These set-up scenes are shot in black and white, and the combination of cinematographer Robbie Ryan\u2019s rich, desaturated images, Dafoe\u2019s kindly doctor, and the monster under his care turn that whole section into a sly spoof of The Elephant Man<\/em>. (On one hand, it seems unlikely that a new indie would send up a prestige picture from 1981; on the other hand, have you met Yorgos Lanthimos?) Stone\u2019s work as \u201cBella\u201d \u2014 who always refers to herself in the third person, i.e., \u201cBella cut too!\u201d and \u201cBella want look at world!\u201d \u2014 is in delightfully poor taste, an admirably vanity free performance, full of food-spitting, peeing on floors, hooting, and hollering. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Oh, and masturbating. \u201cIn polite society, that is not done,\u201d she\u2019s told, and she seems pretty disappointed by that information; once she graduates to intercourse (or, as she calls it, \u201cfurious jumping\u201d), she asks, \u201cWhy do people not just do this\u2026 all the time?\u201d (A legitimate question.) But she still hasn\u2019t quite been taught how to act right \u2014 annoyed by a crying baby in a restaurant, she announces, \u201cI must go punch that baby!\u201d \u2014 and though Lanthimos and Ryan flip to bright, luminous color when she discovers the pleasures of being an adult, the pain quickly follows suit. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Poor Things<\/em> is built around Stone\u2019s performance, and it\u2019s a very good one, by turns funny, sexy, off-putting, and melancholy. She\u2019s basically asked to age from toddler to sophisticated woman-about-town in the space of the picture\u2019s two hours and change, and she\u2019s always convincing, even when Tony McNamara\u2019s script thrusts her into the most wildly improbable situations.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n The dominance of her character in the narrative still leaves plenty of room for the supporting cast to shine. Mark Ruffalo is already attracting attention for his turn as the suitor who spirits her away for sex and travel, and it\u2019s deserved; he seems to be having an absolute blast playing a dithering nitwit. It\u2019s hard to decide which half of the performance is more enjoyable: his initial scenes, mouthing ornately witty dialogue as an endlessly self-satisfied dandy, or the comedown, after Bella has matured past him, and he\u2019s reduced to wailing under her balcony like \u2014 well, like the tantrum-throwing child she once was.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The casting of Dafoe as the father\/creator is so spot-in it feels like Lanthimos would\u2019ve had to shut the picture down if he\u2019d passed; can any other actor project this mixture of smug intelligence and unhinged unpredictability? (Try to imagine anyone else shrugging \u201cMy paternal feelings seem to outweigh my sexual thoughts\u201d as effectively). Margaret Qualley is welcome, if a bit underused, as his next test case; an unexpected Sanctuary<\/em> reunion occurs when Christopher Abbott makes his third-act appearance. And while Ramy Youssef has perhaps the most thankless role \u2014 he\u2019s taxed with playing the constant straight man in a cast full of pronounced weirdos \u2014 he mines both laughter and pathos out of his nonplussed line readings and reactions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Poor Things <\/em>is gloriously peculiar, sometimes self-consciously so; the aggressiveness of the cinematography and sound feels less like a continuation or evolution of Lanthimos\u2019s style than a brazen attempt to ape the Gilliam aesthetic. But he has a tendency to overstate and restate his points and ideas into monotony, stretching an increasingly thin premise until it threatens to snap. He ends up painting himself into a bit of a corner, narratively and dramatically, which is a shame \u2014 had he worked out a few more variations, this might have been one for the books. As it is, it\u2019s an enjoyably gonzo work, and a genuine testament to Ms. Stone\u2019s considerable range. <\/p>\n\n\n\n “Poor Things” is out Friday in select theaters.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/crookedmarquee.com\/stage8\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/12\/poor-things2-1024x512.png\")
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