Filled with sex, violence, and perverse scientific experiments, Poor Things is one of the most shocking films of recent years. Yorgos Lanthimos’ adaptation of Alasdair Gray’s novel follows Bella Baxter, a fully-grown woman with the brain of a child, as she grows up fast and comes to understand the world around her through a unique lens. Without the restrictions of polite society to weigh her down, Bella fixates on sexual pleasure and instant gratification, leading to some intense sex scenes and plenty of regressive outbursts of violence and profanity.
Poor Things‘ 11 Oscar nominations are an indication of its critical charm, which is impressive for a movie which is so visually confronting. Lanthimos uses fish-eye lenses and bright, saturated colors to create a dizzying world where nothing seems to fit. In Godwin Baxter’s home laboratory there are frequent scenes of bodies being cut up and experimented on, as strange creatures cobbled together from different animals run around the house. Poor Things establishes a baseline of weirdness, but there are still a few shocking scenes which go even further.
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10 Bella Bangs On The Piano
Poor Things opens with harsh sounds and unsettling imagery
The opening of Poor Things immediately thrusts the viewer into a disquieting world. Sepia tones and fish-eye lenses create a sense of visual unease which calls back to haunting horror classics like The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari, and Bella’s discordant hammering on the piano is an affront to the ears. Poor Things uses uncomfortable music to reflect Bella’s internal state, and silky fado or orchestral tones when she is happy. The image of Bella with her feet up on the keys would be the most shocking moment of most movies, but it is just the appetizer for Poor Things.
9 Duncan & Alfie Crash The Wedding
A final twist to spoil Bella’s happy ending
Just when Bella’s odyssey seems to be over, Duncan interrupts her wedding with Max alongside Victoria’s former husband, Alfie. General Alfred Blessington wants to take his wife home by any means necessary. Surprisingly, Bella accepts. Despite being seemingly content with Max, she is still curious about her past life as Victoria Blessington. This decision sets up a whole new conundrum for Bella, who finds herself imprisoned by the brutally abusive Alfie. Poor Things’ shocking ending finally sees Bella at peace, living with her friends safe from both Duncan and Alfie.
8 The Dance Floor Fight
Duncan uses violence to reassure himself of his own masculine control
Duncan first becomes interested in Bella because he sees the restrictive marriage contract which God and Max have drawn up for her. He doesn’t know her as a person, but he wants to own and control her because he sees her as a valuable prize. As soon as she starts developing more autonomy and opinions of her own, he resents her. His insecurities spill over when Bella sees a man winking at her in a restaurant. No scene underlines Duncan’s immature emotionality as well as him meekly wrestling with the man as the band continues to play.
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7 God Subdues Bella In The Carriage
God shows an unexpectedly brutal streak
God treats Bella like a daughter in some ways, but she still has the strength of an adult when she throws a tantrum. During a carriage ride home from the park, Bella gets upset and starts screaming, so God subdues her using a rag dipped in chloroform. It’s a violent reminder that every man in Bella’s life tries to subdue and control her, even those who are meant to care for her. Poor Things has been heralded as a feminist masterpiece for its depiction of men’s reactions to a liberated woman who doesn’t submit to society’s rigid norms.
6 Max Operates On God
The most visceral of Poor Things’ many surgery scenes
Poor Things has plenty of uncomfortably close-up scenes of surgeries being performed. Cutting up bodies is an everyday occurrence in God’s life, and the film shows him removing Victoria’s brain and performing a surgery for his students in visceral detail. No surgery scene is more excruciating than when Max operates on God to remove what appears to be a malignant tumor in his abdomen. God is conscious throughout the operation with a few puffs of anesthetic, but he shows no signs of pain. His scientific approach to human life seemingly extends to his own body.
5 Bella Witnesses The Slums In Alexandria
A confronting view into the dark side of the human experience
The first stop on Bella and Duncan’s cruise from Lisbon is in Alexandria, where Harry Astley takes Bella on a walk to see the abject poverty in the slums far below the cafés and restaurants of high society. Bella is shocked by the confronting image, her first real window into true inequality and human misery. Yorgos Lanthimos frames the slums in detached wide shots, mirroring the upper-class vision of poverty as a monoculture, rather than a group of fellow humans. Bella is the only character who sees them in detail, as shown by her generous but naïve donation.
4 Bella “Works” Herself With An Apple
She discovers pleasure without understanding its taboo nature
As Bella first discovers the depths of sexual pleasure, she doesn’t yet understand the social norms which prohibit certain acts. After first “working” herself in bed, as she puts it, she finds new objects around the house to use for her pleasure. Poor Things’ surprising apple scene highlights how Bella has a child’s mind, but a fully-grown woman’s libido. She doesn’t understand why people are so prudish and secretive about something which can bring them all so much joy, and she even offers to work Mrs. Prim when she seems upset by Bella’s behavior.
3 Bella Gleefully Mutilates A Corpse
Bella’s fascination with violence needs an outlet
During the early stages of Bella’s development, she has an obsession with violence and death, probably helped along by witnessing God cutting open patients and cadavers alike. She punches Max when they first meet, and she later crushes a frog to death in his hands. Both of these are shocking outbursts of violence, but they don’t come close to the sight of Bella stabbing a dead man in the eyes with a pair of scissors and shrieking with glee. God lets her do this to distract her from his patient, knowing that her violent tendencies need some kind of outlet.
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2 The Montage At The Brothel
Bella’s sexual awakening moves toward the bizarre
After Bella’s first scene at the Parisian brothel, she returns to seek more employment, and soon discovers a much broader definition of sex than she had previously been able to grasp. Bella is expected every need of the clientele. Some are straightforward, while others are brand-new experiences for her. One man ties Bella up while he humps her lower leg, and another man skitters about the floor like a crab before biting into a handful of her hair. Poor Things‘ intense sex scenes have courted controversy, and they come thick and fast in the brothel montage.
1 A Man Uses Bella To Show His Children How To Have Sex
Poor Things’ most shocking scene pushes the commodification of Bella’s body to new extremes
Bella meets many unusual people working at the brothel, but none of her encounters are as uncomfortable as one she has with a father who brings his sons along to watch him. He first explains to them the importance of foreplay, treating Bella’s body like a piece of lab equipment. The two boys seem as uninterested as any young school children might be, and Bella doesn’t have the experience to understand the absurdity of the situation either. Only the audience realizes how bizarre this Poor Things scene is, as Bella tries to assist in the lesson.
