The trailer for Poor Things begins with Willem DaFoe introducing Ramy Youssef to Emma Stone, who is trailed by some sort of duck-dog hyrbid. “Bella, this is Mr. McCandles,” he says. She responds by hitting him in the face with her palm. It only gets weirder from there.
Poor Things comes from director Yorgos Lanthimos and writer Tony McNamara, who previously worked together on Best Picture nominee The Favourite. Stone plays an “expirement” whose “brain and her body are not quite synchronized.” It’s kind of a Frankenstein story, if Frankenstein (FINE, Frankenstein’s Monster) had sex and kicked people in the balls. Count me in!
Here’s the official plot synopsis:
From filmmaker Yorgos Lanthimos and producer Emma Stone comes the incredible tale and fantastical evolution of Bella Baxter (Stone), a young woman brought back to life by the brilliant and unorthodox scientist Dr. Godwin Baxter (Willem Dafoe). Under Baxter’s protection, Bella is eager to learn. Hungry for the worldliness she is lacking, Bella runs off with Duncan Wedderburn (Mark Ruffalo), a slick and debauched lawyer, on a whirlwind adventure across the continents. Free from the prejudices of her times, Bella grows steadfast in her purpose to stand for equality and liberation.
Poor Things comes out on September 8th.
