Poor Things was made into a film in 2023, directed by Yorgos Lanthimo and starring Emma Stone, Mark Ruffalo, and Willem Dafoe Needless to say, she sees things quite differently, a sharp turn of events that casts everything that came before in quite a different light. The film explores themes of sexuality, feminism and human connection, through the lens of Bella who is relearning everything for the first time. Emma Stone said of the film “ the idea that you could start anew as a woman, as this body that’s already formed, and see everything for the first time and try to understand the nature of sexuality, or power, or money or choice, the ability to make choices and live by your own rules and not society’s - I thought that was a really fascinating world to go into”. Is ‘Poor Things’ based on a true story? Kaczvinsky, Donald P. "Making up for Lost Time": Scotland, Stories, and the Self in Alasdair Gray's" Poor Things." Contemporary Literature 42.4 (2001): 775-799. His greatest achievement is the creation of life: he brings to life a dead woman by transplanting the brain of the foetus she is carrying.

Poor Things review: Emma Stone and Mark Ruffalo lead a demented comedy of self-creation and degradation". W. September 3, 2023 . Retrieved September 10, 2023.I loved that element of, how would Bella put clothing together with the way her mind works at this point? At the end, there are these very military-looking dresses that look like nothing you've seen Bella wear; things are much more form-fitting and constrained, but that's because she's come to a place where she's grown and decided who she is and what she's going to do. She's not assimilating, necessarily, but there's just more structure there." [24] Release Maytum, Matt (August 11, 2023). "Emma Stone's unique Poor Things character look was actually a mistake". Total Film . Retrieved August 19, 2023. Willem Dafoe’s Godwin Baxter is the brilliant, privately wealthy medical doctor and shut-in who brings Bella to life. In the book, he is an actual giant, with a huge head, weirdly conical hands, and a high-pitched voice that is unbearable to hear — but he’s also kindly and principled. It seems like Lanthimos has opted to reduce him to normal size and express his grotesquerie through facial scarring instead, although that he doesn’t appear in the same shot as any other characters in the trailer. COLLATERAL AWARDS OF THE 80TH VENICE FILM FESTIVAL". La Biennale di Venezia. September 8, 2023 . Retrieved September 9, 2023.

There are variations, I guess, but in this film, there's a general tendency to try to control [Bella]—even if it's done in a caring or subtle way, in the way that a parent might or that [Dafoe's character] Baxter does, or just being infatuated in the way that Ramy is. You know, being a nice man deep down, but still having the characteristics of a man of that era." Stone also asserted that "the more agency Bella gets, the more she learns and grows, the more it drives these men insane. The more she has an opinion and her own wants and needs and all of that, it makes them crazy; they want her to stay this sort of pure thing." [21] Filming Camerimage: 'The New Boy' Claims Golden Frog". The Hollywood Reporter . Retrieved November 18, 2023.Poor Things premiered at the 80th Venice International Film Festival on September 1, 2023, where it won the Golden Lion, and is scheduled to be released in the United States on December 8, 2023, and in the United Kingdom on January 12, 2024, by Searchlight Pictures. Pritchard, Tiffany (November 22, 2021). "NEWS Robbie Ryan wins Golden Frog, tributes paid to Halyna Hutchins at Camerimage". Screen Daily. Archived from the original on November 23, 2021 . Retrieved February 27, 2022. Ramy Youssef’s Max McCandless is presumably the film’s version of Archibald McCandless, the narrator of the book. He’s Godwin’s friend and colleague, a good doctor from humble origins, and also a bit of a bore, who gets engaged to Bella before she runs away with Wedderburn.

A brief summary of the plot does little justice to it: the art is in Gray's presentation, in his words and his style(s).

About the contributors

Kroll, Justin (May 22, 2021). "Willem Dafoe In Talks To Co-Star In Yorgos Lanthimos Adaptation of 'Poor Things' For Searchlight and Film4". Deadline Hollywood. Archived from the original on May 21, 2021 . Retrieved May 22, 2021. Stone further elaborated on Bella's growth reflected through her costumes, detailing how in the beginning of the story, Bella dresses in more traditional clothing of the era, and, following her transformation, begins to dress herself in more bizarre clothes. Stone said: As Lanthimos and Stone gear up for the premiere of Poor Things, here’s what we know about the film so far. We'll cover: Book Genre: Classics, Cultural, Fantasy, Fiction, Historical, Historical Fiction, Literary Fiction, Literature, Novels, Science Fiction, Scotland These fictitious historical documents are prefaced with an introduction by one Alasdair Gray, who presents himself as the editor of the following text, and relates the "discovery" of the papers by his real-life friends, Michael Donnelly and Elspeth King. The introduction also hosts a critique of Glasgow City Council's treatment of its culture and heritage in the neglect of the local history museum, and a brief mention of Glasgow's time as the European Capital of Culture in 1990, which was the subject of a more sustained satire in his novel Something Leather.

Emma Stone and Mark Ruffalo lead the cast of Poor Things. They’re joined by an ensemble including Willem Dafoe, Ramy Youssef, and Kathryn Hunter. Lewis, Hilary (October 24, 2023). " 'Past Lives,' 'A Thousand and One' and 'All of Us Strangers' Top Gotham Awards Film Nominees". The Hollywood Reporter . Retrieved October 25, 2023. Poor Things: Episodes from the Early Life of Archibald McCandless M.D., Scottish Public Health Officer is a novel by Scottish writer Alasdair Gray, published in 1992. It won the Whitbread Award and the Guardian Fiction Prize the same year. [1] [2] Rottenberg, Josh (November 11, 2021). "Joel Coen's 'The Tragedy of Macbeth' has big stars. But it's Kathryn Hunter who steals the show". Los Angeles Times. Archived from the original on January 25, 2022 . Retrieved December 10, 2021. Willem Dafoe entered negotiations to join the cast in March 2021. [9] By April, Ramy Youssef was in talks to join. [10] Dafoe and Youssef were confirmed to join in May, with Mark Ruffalo and Jerrod Carmichael also added to the cast in May. [11] [12] In September, Christopher Abbott was cast. [13] In November, Margaret Qualley and Suzy Bemba were cast, [14] with Kathryn Hunter revealing she had a role in the film as well. [15]Jerrod Carmichael ’s Harry Astley is an English gentleman Bella meets on her travels, whose cynical, imperialist worldview is challenged by her compassion. He falls in love with her, like every other man in the story. Gray, Alasdair, James Kelman, and Tom Toremans. "An Interview with Alasdair Gray and James Kelman." Contemporary Literature 44.4 (2003): 565-586.