There are few directors working today with a style and tone more distinct than Yorgos Lanthimos. This Greek director has been working for decades, making films in both his native language and in English, and has found incredible success and popularity in recent years with his bizarre explorations of societal expectations, power dynamics, and human sexuality.

His latest, and possibly oddest, experiment is Poor Things, an adaptation of a classic Glaswegian novel that combines Frankenstein with the saucier elements of The Favourite. Centred around Emma Stone’s glorious Bella Baxter, a reanimated woman with the rapidly developing brain of her unborn child, the film is an odyssey of sex, freedom, and pastel de nata from the perspective of a human who has never known social convention. Stone is wonderful in the role, bringing together unrepentant curiosity and pure hedonistic joy in an incredibly physical performance, and is backed with some great supporting turns from Willem Dafoe and Mark Ruffalo. However, the film really shines in its whimsical production design, which succeeds in recreating the world through Bella’s refreshing gaze.    

Poor Things is the definitely season’s most controversial release, as well as one of the most lauded, with eleven nominations at the Oscars including for Best Picture, Director, and Lead Actress. If you’re up for a wild ride that’ll stick with you for weeks after, come and see what all the fuss is about.

Poor Things is on from 26th Jan - 1st Feb

Tickets & Showtimes: https://dukeslancaster.org/wha...