A tale of unbridled womanhood.

Bella (Emma Stone) mysteriously enters the world a grown woman but with the experience of an infant. Under the watchful eye of Dr. Godwin Baxter (Willem Dafoe), Bella’s mind expands at an exponential rate, prompting the doctor to hire one of his university students, Max McCandles (Ramy Youssef), to document her progress. As Bella reaches a maturity that makes her yearn for the outside world, Dr. Baxter arranges for Max to marry Bella for the purpose of keeping her home forever, requiring a binding contract drawn up by Duncan Wedderburn (Mark Ruffalo). With a keen understanding of what the legal language implies, Duncan plots to liberate the impressionable and attractive young woman for his own exploitation. The adventurous idea intrigues the blossoming Bella while changing the circumstances of “the experiment,” but no one suspects the force of nature about to be unleashed.

Based on the novel of the same name by Alasdair Gray with a screenplay co-written by Tony McNamara, director Yorgos Lanthimos reteams with his star from The Favourite for a story worthy of Mary Shelley. With an eccentric and questionably mad doctor interested in both physiology and learned behavior, the story is told through the eyes of his experimental subject, from simple monochromatic visuals to an explosion of color and imagination as her mind matures. Full of secrets, taboos, and other entertaining things frowned upon in polite society, the MPAA rating is clear: this is neither for kids nor possibly a number of adults, but it’s here nonetheless, embracing all the weirdness. Is everyone (or anyone) ready?

For both Emma Stone and her character Bella, the only worthy word is “fearless.” It confronts womanhood head-on and isn’t afraid to explore or say what needs to be said. Ruffalo’s unsuspecting Duncan believes he’s hit the jackpot in luring Bella from her home, but she was neither discouraged nor coddled, enabling her to encounter new situations without the emotional baggage a childhood might inflict. Set in stylized Victorian locales across late 19th-century Europe, Bella is fascinating to watch, from learning basic words and concepts to the detached scientific approach Godwin instilled into her, surpassing in complexity those who once viewed her as eternally simple. Poor Things is a sexy, thought-provoking dark comedy, invoking “Flowers for Algernon” by way of Frankenstein with a lot to say about agency, empathy, and expectation.

The production doesn’t flinch away from raw nudity or unadulterated sex; it explores depravity as part of Bella’s worldly education with an open mind and a wicked sense of humor, challenging the status quo and calling out so-called tradition. The character acts as a both a participant and an outside observer, resisting the urge to assess before essential data is collected and examined. While trying to figure out her place and worth in the world, she isn’t afraid to seek it out, choosing experience for the purpose of having it. In the weird world Lanthimos has constructed for Bella to explore, her journey to rise above feels organic while Stone keeps everything grounded, even at its most absurd. It’s important to note that life (read: the script) doesn’t throw more at Bella than she can handle, enabling her to avoid violent confrontations or providing a clever out before certain escalation; it’s a cheat, but a forgivable one considering the alternative.

Fatherly Godwin, adorable Max, randy Duncan, and nihilistic Harry (Jerrod Carmichael) all lend their influence to the child born an adult, preparing Bella in their different ways to exceed them all. Between Kathryn Hunter’s Swiney and Hanna Schygulla’s Martha, the film isn’t short on women’s empowerment, but with the main character perspective switched from Godwin in the original novel, at no time is Bella left to think she’s less. Being predisposed to observe and solve based on the presented data, there’s nothing a fearless woman can’t accomplish… and there’s little that frightens a controlling man more.

Poor Things is rated R for strong and pervasive sexual content, graphic nudity, disturbing material, gore, language, and a one-half horsepower carriage.

Four skull recommendation out of four