By now, you’ve likely seen Poor Things, or at least you’ve witnessed Emma Stone’s shocked face when she won the Oscar for her role in it. The bizarre film was directed by Yorgos Lanthimos, who has directed other bizarre films like The Lobster and The Killing of a Sacred Deer. The man has a type!
But unlike many of Lanthimos’ other works, Poor Things is based on a popular novel, with a screenplay adapted by Tony McNamara. This marks the third time McNamara has worked with Stone, as the screenwriter also penned Cruella.
Poor Things was written by Alasdair Gray, a Scottish writer and visual artist. Gray wrote the novel in 1992, and it was his most successful project. He received the Costa Book Award (formerly known as the Whitbread Award, which is just too close to White Bread to make any sense for a literary award). Here is the official synopsis of the book:
One of Alasdair Gray’s most brilliant creations, Poor Things is a postmodern revision of Frankenstein that replaces the traditional monster with Bella Baxter – a beautiful young erotomaniac brought back to life with the brain of an infant. Godwin Baxter’s scientific ambition to create the perfect companion is realized when he finds the drowned body of Bella, but his dream is thwarted by Dr. Archibald McCandless’s jealous love for Baxter’s creation. Satirizing the classic Victorian novel, Poor Things is a hilarious political allegory and a thought-provoking duel between the desires of men and the independence of women, from one of Scotland’s most accomplished authors.
The novel is fiction, but it features a series of “historical documents” and an introduction by Gray himself, who claims to have “discovered” the texts. He was Lemony Snicketting before it was even a thing.
You can check out Poor Things now streaming on Hulu.