Poor Things (2023)
Emma Stone plays a pregnant suicide who is ressurrected by Willem Dafoe when he transplants the living brain of her unborn child into her body. And yes, this movie is as gloriously bonkers as that sentence sounds.
Essentially what we have in this variation on the Frankenstein story is Emma Stone playing a child in a woman's body and following her experiences as she gradually matures and learns the harsh realities of the world, all of which she soaks up with childlike enthusiasm. Of course this includes sexual experience which becomes very transgressive when Mark Ruffalo, playing a brilliantly over the top cad, lures her away from her scientific 'father' and shags her across the continent.
Set in a steam-punk world and littered with queasy operation imagery, explicit sex scenes and clever comic wordplay, you get the feeling the makers are trying to make a point about freedom of expression and being your own person. However, it can also be enjoyed just on a superficial basis as a bit of a romp
I'm thinking some people might find it marmite if they veer to more formulaic entertainment but I loved it. And it was the first film I've seen in a long time that got a round of applause at the end in the cinema I watched it in.
Recommended.
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