Poor Things (2023)

Let me start off by saying that in our household, one thinks this should and will take away all the big awards. On the other hand, one thought it was frankly pornographic and had trouble moving beyond that. I am somewhere in between. This is based on a book of the same title and owes a lot to Mary Shelley's Frankenstein. Everything is wonderfully bizarre, from the performances and dialogue to the production and costume design. And yet at its core, it is about the awkwardness of forging a real human connection. We want to know each other and make ourselves known. The figure at the film’s center, Bella Baxter, seeks to achieve enlightenment, become her truest self, and establish enriching relationships with people who genuinely love her and don’t just want to control her. The nuts and bolts of this story may sound familiar: A young woman embarks on an odyssey of exploration and finds her identity was within her all along. The execution, however, is constantly astonishing. It's Victorian London, and Bella lives in a tasteful townhouse with the mad scientist who also serves as her father figure, Dr. Godwin Baxter. She is the experiment and in themidst of being observed she is whisked away byDuncan Wedderburn, an obvious cad, but also hysterically funny, both a charismatic Lothario and a preening buffoon. He’s also unexpectedly sexy, and, in time, amusingly pathetic. All of the characters in this deliver outstanding performances and the production design is sumptuous. This is a must see of the Oscar season.