Grand Appetites and “Poor Things
by Anthony Lane
“I’m so tired. Or maybe just my spirit is. My soul has been buckled, crumpled, flattened Duncan Wedderburn, by the sights I have seen.” Bella
A brilliant story and performance, delving into the meaning of conscious femininity from imagination itself, where “time is a jumble” and objectivity is maintained amidst power, madness, degradation, sadness, and even horror. The mystery of cruelty is front and center.
In this film we watch Bella move on the spiral from childishness to that of childlike wonder, becoming a fully synchronized woman with passion, curiosity, and intention to know the world so that she can have a part in changing it. She is a “changeable feast” who navigates through witnessing her “empathy … creeping towards what [she] would describe… a contemptuous rage.”
As Bella freely questions and quests, the trappings of culture are comedically illumined in a fresh and confronting manner, perhaps loosening their grip on the audience just a little as we prepare to engage this political climate. May the dramatic cinematography be a mirror to our own capacity to embrace the pains of transformation!
