Poor Things

Sex, without a shadow of doubt, is the weapon of choice Yorgos Lanthimos uses to pummel us, his audience, into submission as he provokes us to dig deeper and uncover greater meaning within Poor Things. This sex doesn't titillate, there is nothing erotic about it, neither is it boring and run-of-the-mill nor is it graphic and violent. It is just omnipresent, highly explorative, purely physiological and always around the corner as Bella Baxter, re-animated with the brain of her unborn infant, goes about figuring out her life - one baby step at a time. What commences with Bella discovering the wonder and euphoria of self-love soon evolves into an unquenchable thirst for "furious jumping" and eventually culminates within a brothel in Paris. What begins as infinite curiosity in an entirely unique physiological response simmers down to ennui and self-hate. 

Setting aside all the masturbatory madness and fornicative fireworks, Poor Things eventually boils down to - a free-spirited young woman wanting to live life as per her own terms and having the right to choose the arc of her life. All throughout the movie, Bella is the owner of her fortunes, she makes all the choices and owns them up whether it is throwing a fit at her resurrector God for trying to prevent her from seeking adventure in the outside world or opting to offer herself as sexual fodder for the carnally deprived or depraved. 

Via the male characters in Bella's life, Poor Things also throws up very interesting questions to all of the male kind 

Which of the characters below are you ? Which of these men do you aspire to be ? And are you willing to put in the work to change ? 

Godwin Baxter - Bella's resurrector, logic-driven man of science with an intent to keep his creation with himself. Paternal, restrictive but loving. 

Max McCandles - Godwin's assistant, enamored by Bella, seemingly meek yet mature and accepting of Bella's choices. 

Duncan Wedderburn - unabashed lothario who wears sexual promiscuity like a badge of honor but struggles to come to terms with the prospect of Bella laying with another and comes completely unhinged later. 

Alfie Blessington - vile, despicable, cruel, toxic husband of the pre-animated Bella. Impinges on Bella with clarity of intent - to imprison. 

Poor Things also poses some very pertinent questions to society at large. 

The first one being - Why so prudish about sex ? 

At 8.1 billion and counting, world over the human race is proliferating at rates that would put viruses to shame. Clearly the division hasn't been mitotic in nature, thankfully humans lack that ability. Copious amouts of copulation is the lone means to generate these numbers. Yet objective discourse about intercourse - very little to none. Whatever does exist is buried beneath double entendres and suggestive symbology. 

For fuck's sake, society !! Just wake the fuck up and get comfortable saying the word SEX without turning pink or flushing red. 

This inability to talk about sex lies at the root of the population explosion. When you talk about it , you understand the dynamics better. And when you understand things better, you make an informed decision - a clear choice can be made. Choose as Bella does and own up. 

The second question - Why the eagerness to slut-shame women and bludgeon them into compliance ? 

At the root of this lies the inherent hypocrisy that has existed for generations and continues to be proliferated now too. A promiscuous man continues to be identified as a stud , a woman au contraire is branded a slut. Takes me back to Bhupendra Choubey's interview of Sunny Leone. Bhupendra in all his journalistic fervour - assuming the role of concerned voice of society - twists, turns and contorts a la an Olmypic gymnast to corner Sunny into admitting (shame) and perhaps apologising for some moral indiscretion on her part in choosing to be a pornstar. Sunny just owns up her past and does it with such class, you can't not admire her for her sincerity and integrity. Sunny was Bella long before Yorgos came along and Poor Things happened. 

The movie is a visual spectacle - brilliant colors and frames - shot artistically. Reminded me of the first time I stumbled upon Russian cartoons as a kid - they were a world unto themselves, so abstract and different from what I'd ever seen. 

As for the artists, everyone brilliant brilliant brilliant. Special mention to Rami Youssef, his Max is so innocent, sincere, lovable and relatable; and Mark Ruffalo as Wedderburn - not in my wildest dreams could I have imagined him essaying a role that's, for all intents and purposes, diametrically opposite to his public persona - the Mark Ruffalo that we all know and love. The star of the show, emphatically, is Emma Stone in a performance that is well worthy of her Oscar win. What she does in Poor Things makes Leo's survival siesta in the horse carcass in The Revenant seem like cakewalk. In a role that would have undoubtedly put her through the churn physically, mentally and sexually, Emma Stone pulls off Bella and holds your attention in every frame. Hats off to you, Emma. What a journey she has had - from Malcolm in the Middle and Superbad all the way to Poor Things now. 

Watch it. It's not an easy watch. At all. 

But watch it as a self-dare, watch it to introspect.