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Poor Things (film)

205 replies

TinselAngel · 14/01/2024 17:50

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.

OP posts:
Sausagenbacon · 15/01/2024 12:25

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

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.

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 Angry

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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 Angry

Lots of sex yes.

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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.

  1. 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.

  2. 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.

  3. Very male gaze, porny sex scenes. Again, featuring a woman who has the brain of a baby.

  4. 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.

  5. Once again, it’s a film where women’s liberation and enlightenment is found at the end of multiple dicks.

  6. The film has one joke, which is that Bella always says what she thinks and usually that’s about sex.

  7. it’s another film where you can’t have a female friendship without it becoming a lesbian relationship. Once again, very male gaze.

  8. Prostitution is portrayed as somewhat of a chore but an ultimately rewarding experience. Bella likes sex and needs money so it’s great.

  9. 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.

  10. 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 12:49

Sausagenbacon · 15/01/2024 12:25

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

I guess so, although sometimes if women I trusted hadn't liked it I might decide I didn't want to give it my money. Unless it was something I'd really wanted to see.

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EmpressaurusOfTheScathingTinsel · 15/01/2024 12:54

Even deciding whether you want to watch / read something involves a bit of prejudging.

I don’t think I’d enjoy this film and I find sex scenes boring whatever the context so I’m not going to watch it.

Mammillaria · 15/01/2024 12:55

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

That's infuriating!

Sausagenbacon · 15/01/2024 13:00

I guess I'm biased because I saw it last night, and loved it. Even though I am aware of the issues.
If Bella had been played by an unknown actress, starting on her career, I would have felt it was exploitative, but Emma Stone (who is brilliant) is an established actress and had no need to take it on if she was unhappy with it.
Honestly, just watch it, them make up your minds. Es is amazing, and Mark Ruffalo is so funny. It's worth seeing for the dance scene alone.

ifIwerenotanandroid · 15/01/2024 13:00

TinselAngel · 15/01/2024 12:49

I guess so, although sometimes if women I trusted hadn't liked it I might decide I didn't want to give it my money. Unless it was something I'd really wanted to see.

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Exactly. The best & fullest reviews here are from people who didn't rate it. And the reasons they give for not rating it are things that would put me off, too. I'll save my time & money for something I actually want to see.

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TinselAngel · 15/01/2024 13:02

I agree Emma Stone wasn't being exploited as presumably she's rich enough to decide whether or not to be in it.

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Sausagenbacon · 15/01/2024 13:07

That's pretty reductionist. I'm sure that it would be more important to her that she has a great body of work under her belt, and can choose what she likes. And she obviously liked this.

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TinselAngel · 15/01/2024 13:09

I wasn't saying she was doing it for the money, I meant that won't have been her top priority.

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ifIwerenotanandroid · 15/01/2024 13:09

Interestingly, there's another thread in which two posters mention people walking out of the film.

BestwisheswarmestregardstoJesusMaryJoseph · 15/01/2024 13:11

ArabellaScott · 15/01/2024 12:29

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

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It was an inch every two days I think. Max notes that her hair grows an inch every two days and I took this to show the passage of time that had lapsed not as symbolic of her womanhood per se. However as Victoria she wore her hair pinned up as fashionable for the time period and free flowing as Bella. Obviously symbolic in this way.

BestwisheswarmestregardstoJesusMaryJoseph · 15/01/2024 13:12

Sausagenbacon · 15/01/2024 13:07

That's pretty reductionist. I'm sure that it would be more important to her that she has a great body of work under her belt, and can choose what she likes. And she obviously liked this.

She was also a producer.

Sausagenbacon · 15/01/2024 13:12

Interestingly, there's another thread in which two posters mention people walking out of the film.
But a lot more posters who enjoyed it

ifIwerenotanandroid · 15/01/2024 13:17

Sausagenbacon · 15/01/2024 13:12

Interestingly, there's another thread in which two posters mention people walking out of the film.
But a lot more posters who enjoyed it

😂How do you know (& why are you so desperate to defend it?)? I sat through 'Napoleon' last week & I didn't enjoy that! Just because people sat there doesn't mean they liked it. But the fact that people walked out definitely means they didn't.

ifIwerenotanandroid · 15/01/2024 13:18

Sorry, misread 'posters' as 'people'. As you were.

ifIwerenotanandroid · 15/01/2024 13:20

But my original point still stands. I've only ever seen one person give up on a film & walk out (& it was obvious what sparked it). For two posters out of a small number to report the same thing seems significant.

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TinselAngel · 15/01/2024 13:24

She was also a producer.
To be fair she was very good in it

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Sausagenbacon · 15/01/2024 13:51

😂How do you know (& why are you so desperate to defend it?)? I sat through 'Napoleon' last week & I didn't enjoy that! Just because people sat there doesn't mean they liked it. But the fact that people walked out definitely means they didn't.
A - because, on that thread, many more posters said that they enjoyed it, and I thought that was worth pointing out.
B-I'm not 'desperate to defend it' as you so charmingly put it. This is an ongoing discussion on whether to see a film or not. Is there a limited amount of how many times one can post on a thread? A what made you head girl of the thread?

aname1234 · 15/01/2024 13:52

Ew. thanks for this thread. Sounds like the usual man does porn/sex stuff for his own (and other men's) gratification, and sells it by saying it's art. No thanks

TooMinty · 15/01/2024 13:57

The trouble with the film is that it doesn't include the wrap around chapters from the book where the apparently normally developed and not brain transplanted Victoria/Bella claims that it's all nonsense made up by a weak and pathetic man (McCandless). Which makes it more clear that it's about men projecting onto women and wishing to shape/control them and how women are viewed when they break from that mould. I did enjoy it, but I had that context in my head from reading the novel.

ArabellaScott · 15/01/2024 14:22

TooMinty · 15/01/2024 13:57

The trouble with the film is that it doesn't include the wrap around chapters from the book where the apparently normally developed and not brain transplanted Victoria/Bella claims that it's all nonsense made up by a weak and pathetic man (McCandless). Which makes it more clear that it's about men projecting onto women and wishing to shape/control them and how women are viewed when they break from that mould. I did enjoy it, but I had that context in my head from reading the novel.

Thanks, that sounds like useful context.