Poor Things

I went to see this yesterday because I loved The Lobster so much and it is truly brilliant; surreal, funny, erotic, controversial and optimistic. 

Bella is a reanimated corpse who has had the brain of a child placed in her skull. She develops at an accelerated rate and has many worldly adventures, including a profound sexual awakening. The whole film is an interesting take on the story of Frankenstein. There are lots of references to intergenerational trauma and how we are cut by our parents; Bella's father has a face so disfigured by his own mad scientists fathers experiments that he looks like a Picasso painting. 

The construct of a child's mind being in an adult body gives scope for looking at the world through fresh eyes unfettered by social norms/ constraints. There is a consistent return to Bella's dream that things, people, society, can be improved, can be better. This isn't always the case of course, but her endurance in this idea and it's sweet innocence is endearing; this is just one example of the intricate ways relationships are built between the viewer and the characters.

The visual and audio elements of the film have such a pronounced aesthetic, it is a pastel surreal Victorian parody of a universe filled with artwork including lots of stunning set and costume textiles. Both elements worked well together to create a powerful emotive effect.

The absurdist humour helps to keep the whole thing as light as possible; with a dogs head stitched onto the body of a chicken and Bella's steam powered carriage having a horse head glued to the affront of it as an affectation.

It is delightful, I would totally recommend seeing it and it has inspired me to make some video/ audio pieces.