Poor Things · reception & legacy
2023 · Yorgos Lanthimos
How Poor Things has been received, argued over, and remembered.
The arc
Premiered at Venice 2023 and took the Golden Lion, then rode an awards wave to 11 Oscar nominations and 4 wins — but audiences were split from day one, and it's settled in as Lanthimos's mainstream breakthrough that people still argue about rather than a consensus classic.
What's debated
The forever-debate: is Bella Baxter's journey a genuinely liberating feminist odyssey, or a male director's and screenwriter's fantasy of female sexual awakening wearing feminist clothes?
Its footprint
Bella Baxter escaped the film — the giant-sleeved costumes became a Halloween and fashion reference point, Emma Stone's spasmodic ballroom dance turned into an instantly recognisable GIF, and 'furious jumping' entered the Letterboxd-review lexicon.
Where it stands
A Letterboxd juggernaut — one of the platform's most-logged and most-reviewed films of the 2020s, and the film that turned Lanthimos from arthouse cult figure into a name-brand director for a new generation.
Named by the director
Influences Yorgos Lanthimos has publicly named — the director's own word, distinct from the inferred lines of influence.
- And the Ship Sails On (1983) — Lanthimos gave Fellini's studio-bound ocean-liner film to screenwriter Tony McNamara as a key reference for the film's artificial world.
- Belle de Jour (1967) — Buñuel's film was another reference Lanthimos handed McNamara while shaping the script.
- Young Frankenstein (1974) — Lanthimos cited Mel Brooks's mad-science comedy as a touchstone for the film's tone.
- Michael Powell and Emeric Pressburger — Lanthimos pointed to their old-school studio craft — painted backdrops and soundstage artifice — as a model for the film's look.
- Rainer Werner Fassbinder — Lanthimos cited Fassbinder as an influence on the film's camera work.