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I think I’m a little bit disturbed by the new film coming out with Emma Stone in it..

83 replies

Soubriquet · 30/11/2023 21:09

Apparently it’s called Poor Things and is based on a book. The premise is, a foetal brain is transplanted into an adult body..and we watch as this brain rapidly ages. So basically see a woman act like a baby and toddler. It’s also very sexually graphic, though also apparently it’s only when her brain reaches maturity does she begin to explore.

Maybe there’s more to it. Maybe the book makes a lot of sense. Maybe I’m being too sensitive but this really doesn’t sit right with me

OP posts:
KeyboardMash · 30/11/2023 21:12

Isn't it by the guy who did The Lobster and Killing of a Sacred Deer? If it's by the guy I'm thinking of, I think he's probably aiming for highly disturbing......

RhannionKPSS · 30/11/2023 21:13

I agree. We saw the trailer for this film this past week and I remembered the book which was written by Alastair Gray and it is weird, so I’ll will be giving it a complete miss.

Soubriquet · 30/11/2023 21:14

KeyboardMash · 30/11/2023 21:12

Isn't it by the guy who did The Lobster and Killing of a Sacred Deer? If it's by the guy I'm thinking of, I think he's probably aiming for highly disturbing......

Yes it was

OP posts:
KeyboardMash · 30/11/2023 21:15

Soubriquet · 30/11/2023 21:14

Yes it was

Then I think everything you are feeling is what he is aiming for and then some.

Soubriquet · 30/11/2023 21:16

Fair enough. Just surprises me that “big names” are taking part. I mean Emma Stone and Mark Ruffalo are two big name actors

OP posts:
craigth162 · 30/11/2023 21:22

Sounds horrific

OP posts:
babysharkdoodoodedoodedoo · 30/11/2023 22:15

Wow! Looks really interesting and creepy. I’ll be watching, I am all for disturbing movies that make people think.

Pemba · 30/11/2023 22:18

What would be the point of doing that though, I don't get it?

Leobynature · 01/12/2023 01:32

It looks horrific and degrading.

Amortentia · 01/12/2023 01:44

I read this a very, very long time ago and It’s actually a brilliant book by Alistair Grey. Its set in Glasgow and if I remember correctly the late 1800 to early 1900s. It’s very Gothic and a sort of take on Frankenstein. Two horrible medical students recover a pregnant women who had died jumping in the Clyde. They transplant the baby’s brain into the women and bring her back to life. They think she will be their slave, but they are wrong and it doesn’t work out well for them. It does sound bloody grim but so is the way some men are willing to treat women. It’s a really thought provoking, complex book.

It’s a bloody travesty that the film isn’t set or connected to Glasgow. It’s a really dark tale that suits the parts of Glasgow its set in. If you’ve ever had the pleasure of sitting in the old Glasgow Uni medical lecture halls or near the old morgue you’d totally get the book.

eiiyyo · 01/12/2023 02:07

Doesn't look like it passes the Bechdel Test?

theduchessofspork · 01/12/2023 02:20

Soubriquet · 30/11/2023 21:16

Fair enough. Just surprises me that “big names” are taking part. I mean Emma Stone and Mark Ruffalo are two big name actors

It looks really interesting to me - like a take on Frankenstein. I’m not surprised big names would want to do it?

TravelInHope · 01/12/2023 02:26

Pemba · 30/11/2023 22:18

What would be the point of doing that though, I don't get it?

I don’t think it is a documentary.

haribosmarties · 01/12/2023 02:30

I'm really excited.
All his films are nuts.
Dogtooth was much darker than that.
They are for adults. If you don't like the subject matter just don't go and see it!

Pemba · 01/12/2023 02:47

TravelInHope · 01/12/2023 02:26

I don’t think it is a documentary.

Obviously not, but I don't get the concept and motivation to do it. Fictional plots still have to make sense within their own worlds, even if the rules of their universe are different.

Clearly it couldn't be done anyway. (and why would anyone want to??). I can see some sick evil (fictional) scientist trying it the other way round more easily, transplanting the brain of someone who's body is failing into a fresh young body (shudder).

This way doesn't seem to make sense though. I'll have to have a look at the book, maybe that will shed some light.

Pemba · 01/12/2023 02:50

I sort of liked The Lobster though, although that equally didn't make a whole lot of sense...

Gowlett · 01/12/2023 02:54

I can’t believe the millions spent on Hollywood movies.

cerisepanther73 · 01/12/2023 03:27

I like thought provoking Psychological gothic inspired steam punk horror films genres

Counciltelly · 01/12/2023 03:27

I too read it 20 years ago. It’s much more/not at all a creepy sex book and alasdair gray did write them (1982 Janine is one such book). Bella is an ingenue but she’s a free spirit (no crying in a cave for her like Frankenstein). She’s a beautiful, restless soul who tears off round the world as the 2 men (Archie and MacCandles) try and box her into 19th century womanhood. She’s an allegory for Scotland and it’s relationship to England i think. Ultimately Archie marries Bella but he never truly understands or tames her.

it’s full of unreliable narration, different texts and versions contradicting each other. Like the unreliable narration of Frankenstein on speed. But its tongue in cheek, gray claims to have found the manuscript in a skip in the prolouge. It’s really making a point about who gets to write history and whose story is subverted.

I didn’t know the movie wasn’t set in Glasgow as it’s a book about Glasgow as much as anything else. It offers a geography and history of Glasgow which is deliberately a bit wrong here and there. Another layer of the head scratchy confusion and humour.

who Knows what the films like but it’s not a book about shagging babies

LBFseBrom · 01/12/2023 03:27

It sounds grotesque!

garlictwist · 01/12/2023 05:54

I saw it a few weeks ago at a film festival. It was quite weird but I enjoyed it. It didn't feel inappropriate in any way.

Daffodilsandtuplips · 01/12/2023 06:28

Counciltelly · 01/12/2023 03:27

I too read it 20 years ago. It’s much more/not at all a creepy sex book and alasdair gray did write them (1982 Janine is one such book). Bella is an ingenue but she’s a free spirit (no crying in a cave for her like Frankenstein). She’s a beautiful, restless soul who tears off round the world as the 2 men (Archie and MacCandles) try and box her into 19th century womanhood. She’s an allegory for Scotland and it’s relationship to England i think. Ultimately Archie marries Bella but he never truly understands or tames her.

it’s full of unreliable narration, different texts and versions contradicting each other. Like the unreliable narration of Frankenstein on speed. But its tongue in cheek, gray claims to have found the manuscript in a skip in the prolouge. It’s really making a point about who gets to write history and whose story is subverted.

I didn’t know the movie wasn’t set in Glasgow as it’s a book about Glasgow as much as anything else. It offers a geography and history of Glasgow which is deliberately a bit wrong here and there. Another layer of the head scratchy confusion and humour.

who Knows what the films like but it’s not a book about shagging babies

This description is a perfect example of don’t “judge a book by its cover “.
It’s a shame that the film isn’t set in Glasgow.

FlorencenotRatchet · 01/12/2023 06:29

I've seen this and loved it. If you like the director you will enjoy.
Botha leads were very good and think there will be Oscar nominations for both Stone and Ruffalo.
There is more sex than I have ever seen in a movie!

lollo8 · 01/12/2023 07:12

Not my cup of tea so I simply won't watch it.

But art is (or should be) allowed to be disturbing or thought-provoking. I think we have become a bit culturally infantilised with our expectations that everything must be 'safe' and not offend anyone and good must always triumph, the baddies must be punished and all works must only be written and portrayed by the 'right' people.

I don't give a shit about the Bechdel test. Some of the very best stories and films don't pass it, because they are stories about men, in male-dominated environments. I do not need a feminist remake of Apocalypse Now.

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