Madrid, Jan 2 (EFE).- In Bella Baxter, the main character in Yorgos Lanthimos’ film ‘Poor Things’, Emma Stone says she has found one of the most inspiring characters of her career.
The movie is a fantastical fable with a generous pinch of black humor and perversion by director Lanthimos that won the Golden Lion at last year’s Venice Film Festival and is widely tipped to perform strongly at the Oscars.
“I love Bella in all ways, she is so special to me. She’s inspired me a lot because she has no shame or prejudice, she’s so open-minded and is so interested in every aspect of life,” the American actress, Oscar winner for ‘La la land’ (2016), told EFE.
“I think that that kind of fascination in the short time we have here is super important and easy to forget when you’re bogged down by all of the things that life can bring, and she’s a really good example of pure presence, experience, adventure and curiosity,” Stone explained.
Poor Things’ is based on a novel by Scotsman Alasdair Gray that reinterprets the story of Frankenstein through a woman who is brought back to life by a surgeon (Willem Dafoe) using unorthodox methods. The operation that allows her to start life from scratch with the thirst for adventure of a child and, little by little, the freedom of an adult.
The film is a Golden Globe favorite with seven nominations, along with ‘Barbie’, ‘Oppenheimer’ and ‘Killers of the Flower Moon’.
Stone is up for the award for best actress in a comedy and all indications are that she will also be among the Oscar nominees.
With an imaginative Victorian setting and costumes passed through a modern filter, the plot starts in London, where a first stage of discoveries takes place, until Bella’s desire for emancipation arises and she embarks on a journey with a libertine lawyer, played by Mark Ruffalo, with whom she goes on a passionate adventure around the world.
On the abundance of sex scenes – which were supervised by an intimacy coordinator – Stone says they are a fundamental part of the story and of the character’s development.
“Sex is just one aspect of Bella’s exploration and discovery. She’s experiencing travel, food, politics, philosophy, sex, dance (…) It’s furthering her understanding of human beings,” she said.
Stone emphasizes the power dynamics implicit in sexual relationships.
“Sex and power really can go hand in hand in such a major way and she’s understanding what all of that means what she is interested in,” she said.
Part of that experimentation includes a stint in a brothel that could raise some objections from a feminist point of view, but Stone, who is also a producer of the film, defends it as a story of women’s liberation.
“The book was written by a man, the screenplay was written by a man (Tony McNamara, co-author of ‘The Favourite’) and was directed by men, but it’s incredible because it is in many ways an indictment of so many of these male characters,” she says.
“These actors are so amazing. So they bring warmth and lovability and all of that to these characters, but they are kind of these different archetypes of men that are just baffled by this woman gaining agency and evolving.”
Of Lanthimos he says he is a sensitive director toward female characters.
“He was raised by a single mother and was surrounded by women, and that comes through in his characters, like in ‘The Favourite,’ the way those three women interacted or in ‘Dogtooth.'”
Lanthimos and Stone worked together for the first time in ‘The Favourite’ (2018), which earned the actress her third Oscar nomination, and they have also shot together the short film ‘Bleat’ (2022) and will repeat in the Greek director’s next project, ‘Kind of kindness’. EFE
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