Under Baxter’s protection, Bella is eager to learn. Hungry for the worldliness she is lacking, Bella runs off with Duncan Wedderburn (Mark Ruffalo), a slick and debauched lawyer, on a whirlwind adventure across the continents. Free from the prejudices of her times, Bella grows steadfast in her purpose to stand for equality and liberation.—Searchlight Pictures
Poor Things is an upcoming surrealist science fantasy film directed by Yorgos Lanthimos from a screenplay by Tony McNamara. It is based on the 1992 novel of the same name by Alasdair Gray. The film features an ensemble cast that includes Emma Stone, Mark Ruffalo, Willem Dafoe, Ramy Youssef and Jerrod Carmichael.
Its plot follows Bella, a young Victorian woman who, after being crudely resurrected by a mad scientist following her suicide, runs off with a debauched lawyer to embark on a surrealistic odyssey for self-discovery and liberation. Principal photography was completed between August through December 2021 at Origo Studios in Hungary.
Costume Design and Release
Lanthimos worked closely with costume designer Holly Waddington in order to reflect Bella’s growth and development through her clothes, from the more puffy silhouettes of her childlike era to the almost corseted gown she wears at the film’s climax: “Holly […] and I realized early on that costumes and production design would be a very important part of not only telling this story, but creating a world. We looked at materials they used in the ’70s and thought about how they would work in a costume, from latex to plastic to all sorts of things.”
Stone further elaborated on Bella’s growth reflected through her costume design, detailing how in the beginning of the story, Bella dressed in more traditional costumes of that era, and, following her transformation, begins to dress herself in more bizarre costumes. Stone said ”
I loved that element of, how would Bella put clothing together with the way her mind works at this point? At the end, there are these very military-looking dresses that look like nothing you’ve seen Bella wear; things are much more form-fitting and constrained, but that’s because she’s come to a place where she’s grown and decided who she is and what she’s going to do. She’s not assimilating, necessarily, but there’s just more structure there.”
Poor Things had its world premiere at the 80th Venice International Film Festival on September 1, 2023, and screened at the New York Film Festival. The film was released by Searchlight Pictures in the United States on 8 December 2023. It was released in the United Kingdom and Ireland on 12 January 2024. It was previously scheduled to be released on 8 September 2023, but was delayed to its December date due to the 2023 SAG-AFTRA strike.
Poor Things (2023)
Directed by: Yorgos Lanthimos
Starring: Emma Stone, Mark Ruffalo, Willem Dafoe, Ramy Youssef, Jerrod Carmichael, Christopher Abbott, Margaret Qualley, Kathryn Hunter, Suzy Bemba, Wayne Brett
Screenplay by: Tony McNamara
Production Design by: Shona Heath, James Price
Cinematography by: Robbie Ryan
Film Editing by: Yorgos Mavropsaridis
Costume Design by: Holly Waddington
Set Decoration by: Zsuzsa Mihalek, Naomi Rozsa
Art Direction by: Renátó Cseh, Judit Csák, Jonathan Houlding
Music by: Jerskin Fendrix
MPAA Rating: R for strong and pervasive sexual content, graphic nudity, disturbing material, gore, and language.
Distributed by: Searchlight Pictures
Release Date: September 1, 2023 (Venice), December 8, 2023 (United States), January 12, 2024 (United Kingdom)
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