Poor Things Movie Review, Cast and Synopsis: Emma Stone’s Transformative Performance

Poor Things Movie Review: Get the latest on Poor Things, the 2024 film that’s captivating audiences. Discover its plot, characters, and why it’s one of the year’s standout films. Read our review.

Poor Things Plot Summary

The film by director Yorgos Lanthimos and producer Emma Stone presents the extraordinary story and imaginative development of Bella Baxter (Stone). Bella is a young woman brought back to life by the talented and unconventional scientist Dr. Godwin Baxter (Willem Dafoe). Under Baxter’s guidance, Bella is hungry for knowledge and eager to fulfill her unfinished worldly experiences. She embarks on a tumultuous adventure across continents with a cunning and corrupt lawyer, Duncan Waderburn (Mark Ruffalo). Free from the prejudices of her time, Bella moves forward with a determined commitment to equality and liberation.

Poor Things Synopsis

In Victorian London, medical student Max McCandles becomes the assistant to the eccentric surgeon Godwin Baxter. There, he meets Godwin’s ward, a childlike young woman named Bella, and falls in love with her. Godwin informs Max that Bella, who was pregnant, committed suicide by jumping off a bridge. He revived her by replacing some parts of her brain with that of a baby’s, leading Bella to awaken with no memory of her previous life and needing to relearn motor functions and social skills.

With Godwin’s permission, Max proposes to Bella, and she accepts. However, as her intelligence rapidly develops, she begins to desire autonomy and runs off with the lawyer Duncan Waderburn for a more explicit relationship. Godwin decides to let her go and starts a new experiment with a new woman, Felicity, who matures at a much slower pace than Bella.

Bella and Duncan embark on an extravagant journey starting in Lisbon, where they often engage in physical relations and other hedonistic activities. Controlling Bella becomes increasingly difficult for Duncan, prompting him to secretly take her on a cruise ship to “change the scenery”.

Onboard, Bella meets fellow passengers Martha and Harry, who introduce her to philosophical concepts. Initially captivated by Bella’s childlike innocence, Duncan tries to suppress her growth but ultimately fails. He gradually becomes frustrated and turns to alcohol and gambling.

During a stop in Alexandria, Bella is disturbed by the terrible poverty of the locals and donates Duncan’s gambling winnings, which are later stolen by crew members. With no money left to continue their journey, they are dropped off in Marseilles and then head towards Paris.

After running out of money, Bella begins working in a brothel, which angers Duncan even more, causing his mental state to deteriorate, leading Bella to eventually leave him. In the brothel, she comes under the guidance of Madam Swinney and befriends a fellow prostitute, Tonette, with whom she starts a relationship and who introduces her to socialism.

Meanwhile, the seriously ill Godwin tells Max to bring Bella to him. Max finds Bella after tracking down Duncan, who has been placed in an institution following a mental breakdown. Upon returning to London, Bella reconciles with Godwin and resumes her plans to marry Max. However, on their wedding day, Duncan and General Alfie Blessington interrupt them.

Alfie, addressing Bella as Victoria, reveals that they are already married and that he has come to take her back. Bella, leaving Max to learn about her past life, soon realizes Alfie’s violent and cruel nature, understanding that she had attempted suicide to escape their abusive relationship.

Alfie then confines Bella in his mansion and threatens her at gunpoint to submit to genital mutilation, forcing her to drink a chloroform-laced cocktail to render her unconscious for the procedure. Bella throws the cocktail in his face, causing him to shoot himself in the leg and pass out.

Godwin dies peacefully, with Bella and Max by his side. With the help of Max and Tonette, Bella decides to continue Godwin’s work, while Felicity’s intelligence gradually develops.

Poor Things Details

Poor Things Cast

• Emma Stone as Bella Baxter
• Willem Dafoe as Godwin Baxter
• Vicki Pepperdine as Mrs. Prim
• Ramy Youssef as Max McCandles
• Mark Ruffalo as Duncan Wedderburn
• Christopher Abbott as Alfie Blessington
• Suzy Bemba as Toinette
• Jucimar Barbosa as Lisbon Doorman
• Jack Barton as Fop 1
• Charlie Hiscock as Fop 2
• Attila Dobai as Hapless Student
• Emma Hindle as Woman with Kid in London Street
• Anders Olof Grundberg as Kid in London Street (as Anders Grundberg)
• Attila Kecskeméthy as Burly Guy
• Carminho as Fado Singing Woman
• Angela Paula Stander as Arguing Woman
• Gustavo Gomes as Arguing Man
• Kate Handford as Kitty

Motion Picture Rating (MPA)

This film has been rated ‘R,’ featuring intense and pervasive sexual content, explicit nudity, disturbing material, violence, and crude language.

Conclusion (The Last Words)

Lanthimos’s world is entirely his own. It begins stark and serious, with black-and-white German Expressionism that transforms into the colors of a pop-up book through Bella’s newly liberated gaze. Everything is unreal in a Terry Gilliam-esque style, but far more shocking, where creatures, objects, faces, and fetishes combine in wild combinations, depicting cities as steampunk versions, impossibly vibrant and futuristic: Lisbon, Alexandria, Paris. For us—as for Bella—everything appears enchanting.

The writing is excellent. Lanthimos has reunited with Australian playwright Tony McNamara, who wrote The Favourite and The Great, and the result is madness in perfection. Bella describes Duncan as someone who “is capable of generating extraordinary sensations throughout my body and leaves me screaming with joy,” but she also wishes for “his body, form, corpse to be thrown into the sea.” Duncan describes Bella as “a devil wrapped in an alluring body and a mind that breaks people.” This film is a frenzy where sex is called “angry jumping.” What could be better than that?