Poor Things
A resurrected young woman voyages through a fantastical Victorian world, transforming scientific control and social constraint into a flamboyant quest for selfhood.
Overview
A whimsical tale of resurrection and self-discovery unfolds in a vibrant world of science and romance.
Ember's analysis
- Pacing
- Brisk
- Intensity
- Strong
- Complexity
- Layered
- Violence
- Moderate
- witty
- surreal
- irreverent
- unusual movie night
- arthouse film night
What critics said
Critics broadly acclaimed the film as a visually extraordinary, inventive blackly comic fable anchored by Emma Stone's fearless, expansive performance, though some found its ideas and pacing increasingly monotonous.
What sets it apart
May contain story progression spoilers
The London, Lisbon, Paris, and ship sequences transform a nineteenth-century setting into a fantastical industrial dreamscape.
Bella Baxter's reanimated body and accelerated intellectual growth drive her movement from controlled subject to self-determining individual.
Bella's encounters with Godwin, Duncan, Alfie, prostitution, and bourgeois respectability expose patriarchal control through grotesque humor.
Emma Stone's fearless portrayal makes Bella's speech, movement, sexuality, and curiosity simultaneously hilarious, unsettling, and emancipatory.
Films like Poor Things, and why
The Favourite
shares baroque production design, absurdist humor, heightened fantasy, and satirical social commentary
The Lobster
shares surreal visual invention, grotesque comedy, and eccentric outsider protagonists challenging social norms
The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus
shares steampunk fantasy, theatrical maximalism, dark whimsy, and anti-authoritarian satire
The Shape of Water
shares feminist self-discovery, body transformation, erotic provocation, and stylized arthouse fantasy
Movie Details
- Director
- Yorgos Lanthimos
- Release Date
- 2023-12-07
- Runtime
- 141 min
- Rating
- 7.6 / 10 (5783)
Cast
- Emma Stone
- Mark Ruffalo
- Willem Dafoe
- Ramy Youssef
- Christopher Abbott
- Suzy Bemba
- Jerrod Carmichael
- Kathryn Hunter
- Vicki Pepperdine
- Hanna Schygulla
Where to watch in United States
- Streaming
- Hulu
- Rent
- Amazon Video, Apple TV Store, Google Play Movies, YouTube, Fandango At Home, Spectrum On Demand
- Buy
- Amazon Video, Apple TV Store, Google Play Movies, YouTube, Fandango At Home
Streaming options come from TMDB and change over time.
Common questions
- What is Poor Things about?
- A resurrected young woman voyages through a fantastical Victorian world, transforming scientific control and social constraint into a flamboyant quest for selfhood.
- What is Poor Things like to watch?
- Ember's analysis rates the pacing of Poor Things as brisk, its intensity as strong and its storytelling as layered.
- Is Poor Things violent?
- Somewhat. Ember rates the violence in Poor Things as moderate.
- What did critics think of Poor Things?
- Critics broadly acclaimed the film as a visually extraordinary, inventive blackly comic fable anchored by Emma Stone's fearless, expansive performance, though some found its ideas and pacing increasingly monotonous.
- Which films are like Poor Things?
- Films with a similar feel include The Favourite, The Lobster, The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus, and The Shape of Water.
- How long is Poor Things?
- Poor Things runs 141 minutes.
- Where can I watch Poor Things?
- In United States, Poor Things streams on Hulu.
