Poor Things might be the most refreshing movie we’ve seen in way too many years, not to mention Emma Stone’s best performance of her career. The Frankenstein-ish story of a woman who has a brain transplanted by an eerie surgeon has shocked yet taken us to a sublime world of excesses, great humor, and some dark truths.
Although quite an original movie, Yorgos Lanthimos‘ last venture is based on the 1992 book by the same name written by the Scottish author Alasdair Gray. The novel presents itself as the recollection of several (fake) historical documents that Gray allegedly just edited; naturally, this is all part of the magic of the fiction. However, before delving into the story, it’s important to note that the movie is only based on one part of the novel, the one belonging to the documents redacted by a man called Archibald McCandless.
What Is Poor Things About
The first part of the novel, as well as the movie, tells the story of Bella Baxter (or Victoria). A pregnant woman, who after taking her own life by jumping from a bridge, is operated on by Dr. Godwin Baxter. The procedure consists of taking her baby’s brain and transplanting it to her head to reanimate her. The result is a childlike woman learning to navigate the world.
As mentioned, this first part is narrated by Archibald McCandless, who in the movie is named Max McCandles. Actually, the complete name of the book is Poor Things: Episodes from the Early Life of Archibald McCandless M.D., Scottish Public Health Officer, and as the name suggests, he’s also a doctor wanting to immortalize the extraordinary story of his wife.
In the texts, he goes from the very first time she met Bella, behaving almost like a toddler, to her rapid and complicated evolution. As we see in the movie, it’s perhaps Bella’s sexual awakening that changes everything, and after being tempted by desire, she decides to elope with a handsome and raunchy lawyer to embark on a hedonistic journey to see the world.
The Dark Part the Movie Left Out
By the end of the film, and Archibald’s narration, after this journey of pleasures, excesses, and lots of learnings (including the socialist ideals and philosophy), Bella and Archibland end up happily ever after. However, the book doesn’t end here. Alasdair Gray, pretending to be only the editor of the book, as we mentioned, adds a brief letter penned by Bella herself in which she refutes almost everything her husband narrated.
Victoria, her original name, was born and raised in the slums of Manchester. From a very early age, Victoria is educated by her abusive father to marry into nobility; which she does eventually when she meets Sir Aubrey de la Pole Blessington Bart, a notable officer from the Imperial Army. As we get to see a little bit of the film, Sir Aubrey isn’t Prince Charming, and can’t give Victoria what she truly desires.
Also like in the movie, Victoria is a free woman who longs to experience her passions to taste. Aubre de la Pole is more of a conservative man who prefers enjoying those types of cravings elsewhere (with young working-class women or even courtesans, for instance). Believing that his wife is sick, he suggests she should submit to a clitoridectomy to stop her “unhealthy lust.” Enter Doctor Godwin Baxter.
Willing to undergo the monstrous procedure her husband wants, Victoria reaches Godwin Baxter, who refuses to do such a thing. Instead, he decides to help her escape her husband; both end up moving to Glasgow. This is when Victoria finally gets to experience life at its full to become an independent woman.
Now, as Bella Baxter, she learns medicine and explores her sexuality freely, even talking to lovers. Unlike the movie, in which Bella and Godwin’s relationship is more of that of a father and daughter, here Bella becomes obsessed with her doctor and savior, although he rejects her advances. Seeing there’s no future there, Bella decides to marry one of Godwin’s colleagues, a simpleton by the name of Archibald McCandless.
During their marriage, Archibald becomes a sort of a house-husband while Bella is learning new things, explores her political life (she becomes a socialist suffragette), becomes a surgeon, and naturally, keeps enjoying her intimate life. Of course, being a heteropatriarchy man, Archibald has some resentment towards his wife and creates this whole fantastic story about her, which is the one we all learn in the first part of the book and the movie.
Life eventually hits Bella hard. Two of her sons die during WWI, and her reputation as a doctor vanishes after publishing some raunchy and erotic political pamphlets. Archibald dies soon after, and that’s when Bella discovers the pack of lies her husband wrote about her.
Archibald’s documents end up being a mockery of her life and deeds. But more hurtful, a testament to a lack of respect and an attempt to erase everything she achieved for herself. She’s basically reduced to a woman with a child’s brain that, although she learns things, won’t ever fully comprehend life. All in all, a misogynist work of a hurt and small man.
Unlike Archibald, Yorgos manages to still portray Bella as an independent and strong woman in an excellent film. Still, we wonder how would the movie look through Bella’s POV?!
