What do a sentient plastic doll and a woman with the brain of a baby have in common? Well, as it turns out, quite a lot. Barbie and Poor Things make for a surprisingly resonant double bill, thanks to their strange, surreal exploration of feminine self-discovery.
When we first meet Barbie and Bella, both of them are, in their own way, constrained in roles that have been set for them by another. Barbie lives the same perfect, pink day every day – until those irrepressible thoughts of death begin to creep in. Bella, meanwhile, is an experiment overseen by the keen eyes of scientists Godwin and Max, which means her every move is monitored and recorded; she's also not allowed into the wide world, though that doesn't stop her running to the roof to look beyond her home.
