Poor Things (2023) 🧠💋

The Horniest Frankenstein Story Ever Told


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🎬 Let’s start by showing y’all the trailers, shall we?

(Warning — this one’s weird, raunchy, and unapologetically explicit. You’ve been warned, twice.)

“Why This Still Counts as a Frankenstein Story”

Now before anyone asks why this movie/show qualifies as a Frankenstein adaptation, let me explain: every version of this myth boils down to three boxes — (1) born in a lab, (2) learning to be human, and (3) forcing us to ask what even makes us human? If it checks all three, congratulations, you’re in the Frankenstein Club.

So yeah, Poor Things counts because Bella literally gets zapped to life in a lab and spends the whole movie rediscovering the world like a newborn on a bender. Edward Scissorhands counts because Edward was built by a lonely inventor, dropped into suburbia, and instantly becomes society’s favorite art project until they all panic at the sight of him. And The Munsters (2022)—as cursed as that film is—technically qualifies because Herman is a stitched-together experiment who’s trying (and failing) to fit into the human world.

Basically, every one of these stories takes Mary Shelley’s “man plays God” idea and asks, what if the monster wasn’t the problem—what if humanity was? The results range from heartfelt (Edward Scissorhands), to horny (Poor Things), to Halloween-store tragic (The Munsters).

Lets call this for what it is, its an interpretation of the novel.



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📖 Non-Spoiler Plot Overview

So imagine if Frankenstein got bored of grave robbing and decided to major in gender studies and chaos. That’s Poor Things.

The film follows Bella Baxter (Emma Stone), a woman brought back to life by Dr. Godwin Baxter (Willem Dafoe), a surgeon who looks like he’s been rebuilt out of leftover organs and regret. Baxter reanimates Bella’s body — but with the brain of a baby — meaning she’s basically an adult-sized toddler learning how to eat, talk, and exist all over again.

Things start off like a gothic fairy tale, but quickly turn into an unhinged exploration of pleasure, control, and identity. It’s both absurd and fascinating — like if Mary Shelley and Tim Burton co-wrote a fever dream after drinking absinthe.

🤢 “Empowerment,” You Say? Let’s Talk About That…

You know, the more I think about it, the more gross this movie actually becomes when you peel back the quirky, pastel layers. Because let’s not forget something that a lot of people seem happy to ignore — Bella Baxter literally has the brain of a baby. Yeah. A baby.

So when the movie gets to its second act and turns into an endless parade of sex scenes, I couldn’t help but feel deeply uncomfortable. Like… we’re supposed to see this as “empowering”? Really? How? This isn’t a woman discovering freedom — this is a newborn soul being sexualized and exploited by every man she meets.

And I’m not alone in thinking that. A lot of viewers and critics have pointed out the same contradiction — that Poor Things keeps confusing sexual availability with empowerment. It wants to say “look how liberated she is!” but completely ignores the fact that she doesn’t even have the mental maturity to understand what she’s doing.

It’s not brave. It’s not subversive. It’s just tone-deaf and gross. I genuinely felt disgusted watching scenes that the movie clearly thought were “bold statements” about female freedom. No — what it really felt like was watching a bunch of men pat themselves on the back for making something “edgy” while totally missing the ethical point.

So yeah. If this is “empowerment,” then maybe we’ve all lost the plot.



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👩‍🔬 Character Rundown

Bella Baxter (Emma Stone): The “creature” of this world. Curious, chaotic, and newly alive, she’s part child, part philosopher, and part chaos incarnate. Her arc mirrors Shelley’s creature — a newborn soul trying to understand humanity — but this time with an obsession for sex and freedom instead of love and knowledge.

Dr. Godwin Baxter (Willem Dafoe): A modern Victor Frankenstein with worse bedside manners and even worse skin care. He sees Bella as an experiment, not a daughter, and it’s both tragic and fitting.

Max McCandless (Ramy Youssef): The awkward assistant who’s basically what happens if you cross a nervous grad student with a doormat. He’s sweet, but his entire personality is “Bella, please stop doing that.”

Duncan Wedderburn (Mark Ruffalo): A pompous lawyer who falls head over heels (and libido) for Bella. He whisks her away to explore “life,” which turns into a steampunk road trip full of bad decisions, weird dancing, and way too much gambling.



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⏰ Pacing / Episode Flow

The pacing starts steady — black and white visuals, mysterious tone, gothic curiosity — and then, the moment Bella leaves Baxter’s home, bam! Everything bursts into color. From there, it’s like you’ve been dropped into a Victorian painting painted by someone who accidentally drank paint thinner.

It speeds up, slows down, and takes bizarre detours — including an entire section where Bella becomes a prostitute for roughly 25 minutes straight. The movie moves like its main character: impulsive, unpredictable, and unaware of its own limits.


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💎 Pros

Emma Stone’s performance: Unhinged in all the best ways. She moves, talks, and reacts like she’s genuinely experiencing life for the first time, and it’s disturbingly convincing.

The visuals: The art direction is jaw-dropping — steampunk cities, distorted skies, and dollhouse-like sets that make every frame feel dreamlike.

The hotel dance scene: Okay, I have to talk about this one. Bella and Duncan attend a fancy party at a hotel, surrounded by posh guests waltzing in sync. Out of nowhere, Bella hears the band play and decides she’s going to dance — except her “dancing” looks like a possession caught on film. She flails, hops, and spins with chaotic energy while everyone else keeps perfect rhythm. Duncan — bless his clueless heart — tries to keep up, and somehow manages to turn the entire scene into a romantic disaster. The camera just lingers on them as the room watches, half shocked, half entertained. It’s awkward, hilarious, and hypnotic — easily the highlight of the whole film.

Here’s the full clip, enjoy the nonsense.

Themes of self-discovery: The movie tries (keyword: tries) to explore what it means to be alive and free from societal expectations. There’s real potential in that idea.

It’s never boring. Even when it’s ridiculous, you can’t look away.



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🧩 Cons

The so-called “empowerment.” Critics keep calling this film “empowering,” but I don’t see how. Once Bella becomes a prostitute, that message collapses. It’s hard to feel inspired when the character literally has the brain of a child and is being sexualized under the guise of “freedom.”

Over-sexualized and tonally confused. The movie mistakes explicitness for meaning. You can only say “it’s art!” so many times before it starts to feel like shock value.

Emotionally detached. Despite its energy, there’s little heart behind it. Shelley’s original Frankenstein made you feel the creature’s pain. Poor Things makes you feel like you need a shower.

Misunderstanding the mythos. Shelley’s creature wanted connection and morality. Bella just wants experience. And while that’s an interesting twist, it strips away the tragedy that made the original story timeless.



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💭 Final Thoughts

This is easily the weirdest, horniest Frankenstein adaptation ever created. It’s visually stunning, wildly acted, and undeniably memorable — but it’s also tonally confused and morally questionable.

The irony is that it borrows so much from Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein: a creator who refuses responsibility, a creature who just wants to understand life, and a tragic journey of self-awareness. It even reminds me of Edward Scissorhands — another story about a misunderstood creation trying to find their place in an absurd world.

But here’s the difference: Shelley’s creature broke your heart. Bella just makes you say, “Wait, this is supposed to be empowering?” The film confuses liberation with indulgence, turning what could’ve been a profound story about rebirth into a surreal sexual odyssey.

Still, I can’t deny that it’s one hell of a cinematic experiment — and like Frankenstein’s monster, it’s fascinating precisely because it’s flawed.


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⭐ Rating: 9/10

(Because originality deserves credit — even when it makes you deeply uncomfortable.)


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⚠️ Spoiler Warning

From here on out, we’re diving deep into the madness. Proceed if you dare.


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💀 Spoilers

The film opens with a woman leaping to her death — no face shown. She’s later revealed to be Bella’s “original” self. Dr. Baxter reanimates her body but replaces her brain with that of her unborn child. Meaning yes — Bella has the brain of a baby in an adult body. That’s the kind of energy we’re dealing with here.

She grows and learns under Baxter’s roof, fascinated by everything — language, food, her own reflection — and then discovers sex like a toddler discovering gravity. Her curiosity turns physical fast, leading her to abandon Baxter and her fiancé Max to run off with Duncan, a smug lawyer with more ego than sense.

This is where the film turns from Gothic fantasy to chaotic erotica. Bella and Duncan’s “romance” is basically a traveling circus of hedonism — they dance, they argue, they gamble, they break furniture, and yes, they have sex constantly. Eventually, she gets bored of him and life itself, realizing that physical pleasure isn’t enough.

She begins questioning morality and empathy after witnessing real suffering — namely, enslaved people during one of their travels. She tries to help, but her naivety just causes more harm, as her “good deed” money is stolen immediately. Duncan spirals into desperation, and Bella, in the most “what the hell” third-act twist imaginable, becomes a prostitute.

For nearly half an hour, the film is just her working at a brothel, learning about humanity through sex — a section that feels more exhausting than enlightening. Meanwhile, Baxter, dying of cancer, builds a second Bella — a soulless duplicate — as if trying to replace her.

Bella eventually returns home, more mature but emotionally broken. She decides to marry Max — but their wedding is interrupted by her old husband, Alfie, who claims her as his wife and drags her home. There, it’s revealed that she was indeed the woman who died at the start of the film. Alfie abuses and controls her, but she outsmarts him, throws his drugged drink in his face, and in true Frankenstein fashion, later gives him the brain of a sheep.

The final moments show Bella at peace — drinking outside with Max while Alfie crawls on all fours in the background, baa-ing like livestock. It’s both poetic and absurd.

It’s a perfect ending for this kind of movie: half tragedy, half lunacy.