Poor Things is a 2023 film[a] directed by Yorgos Lanthimos and written by Tony McNamara, based on the 1992 novel by Alasdair Gray.

[6] Stone plays Bella Baxter, a young woman in Victorian London who has been brought back to life via brain transplant.

Poor Things premiered at the 80th Venice International Film Festival on September 1, 2023, and won the Golden Lion there.

Bella accepts, but soon discovers masturbation and sexual pleasure, leading her to run off with Duncan Wedderburn, a debauched lawyer, to Lisbon.

As Bella becomes difficult for Duncan to control, he smuggles her onto a cruise ship, where she befriends two passengers who open her mind to philosophy.

Unable to afford the rest of the trip, Bella and Duncan are dropped off at Marseille and make their way to Paris, penniless.

Back in London, Bella reconciles with Godwin and renews her plans to marry Max, but their wedding is interrupted by Duncan and General Alfie Blessington.

Alfie confines Bella to his mansion and tells her that he plans to have her clitoris removed and impregnate her, threatening her with a gun and demanding she drink a sedative.

"Unfortunately, he died just a couple of years before we actually made the film, but he was very special and energetic; he was 80-something [when we met], and as soon as I got there, he had seen Dogtooth and said, 'I had my friend put on the DVD, because I don't know how to operate these things, but I think you're very talented, young man.'"

Ultimately, Yorgos was the one making those decisions, but I was very involved in the process, which started during the pandemic; we were reaching out to people and casting and everything during that time, because we couldn't go anywhere.

[16] In November, Margaret Qualley and Suzy Bemba were cast,[17] with Kathryn Hunter also revealing she had a role in the film.

[19][20] Stone said she was attracted to the idea of portraying a woman reborn with a liberated mindset free from societal pressures: It's such a fairy tale, and a metaphor—clearly, this can't actually happen—but the idea that you could start anew as a woman, as this body that's already formed, and see everything for the first time and try to understand the nature of sexuality, or power, or money or choice, the ability to make choices and live by your own rules and not society's—I thought that was a really fascinating world to go into.Stone especially appreciated Bella's lack of shame: Even though Bella has obviously been through trauma in her life, it just isn't there for her now.

[24] According to cinematographer Robbie Ryan, Francis Ford Coppola's 1992 film Bram Stoker's Dracula served as the main source of inspiration to everyone making the picture.

[26] Lanthimos worked closely with costume designer Holly Waddington to reflect Bella's growth and development through her wardrobe, from the more puffy silhouettes of her childlike era to the nearly corseted gown she wears at the film's climax.

[42] Poor Things was released on digital platforms on February 27, 2024,[47] and became available for streaming on Hulu in the U.S. on March 7[48] and on Disney+ in Canada the same day.

[52] Following its 11 Oscar nominations, it expanded from 900 theaters to 2,300 in its eighth week of release and made $3.08 million, an increase of 43% from the previous weekend.

The website's consensus reads: "Wildly imaginative and exhilaratingly over the top, Poor Things is a bizarre, brilliant tour de force for director Yorgos Lanthimos and star Emma Stone.

"[55] Metacritic, which uses a weighted average, assigned the film a score of 88 out of 100, based on 62 critics, indicating "universal acclaim".

[50] Glamour wrote that the film "received widespread critical acclaim following its world premiere" and that Stone was "praised for her hilariously bold and fearless sex scenes" in it.

[57] Stephanie Zacharek of Time wrote that Poor Things is "Lanthimos' finest film so far, a strange, gorgeous-looking picture that extends generosity both to its characters and the audience".

[58] Peter Bradshaw of The Guardian called it a "virtuoso comic epic" and added that Stone had given a "hilarious, beyond-next-level performance".

[59] David Rooney of The Hollywood Reporter termed it "an insanely enjoyable fairy tale", adding that Stone "gorges on it in a fearless performance that traces an expansive arc most actors could only dream about".

[60] BBC Culture's Nicholas Barber found the film "outrageous and hilarious", comparing it to the work of Wes Anderson and Terry Gilliam.

The review also noted that the novel's realistic 19th-century setting had been changed to a fantastical "steam-punk wonderland", and that some of its satirical humor and most of its socialist and feminist themes had been toned down.

She felt the story became more "monotonal, flat and dull" over time, writing that the movie's "design is rich, its ideas thin.

"[64] Mick LaSalle at the San Francisco Chronicle called the film "a 141-minute mistake", writing, "Worst of all, it's dishonest.