalo is fantastic in this movie as well. He delivers a hilarious and unique comedic performance. Willem Dafoe is great as the disfigured scientist, Godwin, that created Bella, giving the character a sense of warmth that would not be there if it wasn’t for Dafoe’s performance. Ramy Youseff plays Godwin’s assistant and gives a fantastical yet grounded feeling performance. 

This movie has my favorite film score of all time. It is so unique sounding and switches between so many different tones as the movie progresses. In the beginning, the score has this fantastic bizarre and surreal feeling to it that is very fitting of the start of the film. As the story progresses, the score fits every turn it takes perfectly, specifically pertaining to Bella’s emotions. So many of the songs composed for the movie encapsulate the emotions of Bella in that part of the movie perfectly and elevate the scenes they are used in because of that. The music is also used to add to the absurdity and comedy of certain scenes really effectively.

This movie is a visual delight. The cinematography is very pleasing. I really enjoyed how it utilized the fisheye lense view throughout. The costume design was fantastic. It was very cool to look at, as well as being very endearing and giving you a great feel for the characters wearing them. The set design was so unique and stunning. CGI was used wonderfully in this movie. It was used to create exteriors of certain structures, such as a boat, to create a surreal sky, and to make animal chimeras that were littered around the mansion that Bella was born in. It all looked very impressive. All of these elements added so immensely to the unique and whimsical world of Poor Things.

Now, to finally talk about this movie’s screenplay. This is one of the most unique and best written screenplays of the year. It is hilarious and so imaginative. Never at any point did I know where the story was going, but I was always satisfied with where it went. The absurdity of the story added to the humor very well. It has a wonderful emotional core to it and a lot to say about women’s liberation and how men try to control women. The character writing is impeccable. Bella Baxter’s personal journey is beautifully written and clearly so much thought went into how the world would affect Bella and her growth. She is one of my favorite movie characters of all time. Godwin and Duncan (Mark Ruffalo’s character) are also very fun and well written. The movie ends amazingly in a very satisfying way.

I have had self confidence issues for a while now. It is hard for me to completely be myself around other people sometimes. I know this and I’m working on it. Even though Poor Things didn’t give me any big revelations, it is always nice to get a reminder about my problems that I need to fix. Seeing Bella so unapologetically herself, not caring even a little about what anyone else thought, was just so beautiful. It gave me hope that someday I will completely transform into my true self. I want to, because now, like Bella Baxter, I think I really love myself.

Poor Things is a brilliant, creative masterpiece of a film. The acting is unbelievable. It is a visual feast. The writing is hilarious and has so much heart. The score is breathtaking. When I walked out of the theater after seeing Poor Things I felt a very strong feeling. The feeling of “This is why movies are made. This is why I love movies so much”.

I think Poor Things is a 10/10 masterpiece, and it’s only my third favorite movie of 2023. What a year for movies 2023 was.