“Poor Things” Teaser Reveals Emma Stone Risen From the Dead
Emma Stone and filmmaker Yorgos Lanthimos have reunited, and the world is a better place for it. After their delicious collaboration in Lanthimos’s excellent 2018 film The Favourite, Stone and Lanthimos are back with Poor Things, which is centered on Bella Baxter (Stone), a young woman given a second shot at life after she’s brought back from the dead by the brilliant Dr. Godwin Baxter (Willem Dafoe). Lanthimos has made a string of unforgettable films, some of which have been deeply unsettling—Dogtooth (2009) and The Killing of a Sacred Deer (2017)—and some of which have been hilarious and off-kilter—The Lobster (2015) and The Favourite. Where will Poor Things fall?
The first teaser, just released by Searchlight Pictures, gives off more of a comedic vibe, with Stone’s Bella Baxter something of a Frankenstein’s monster, brought back to a world she is eager to learn more about. The way Bella will satiate that hunger is by running off with a debauched lawyer named Duncan Wedderburn (Mark Ruffalo), who takes her on a global adventure that highlights for the restored Bella just how inequitable and grotesque the world she is. Thus, Bella becomes an undead champion for liberation and equality.
It’s been five years since The Favourite, so we’ve been long overdue for a Lanthimos film. With a stellar cast led by Stone, Poor Things will be one of the most eagerly anticipated films when it premieres on September 8.
Check out the teaser below.
Here’s the official synopsis for Poor Things:
From filmmaker Yorgos Lanthimos and producer Emma Stone comes the incredible tale and fantastical evolution of Bella Baxter (Stone), a young woman brought back to life by the brilliant and unorthodox scientist Dr. Godwin Baxter (Willem Dafoe). Under Baxter’s protection, Bella is eager to learn. Hungry for the worldliness she is lacking, Bella runs off with Duncan Wedderburn (Mark Ruffalo), a slick and debauched lawyer, on a whirlwind adventure across the continents. Free from the prejudices of her times, Bella grows steadfast in her purpose to stand for equality and liberation.
Featured image: Ramy Youssef and Emma Stone in POOR THINGS. Photo by Yorgos Lanthimos. Courtesy of Searchlight Pictures. © 2023 20th Century Studios All Rights Reserved.
