Poor Things, Explained: 4 Keys to Understanding Emma Stone's Oscars Hit

Emma Stone won the Oscar for Best Actress for her performance in Poor Things. And while it's an excellent movie, many fans didn't understand its true meaning.

Here are some important details that may help you to get Poor Things better.

Poor Things is meant to be disturbing

The whole point of this movie is to make the audience uncomfortable and shocked. And it does it perfectly. Emma Stone’s character is often shown in a mesmerizingly disgusting way.

And William Defoe’s character is an obvious allusion on Frankenstein with his sewn face. To add to the shock, we see unnatural animals like “gooseWillis”, which is a combination of a goose and bulldog or a pig/shaggy dog, called “sixSox”.

This is an R-rated Barbie

Poor Things is a movie about a young girl exploring the world ruled by men. It touched on the subject of the oversexualization of young girls, who miss childhood. They quickly go from being children to being sexualized and exploited by men.

This film isn’t afraid of explicitly showing sex scenes and showing that women are allowed to do whatever they want with their bodies and to explore, but society screams that is taboo.

Even humor has its purpose

The film isn’t afraid of humor, despite the serious topics. Yorgos Lanthimos doesn't try to beat you over the head with his humor. Most of the time, he allows the dry wit to flourish as he weaves in well-placed absurdities to create that humor.

“I think the best bits of the movie are those that are funny because they depict something sort of ghastly,” says Redditor space_cheese1.

Poor Things is based on a book

The 1992 novel by Alasdair Gray was the original source for this movie. Poor Things follows the plot of the novel for the most part, but the ending has been changed.

The original post-modernist ending of the book calls into question the entire story that has gone before, and it may not be nearly as appealing to a general audience. Many fans loved the ending in the book, but agree that the movie version allows it to focus more on itself as a gothic, sex-comedy character study.

Poor Things may not be the most appealing film at first glance. Still, it's definitely not only one of Yorgos Lanthimos' best films, but also one of the best adaptations ever made. Visuals, score, and the actor’s performance create a unique and unforgettable experience.

Watch Poor Things on Prime Video, Apple TV, and YouTube.