Alana Bowen | Content Writer

Poor Things (2023), directed by Yorgos Lanthimos, is a gothic bildungsroman inspired by the 1992 novel by Alasdair Gray. We follow the journey of Bella Baxter (Emma Stone), a pregnant woman discovered in a river by Dr Godwin “God” Baxter (Willem Dafoe), who reanimates her Frankenstein-style. But rather than simply bring Bella back to life, Dr God transplants the unborn child’s brain into Bella’s head. Why? Why would he save the life of someone who jumped off a bridge? They would surely still want to die. 

The rest of the film is split into several acts that encapsulate Bella’s journey to maturity. The first act is black and white with a The Wizard of Oz ambiance. We’d usually associate childhood with bright colours and prettiness, but the leeching of colour at the start of Bella’s new life encapsulates her ignorance. Her life is literally black and white. She is fed, watered, entertained, clothed, sleeps, and that is all. 

This rigidity of existence is reflected in her clothing, too. Her skirt goes to the floor. Her arms are covered. Her collar is high-necked. Therefore, internally – through her new brain – and externally – via her clothing and the black and white setting – Bella is stifled. She is safe in her black and white world, but is ultimately suppressed. It is only after a lustful Duncan Wedderburn (Mark Ruffalo) spirits her away that the movie gains its colour. 

It is a trick on the senses. The audience is initially lulled by the familiarity of coloured images, but something sinister lurks beneath the surface. Duncan is like the snake that tempted Eve, offering Bella knowledge of the world, which is symbolised by the shift from monochrome to colour. However, colour in nature tends to signify danger, poison. 

The saturated palette of Lisbon gives a hallucinogenic impression. It is fantastical, a fairyland. Bella is free to roam, eat, dance, fornicate – a freedom unknown to her back in Dr God’s house. 

The world is pure sugar, but not because it is good. 

Bella is unable to see the violence Duncan subjects her to during their love-making because she is convinced that she likes it. It’s a tragic truth of childhood. For instance, a parent will hit their child, but the child will still love them despite being in pain. Bella is so convinced that Duncan is what she wants that she puts up with all of him, even when he starts to displease her. 

The setting of the ship is cleverly utilised to convey Bella’s mounting uncertainty about life. It is not a fixed location like London or Lisbon, but a symbol of her journey to enlightenment. There is a harsh contrast between the ship with its dark tones – conveying how Bella is “in the dark” – with the location it is sailing towards: a bright, arid island, where Bella is exposed to an undeniable violence of life: poverty.  

“If I know the world I can improve it.” – Bella

“You can’t. This is the real point. Don’t accept the lie of religion, socialism, capitalism. We are a f****d species. Know it.”– Harry Astley (Jerrod Carmichael)

Unlike Frankenstein after studying the cottagers, Bella is horrified by reality. If Duncan is the devil, then Harry’s point of view is the wilderness. Bella cannot unsee what he has shown her. She cannot return to her black and white world, or the fantasy land of Lisbon. 

The next destination (Paris) embodies this wicked enlightenment through cool tones and Bella’s black attire. She seems to be in mourning; for the girl that she was and all her innocence.  

However, despite Paris’ bleak setting paralleling London, Bella truly finds herself here. She has no interest in knowing the world beyond the fact that people want her, and that she can sell herself. She interprets humans being a “f****d species” by literally f***ing them. Bella becomes sugar and violence. She becomes life, learning how to be soft and rough with whoever she meets.

Ultimately, Poor Things is Bella’s PSHE crash course on sex, money, politics, and inequality. To grow up is to be corrupted, but to grow is also to be free, like a sprout breaking through the safety of soil. Her return to London – now in colour – is a clear marker for her change, with Bella becoming Dr God’s guardian in his final days; a role-reversal concluding her saga of maturity.