It’s not going out on a limb to say you have never seen a performance quite like Emma Stone’s in Poor Things. In this adaptation of Alasdair Gray’s novel, from New Greek Weird director, Yorgos Lanthimos, she plays Bella Baxter, an adult woman with the mind of an infant who embarks on a journey of self-discovery through fantastical Victorian-era steampunk cityscapes. It’s a tour de force of finely honed slapstick and wonky wordplay, at the service of a plausible, sincere character arc. And it’s very, very funny.
Critics have been falling over themselves in the search for superlatives. “Stone goes for bawdy, boundary-pushing broke.” “Entirely astounding.” “A hilarious, beyond-next-level performance.” More than one writer has used the word “fearless” – thinly veiled code for the sort of unabashed nudity and sexual content most Hollywood actors shy away from nowadays. The film is an Irish-British-American co-production, but the vibe is European arthouse. It will almost certainly net the actor a fourth Academy Award nomination.
