Poor Things

★★★★

Dir: Yorgos Lanthimos. Starring: Emma Stone, Mark Ruffalo. Cert 18 141m

You always expect something quirky from Greek director Lanthimos ( The Favourite, The Lobster), but even by his Weird Wave standards, this latest drama is particularly left field. Adapted from the novel by Alasdair Gray, itself described as a “feminist take on the Frankenstein myth”, the movie stars a never-better Stone (and that’s saying something) as Bella Baxter, a young suicide brought back to life in Victorian London by brilliant but unorthodox scientist, Dr. Godwin Baxter ( Willem Dafoe).

‘’Her mental age and her body are not quite synchronised’’, he explains, which is something of an understatement as we watch Bella bump into every piece of furniture, urinate at will, and regurgitate most of her food. Not surprisingly, Baxter is intent on restricting her movements, but once Bella’s mental age reaches adolescence, she is keen to explore the wider world, and even keener to explore her nascent sexual desires.

Enter Mark Ruffalo as Duncan Wedderburn, a sleazy solicitor who gives cads, roués and mountebanks a bad name, and is clearly taken with this remarkable young woman. Duncan takes Bella on a Grand Tour of Europe, which is punctuated by endless bouts of what she describes as “furious jumping” (don’t ask). Before long, Bella gains her independence and sets out to make her own way in life, beginning in a Paris brothel.

Poor Things is an extraordinary film which Lanthimos presents in an off-kilter fashion, sometimes in monochrome, sometimes in saturated colour, and often using anamorphic lenses (kudos to Irish DP Robbie Ryan). Hats off to production designers, James Price and Shona Heath, who have created a steampunk world in which the narrative can unfold. Poor Things scooped the Golden Lion at the Venice Film Festival and is destined for Oscar glory (put your money on Emma Stone for Oscar #2). Watch out for legendary German actor, Hanna Schygulla.