Poor Things (2023)

The critic calls it Lanthimos at his most playful and comedic, praising Emma Stone's career-defining performance as Bella Baxter in this opulent provocation about the body as a nexus for pleasure and pain.

The critic finds the film a funny, filthy and explosively inventive spin on Frankenstein driven by Stone's courageous performance as Bella. The inventive design, score and camerawork create a carnival of oddness that mirrors the character's voyage of discovery.

The critic highlights Emma Stone's remarkable performance in this eccentric and uncanny fable, noting it shows Lanthimos as the master purveyor of the strange and surreal, though it could use some trimming.

The critic describes the film as a lavishly designed steampunk fantasia of feminist wish fulfillment with inventive aesthetics, but finds it conceptually boring and repetitive in its one-note humor and shallow thematic treatment.

The critic finds the film a sterile, exhibitionist take on female sexuality that fails as a sincere treatise, reducing empowerment to surface-level provocation and a male auteur's limited vision. While acknowledging visual and costuming strengths, the review deems the narrative and spiritual hollowness ultimately ugly.

The critic calls the film absolutely batshit, utterly filthy and a true original. They single out Emma Stone's richest, most interesting and fearless performance as Bella.

The critic says Lanthimos and Stone have triumphed again with a delight that is eccentric, smart, a little dark, lovely to look at and charming as hell. They single out Stone's phenomenal performance running the gamut from infantile to articulate maturity.

A splendidly deranged science-fiction-horror-comedy-fantasia that showcases Stone's extraordinary, audacious performance as Bella, whose sexual and moral awakening drives the story. Lanthimos blends wicked playfulness with serious undertones of female empowerment and human cruelty in a film that is not for everyone but rewards those who embrace its stylized imagery and happy ending.

The review lauds the ultra-baroque period futurism anchored by Emma Stone's dazzling performance, calling it an outré feminist fable bound to captivate audiences.

The critic praises the film's fantastical frames that give pleasure to the eye and soul, highlighting Emma Stone's extraordinary performance and Lanthimos's visual imagination. It notes the film's accurate take on contemporary issues amid its absurd delights.

The critic praises the film's nonstop bonkers brilliance as a picaresque feminist Candide and Emma Stone's fearless, expansive performance in the lead role. Design elements, costumes, and craft contributions are highlighted as major standouts alongside the ensemble's embrace of the material's madness and philosophical curiosity.

The critic finds the film uproarious and thought-provoking, calling it a magnificent examination of self-discovery told in the wittiest and weirdest way possible. They single out Stone's fearless, hilarious performance with impeccable comic timing.

The film is a visually sumptuous and gleefully clever Victorian-era riff on Frankenstein, but it is so self-satisfied that it borders on bullying the viewer into admiration. Stone delivers an anarchic, liberated performance amid rich design, though the ideas remain thin and the eccentricity eventually wears thin.

The critic hails Emma Stone's fearless, career-best performance as the galvanizing Bella Baxter in this grandly perverse, exuberant dark comedy that blends Gothic horror, hedonism, and unexpected optimism into a one-of-a-kind bacchanal fantasia.

The critic praises it as one of the year's very best, highlighting Lanthimos' refined philosophical musings, accomplished visual work with bold colors and production design, and the biting humor from Tony McNamara's script.

The critic calls it one of Lanthimos' finest films and possibly the best of the year, praising Emma Stone's bravura performance as Bella and the vibrant, unique world created by the production design and cinematography.

The critic praises the film as visually stunning with Emma Stone's phenomenal performance, calling it one of the best films of 2023. They highlight Lanthimos' unique vision and the cast's excellence in bringing the eccentric world to life.

The critic hails the film as a glorious paean to freedom, returning to Lanthimos' core themes of human nature beneath its extravagant period trappings. Stone's energetic embrace of the naive, rapidly evolving Bella is singled out alongside inventive direction and strong ensemble work.

The critic calls the film a visually resplendent, cheekily written feminist Frankenstein tale and mind-blower, spotlighting Emma Stone's physically dexterous and idiosyncratic performance at its center while noting it can feel over-extended.

The critic finds the film mixed, praising Stone's uninhibited performance but criticizing Lanthimos for blending alienation with ingratiation in a way that flattens the satire and makes the film feel smug and crowd-pleasing.