Why you should watch Poor Creatures on Disney+

Poor creatures is perhaps the most idiosyncratic of the ten Best Picture Oscar nominees for 2024. The story of a woman brought back to life through a heartless experiment is also a reflection on several different points. From the right to life and who can give it, sexual freedom to finding purpose. Director Yorgos Lanthimos took his book of the same name from him. Alasdair Gray and turned it into a proclamation of profound ideas. But at the same time, performed in a cinematic style that surprises with its scope and detail.

Considered to be simultaneously feminist, misogynistic, philosophical, tongue-in-cheek, satirical and cruel. Poor creatures challenges the imagination. Also, a shortcut that can easily identify it. Tony McNamara’s script delves into a growth story that quickly becomes a critique of our society. Bella Baxter (a formidable Emma Stone) evokes a world between wonder, desire and a critical eye on morality. As this inexplicable woman grows older, the culture around her—a sophisticated vision of 19th-century London—seems increasingly incomprehensible to her. This is when the argument plays its best cards and manages to bring together many controversial topics at the same time.

From the twisted sci-fi trope of the inexperienced but sexually insatiable woman that the film elegantly satirizes, to the fear of the horrors of injustice. Bella becomes an observer of what is happening around her from a privileged place. The face of a man who does not completely belong to his time and at the same time is a symbol of what is happening intellectually. The character, which brought the actress a successful awards season, travels the world with wild innocence. Moreover, in a genuine awakening that ultimately leads to an understanding of faith, love, the hope and passion are completely new and exciting.

The dazzling aesthetic of Poor Creatures

Yorgos Lanthimos uses the film’s visuals to talk about controversial topics. Clearly paying homage to steampunk. Poor creatures It’s a combination of styles and color palettes that make it almost dreamlike. By following Bella’s journey from her resurrection on a laboratory bench to her journey across Europe in search of knowledge, the director has created a stunning aesthetic. From shades ranging from deep purple to blue to the play of light that transforms the setting into surreal images. A feature film is a large-scale experiment in what resources cinematic language that can be provided when telling a story.

The story, which begins in black and white, a clear homage to the horror films of the 1950s of the 20th century, develops into an explosion of rich textures. The camera becomes a subjective observer, moving with Bella from one place to another and making her experience of self-discovery sensory. Robbie Ryan’s photography manages to capture the rapid evolution of the main character through the use of symbols that surround her. The spaces then transform into vibrant, colorful landscapes in which Stone’s character dances, cries, or makes love. At the same time, the world outside the house in which she remains locked is visible like postcards of incredible beauty.

There’s nothing in Poor creatures, not thinking of showing herself as the ideal provocateur of disaster. Bella, who will rebel against her creator Godwin Baxter (an unrecognizable Willem Dafoe), is part of a peculiar environment created especially for her. Yorgos Lanthimos gives the character’s perception a complete intuition of his rarity. She not only knows that she is unique (or suspects it), but she is a part of this place like no one else. Here it is: a laboratory capable of creating life in the most extreme conditions imaginable.

An ending without a moral for one of the greatest films of the year

But what could have been simply a dark tale of science in the service of perversity turns into a journey through existence in the hands of Yorgos Lanthimos. Bella transforms from an innocent being, full of curiosity and energy, into a woman suffering from the weight of her unusual story. What, while the world around him is transforming and It becomes an increasingly spacious, powerful and achingly beautiful landscape.

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To complete it, Poor creatures makes it clear that the outcome of the drama of its protagonist is ambiguous. The film does not raise moral or ethical concerns, but rather leaves behind all sorts of questions that can sooner or later be answered through debate. But not in the plot, which is thus freed from the burden of being didactic or the desire to teach lessons about good and evil. In contrast, Bella, free and finally in control, learns the great lesson of her short life. Nothing can stop her and this opportunity is the best way to see her future.