“Poor Creatures” is as elegant as the main character [RECENZJA]

Here is the list of the best films at the 2024 Academy Awards. Find out who won the biggest cinematic award.

Lanthimos (again) used a script by Tony McNamara based on the Victorian novel by Scottish writer Alasdair Grey. The novel, as the London Review of Books wrote, is lively, funny and raunchy. The director of “Poor Creatures” has managed to retain all of these qualities. They are embodied by the protagonist: Bella Baxter (Emma Stone). The beneficiary (or, if you prefer, victim) of modern neurosurgery is a grown woman with the quiet mind of a child.

Bella is growing up at a fast pace and without any prejudices, especially regarding her sexuality. Which initially makes her the subject of unhealthy interest among scholars – including the inventive father Godwin Baxter (Willem Dafoe) and all sorts of sexual fetishists, especially the cynical lawyer Duncan Wedderburn (Mark Ruffalo). However, Bella quickly recovers and takes matters into her own hands. She embarks on a journey of self-discovery, overturning ridiculous, but culturally entrenched, beliefs about femininity along the way.

Disney, Atsushi Nishijima / Matt. prasowe

Emma Stone and Mark Ruffalo in “Bad Things”

“Poor creatures”: There will be disapproving voices

There were likely voices of disapproval of Bella's sexual discontent, and accusations that Lanthimos equated the feminine element with lust. The pursuit of pleasure is of course not the most important aspect of equality, but the fact that the Greek director gives his heroine the right to feel it without consequences (in other words, in a manly way) is still rare and liberating.