Page 7 | Poor Things (film)

TinselAngel · 2024-01-14T17:50:01+00:00

Has anybody here seem Poor Things yet? I went to see it this afternoon and sat slightly horrified in a cinema full of chortling people, about Emma Stone's character being relentlessly exploited by men but this being portrayed as not being altogether a bad thing.

napody · 15/01/2024 12:43

HorribleNecktie · 15/01/2024 07:47

Me and my husband saw it on Saturday and hated it. I didn’t really know anything about the film beyond a very sanitised trailer and lots of noise about how great it was, so didn’t know much about it before we watched it. Loads of spoilers ahead.

The central premise is absolutely disgusting. So much that we reflected about what was more repulsive in terms of fictional medical experiments- what happened to Bella in Poor Things or the people in Human Centipede. But this is played for laughs and without really any negative consequences.
Bella has a baby’s brain in a grown woman’s body. But because she has an adult body it’s okay for her to be repeatedly sexually exploited. It’s that horrible ‘born sexy yesterday’ trope.
Very male gaze, porny sex scenes. Again, featuring a woman who has the brain of a baby.
Bella is routinely referred to as intriguing, charming and enchanting, despite her antisocial behaviour (because she has the brain of a baby and doesn’t understand things like not spitting out your food if you don’t like it. Or masturbating at the dinner table). If Bella was an obese and ugly woman she would not be referred to like this- instead her behaviour would be seen as disgusting and distressing.
Once again, it’s a film where women’s liberation and enlightenment is found at the end of multiple dicks.
The film has one joke, which is that Bella always says what she thinks and usually that’s about sex.
it’s another film where you can’t have a female friendship without it becoming a lesbian relationship. Once again, very male gaze.
Prostitution is portrayed as somewhat of a chore but an ultimately rewarding experience. Bella likes sex and needs money so it’s great.
There are no negative consequences to Bella’s promiscuity to a ludicrous degree. She doesn’t become pregnant, get an STI, isn’t raped or physically assaulted by any of her Johns or jealous lovers. Which are all very real risks to women, but this is not explored at all.
Very pretentious, smug and shallow. It is nicely shot and produced but when you strip that away it’s just a wank fantasy played for laughs.

What also bothered me is the trailer for Poor Things was shown before a screening of The Boy & The Heron which we went to with our kids. I thought trailers were supposed to be appropriate for the audience so it seems weird to show it before a Studio Ghibli animation. The trailer made the film look like a whimsical fantasy adventure of a neurodivergent girl rather than a sexually explicit art film.

I’ve seen some hack reviewers referring to this as a feminist take on the Frankenstein myth- which really grinds my gears when you consider who the fuck wrote Frankenstein, and who her mother was.

If you want to watch a whimsical fantasy film about the female experience, just watch Barbie.

This is a bloody great post!
Could be a column in a (good) newpaper.
Please write a blog.

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TinselAngel · 15/01/2024 12:32

SeaWitchly · 15/01/2024 12:30

I haven't seen the film... do Emma Stone's character and Mark Ruffalo's character have a sexual relationship? I think they may do going by the trailer... if so, then Bella Baxter has not only the 'brain of a baby' but is also 20 years younger than MR's character [as per ES and MR's real-life ages] ... It does feel quite icky and exploitative

Lots of sex yes.

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SeaWitchly · 15/01/2024 12:30

I haven't seen the film... do Emma Stone's character and Mark Ruffalo's character have a sexual relationship? I think they may do going by the trailer... if so, then Bella Baxter has not only the 'brain of a baby' but is also 20 years younger than MR's character [as per ES and MR's real-life ages] ... It does feel quite icky and exploitative

ArabellaScott · 15/01/2024 12:29

TinselAngel · 15/01/2024 11:53

I think we were supposed to be able to work out how long it has all taken by how long her hair was, but I wasn't concentrating sufficiently on the bit where it said how fast her hair grew. I think it all took place over months rather than years though.

Ah, the 'hair length' model of womanhood. This is getting a lot of use lately.

Sausagenbacon · 15/01/2024 12:25

As in, I wouldn't judge anything without reading or watching it myself. Why wouldn't you?

Sausagenbacon · 15/01/2024 12:23

Well yes, if you haven't seen the film.

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TinselAngel · 15/01/2024 12:09

Sausagenbacon · 15/01/2024 12:00

Why don't all the posters who have concerns about it (which I can understand) go and see it for themselves, instead of consulting the hive-mind of MN?
TBH you all sound pretty Victorian about it all.

Objecting to a positive portrayal of sexual exploitation is "Victorian"?

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GinAndJuice99 · 15/01/2024 12:06

I saw this last night. I'd say that when she starts masturbating and seeking sex her 'brain age' is definitely well under 10. The premise is very much 'what would it be like if a young child could enjoy sex'. The author of the novel, the screenwriter and the director are all men. Draw your own conclusions from that.

Sausagenbacon · 15/01/2024 12:00

Why don't all the posters who have concerns about it (which I can understand) go and see it for themselves, instead of consulting the hive-mind of MN?
TBH you all sound pretty Victorian about it all.

HorribleNecktie · 15/01/2024 11:54

I’ve never seen Lara Von Triers’ Nymphomaniac. I wonder how Poor Things compares to it.

BestwisheswarmestregardstoJesusMaryJoseph · 15/01/2024 11:54

TinselAngel · 15/01/2024 11:47

She's looking for adventure (sex) though not love.

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That’s what I mean. There is always a motivation. In this film it was sex (amongst other things). There are so many films when it’s about love (and many of those of problematic for other reasons).
Bella just had a different motivation to lots of other protagonists.

TripleDaisySummer · 15/01/2024 11:53

The baby's brain rapidly develops and is more of a blank state. She has an appetite for knowledge and as she gains knowledge, through experience and later reading her intelligence accelerates.

So like a preteen/teen who physically developed early but who brain hasn't and is still childlike and socially,emotionally and intellectually maturing still.

It sounds worrying but then I was such a pre teen/teen and men did behaving inappropriately if they could and it was the opposition of empowering and was never welcome occurrence. Maybe everything gets lost in behind the cinematography - but doesn't sound appealing at all.

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TinselAngel · 15/01/2024 11:53

I think we were supposed to be able to work out how long it has all taken by how long her hair was, but I wasn't concentrating sufficiently on the bit where it said how fast her hair grew. I think it all took place over months rather than years though.

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BestwisheswarmestregardstoJesusMaryJoseph · 15/01/2024 11:50

WhereYouLeftIt · 15/01/2024 11:44

From what I've heard of the film it sounds more like it's pushing the idea that a baby can enthusiastically consent.

That's a hard pass from me.

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Not at all.

Bella had a baby’s brain transplanted into her and then that developed. Like happens to every human. This brain did not develop in the same way as normal. Some areas along development were faster than others. She was in an adult’s body so theoretically would’ve had adult hormones and drive. It was when she discovered masturbation that she found enjoyment through sex. She was initially exploited sexually by Duncan who recognised this.

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TinselAngel · 15/01/2024 11:47

BestwisheswarmestregardstoJesusMaryJoseph · 15/01/2024 11:45

Surely it’s not saying all women’s desires are motivated by sex but some women’s are and specifically Bella’s. There have been books/films where women have travelled for a desire for love for years and no-one bats an eyelid.

She's looking for adventure (sex) though not love.

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BestwisheswarmestregardstoJesusMaryJoseph · 15/01/2024 11:45

Surely it’s not saying all women’s desires are motivated by sex but some women’s are and specifically Bella’s. There have been books/films where women have travelled for a desire for love for years and no-one bats an eyelid.

WhereYouLeftIt · 15/01/2024 11:44

NoBinturongsHereMate · 14/01/2024 23:24

So it's a film about a baby being sexually exploited? No. I have to say that really doesn't make me feel any better.

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From what I've heard of the film it sounds more like it's pushing the idea that a baby can enthusiastically consent.

That's a hard pass from me.

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TinselAngel · 15/01/2024 11:28

Babla · 15/01/2024 11:25

I loved the film.. it was feel good and empowering for women

How was it empowering?

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Babla · 15/01/2024 11:25

I loved the film.. it was feel good and empowering for women

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TinselAngel · 15/01/2024 11:20

The other thing I objected to was the idea that a woman's desire to see the world and experience life is purely motivated by sex. I'm sure men would like to think this, and maybe it's true of men, I've no idea, but it's not true of women.

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Mammillaria · 15/01/2024 11:17

I haven't seen this film but it sounds like a fetishised wank fest on what men think it is to be a woman.

Hopefully I'm wrong!

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TinselAngel · 15/01/2024 11:14

I thought they were going to put God's brain into the ex husband.

I'm not sure that it really stated that her marriage was abusive, it felt to me like we were supposed to believe Victoria had been just as bad as the husband and she'd killed herself because she "hated the baby".

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BestwisheswarmestregardstoJesusMaryJoseph · 15/01/2024 11:11

TinselAngel · 15/01/2024 10:48

I thought she ended up marrying the man who exploited her the least, but he had still exploited her, scientifically and through voyeurism.

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Yes but she recognised that. I’m not happy that she did marry him. But she was still living in a patriarchal society so did what she needed to. She remained a flawed character, doing the same science experiments that had been done to her, the treatment of her husband after death was vindictive.

BestwisheswarmestregardstoJesusMaryJoseph · 15/01/2024 11:04

Teddleshon · 15/01/2024 10:52

Out of interest would those who enjoyed it have felt the same if the Emma Stone character had had an obvious and significant physical disability?

That would be different. The story would not have played out the same way.

ArabellaScott · 15/01/2024 11:02

Well, the whole thing as described makes me feel nauseous. I'll swerve.