Poor Things' grotesque themes are more to love than its attempted tribute to feminism

Last week, I chose to give you book recs based on the film Grey Gardens (1979). This week, I will give you a review on Poor Things (2023) and a book rec!

Poor Things (2023, Lanthimos) is honestly not the film I hoped it would be. Although, I did enjoy myself at times. Overall, I think it was tone deaf. Being characterized across the globe as a “feminist” film is where they got it wrong. Many argue that that was the clear intention as many people are suffering of “media illiteracy”, I completely disagree.

This follows Bella Baxter an “object”. A woman whose pregnant body was removed from her intentional death and used as an experiment. Her brain replaced by that of her baby’s, she is now to live in woman form with the brain of a child. Although, we do see Bella grow rapidly, not at one point do we know her real age. Bella is just a “beautiful retard” to those around her, who are subject to abuse and take advantage of her. Which is exactly the entire plot.

The film is characterized as woman’s deep exploration of sex and desire, but when you are not of age to understand or do so where does the empowerment come in? “Free from the prejudices of her times, she grows steadfast in her purpose to stand for equality and liberation.”, not at one point do I see her reach equality or liberation. All of the men around her, want to trap her. She is constantly called a “whore” and a “cunt” but what people don’t understand is that the so called “freedom” only exists because she is not aware of how people behave in society. She still falls victim to assault, prostitution and serves as a possession to all of the men around her, the only thing is that she just doesn’t understand it. Maybe it’s because she has the brain of a child? She can’t tell what common decency is to those around her because she was never taught. She never reaches equality, she is just rather clueless to society’s standards.

When Bella Baxter discovers the pleasure of an orgasm, she believes it is an invention she must share with the world. Still in her baby brain, we could assume she is now older yet still underage. Her goal is to make everyone experience the boost of pure serotonin she gets when she experiences an orgasm. But rather than educate her, the women around her act in horror and the men around her abuse her newly found sexuality, which is why she then runs away with Duncan, in order to explore that side of her. At some point, she wants to experiment with more men, and finds she can get money for it. What comes next is no shocker. Now, that’s the plot for the next half of the movie, her just being exploited and failed by all of the women and men around her in the name of “liberation”.

Now, I didn’t dislike this movie. I rather enjoyed a lot of its themes. My main issue is the pitch of the film. I believe this film should have been pitched as a horror film of a girl who falls victim to the society around her and is well unaware of it. I think I would’ve enjoyed it a lot more if that was the case. I failed to understand the current pitch.

Now, for all of the good things of this film. If you are familiar with Lanthimos’ work, you know that he does not stray away from experimenting. The overall design, was so beautiful. The scenes were are so beautifully shot and crafted with so much care to detail. I nearly gasped at every room, the vibrant colors, the goth themes and Victorian atmosphere. It was stunning.

Holly Waddignton did such a fantastic job with the costumes. And because of her it was easier to identify Bella’s behavior due to the negligence of her age. She was wearing these bright and fluffy outfits when she was “experiencing” life. Her vibrance exuberated through the screen, her naiveness, her innocence. The second she begins to grasp the world around her, the entrapment, the education of society. Her outfits began to fall physically. They become dark and sleek, almost professional attire, which was beautiful.

Now for the book rec:

I wouldn’t recommend you to read Poor Things, as it is also a book. It would be rather boring and obvious so instead, here it is:

Lapvona by Ottessa Moshfegh is a horror novel following 13 year old boy Marek who suffers abuse from his father and believes his mother died giving birth to him. Marek finds comfort in Ina, who is a witchy creature that provides nurture for many men in this medieval village.

I loved this book, but I don’t recommend lightly, this is not for the faint of heart. It is grotesque and gruesome.

There are many reasons as to why I believe this is perfect for the fans of Poor Things:

Setting

We can start with the overall setting of the book. Although Poor Things happens somewhere in the 1800s and Lapvona happens in medieval times. The tone of the setting is very much goth with themes of magical realism. In Poor Things, at points we see flying cars and in Lapvona we see witch-like creatures with a need to breastfeed.

Class vs Greed

In Lapvona, we see that the central theme surrounding class is greed. That the rich will always want more and the poor will stay poor. At some point, characters in both film and book will experience getting something they want and try to keep it. The characters in Lapvona are constantly in attempt to reach the higher class while in Poor Things, they are in constant attempt to reach Bella and entrap her after getting a glimpse of having her. I believe along with these themes it also noteworthy to mention both forms of media carry the idea that being higher class allows you to humiliate servants of lower class for the entertainment of the rich. I almost felt like one scene in Poor Things came right out of Lapvona into the screen which is what inspired me to recommend this book.

Women are possessions

While it’s clear that in Poor Things, Bella is solemnly an object. We see that same theme in Lapvona centering around all female characters only reason for existence is to pleasure the men around them. In both, we see the theme of normalization of prostitution and rape. While, I do believe Lapvona has a better way of portraying it in a darker way while Poor Things manages to make more light of it as excusing it as “sexual liberation”.