Poor Things – A Review in Brief

This Movie IS For:

• Those who want to see what would happen if Tim Burton was given a shit ton of acid and an R-rating
• Fans of classic monster movies and female empowerment

This Movie is NOT For:

• People who can’t watch a few corpses get cut up real good
• Those with an aversion to movie soundtracks that are entirely discordant strings

Brief Review with Minor Spoilers:

Poor Things is an impossible mix of classic monster movie, scathing indictments of society, and a whimsical backdrop that feels like a Tim Burton fever dream. The first third of the film tiptoes the line around being straight-up horror with its mad science setting and black and white backdrop. I winced, cringed, and out loud muttered ‘What the F*** is happening?’ If there’s one thing I can’t deny about Poor Things, it’s the originality and inventiveness in its bizarre fantasy world and set pieces.  

Everything feels like it’s been drawn with fat, cartoonish paint strokes, and the same is true of the characters. While individual performances are over-the-top, they feel intentional, and they serve the setting more than props ever could. To call the world of Poor Things unsettling would be an understatement, and each character adds layers to that discomfort in their own bombastic fashion. Despite that, the film still manages to convey relatable issues and characters that are worth caring about. It takes a while to see that — the first half of the movie I was too focused on a machine that made Willem Dafoe burp noxious, floating gas bubbles — but when it hits, the movie gains a sudden cohesion that makes all the strangeness feel worth it.

But there is a lot of strangeness, and I’m not talking, Wes Anderson-style quirky strangeness. What I’m talking about is bone-deep unsettling strangeness that almost made me walk out in the first third. Brief respites of clever dialogue and fantastic scenery offer breaks in the latter parts of the film, but there is no relief for at least the first thirty minutes. There’s a lot of uncomfortable sex, gory old-timey autopsies, and a score that feels like it is made up of possessed orphans playing haunted string instruments.

So, yes, this movie is a lot, but if you can make it past those initial barriers, there is something special here. The scathing indictments of society and message of empowerment feel stronger for the bizarre nature of the main character’s upbringing. By the end, I was rooting for the absurd and even the grotesque. Against all odds, this hornier version of Frankenstein took a scalpel to my heart… in a pleasant way? Look, I’m in a weird place after watching this. I need both a hot and a cold shower.

4/5 stars – It’s horny Frankenstein, but also it’s about society  

More info about how I rate films here.

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