Movie · 2023 · Science Fiction, Romance, Comedy · 2h 21m · R · English
Curator score: 8.4/10 (2.9M ratings)
She’s nothing like you’ve ever seen.
Overview
Brought back to life by an unorthodox scientist, a young woman runs off with a lawyer on a whirlwind adventure across the continents. Free from the prejudices of her times, she grows steadfast in her purpose to stand for equality and liberation.
Ratings
Curator score: 8.4/10
IMDb: 7.8/10
Letterboxd: 3.94/5
Rotten Tomatoes: 92%
Metacritic: 88
TMDB: 7.6/10
Director
Yorgos Lanthimos
Production
Searchlight Pictures, Film4 Productions, TSG Entertainment, Element Pictures, Limp, Fruit Tree
Cast
Emma Stone, Mark Ruffalo, Willem Dafoe, Ramy Youssef, Christopher Abbott, Suzy Bemba, Jerrod Carmichael, Kathryn Hunter, Vicki Pepperdine, Hanna Schygulla, Margaret Qualley, Jack Barton, Charlie Hiscock, Attila Dobai, Emma Hindle, Anders Grundberg, Attila Kecskeméthy, Jucimar Barbosa, Carminho, Angela Paula Stander
Where to watch
Netflix, Netflix Standard with Ads
Curator Review
Verdict
A wildly inventive, darkly funny, and visually extravagant fable that mixes sexual liberation, social satire, and grotesque fairy-tale energy. It’s provocative and polarizing, but the craft, performances, and sheer imagination make it one of the most distinctive films of 2023.
Best for
Viewers who like bold auteur cinema and formal experimentation
Fans of dark comedy, surrealism, and offbeat romance
People interested in feminist, body-horror-adjacent, or anti-patriarchal storytelling
Audiences who enjoy lavish production design and maximalist visual style
Skip if
You want naturalistic acting or a conventional narrative
You’re uncomfortable with explicit sex, taboo humor, or grotesque imagery
You prefer movies that clearly signal moral positions
You dislike provocation or films that feel deliberately alienating
Overview
Poor Things is a feverish blend of fairy tale, sex comedy, and social critique, carried by a performance that keeps shifting from innocence to self-possession. It is less interested in realism than in creating a world where every costume, set, and camera move feels like a joke, a dare, or a thesis statement.
Worth noting
What makes it work is the confidence of its design and the commitment of its cast. The film is funny, unsettling, and often beautiful in the same breath, with a rhythm that turns discomfort into momentum. It can feel abrasive, but that abrasion is part of its point.
Bottom line
For some viewers, it will read as a bracingly liberated fantasy; for others, as a knowingly messy provocation about desire, power, and identity. Either way, it is unmistakably a filmmaker’s movie: ornate, confrontational, and impossible to confuse with anything else.
Top Letterboxd reviews
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barbie (2023) but for mentally ill people
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Bella, where the hell have you been, loca?
🐌 (4.5★) · 37758 likes
they hate to see a bitch with childlike wonder
Nicole Ackman (2★) · 32796 likes
I saw someone refer to this as a "female version of Frankenstein" which is funny because Frankenstein was written by a (brilliant) woman and this was quite obviously written by a man.