Yorgos Lanthimos’s period fantasy Poor Things bagged four trophies at the 96th Academy Awards on Monday (IST), finishing a close second to the biographical drama Oppenheimer which dominated this year’s Oscars with seven wins.
Headlined by Emma Stone, who took home the best actress award for her portrayal of Bella Baxter in the film, Poor Things also bagged trophies in the categories for best makeup and hairstyle, best production design and costume design.
Based on Alasdair Gray’s 1992 novel, the movie features an ensemble cast including Mark Ruffalo, Ramy Youssef and Jerrod Carmichael.
While accepting her award, Emma gave a shout out to her fellow nominee Lily Gladstone who was nominated for Martin Scorsese’s Killers of the Flower Moon in the same category. Other nominees in the category were Sandra Hüller (Anatomy of Fall) and Carey Mulligan (Maestro).
This marks Emma’s second Oscar in the best actress category following her win in 2017 for La La Land alongside Ryan Gosling. She was also nominated in the best supporting actress category previously for Birdman (2015) and The Favourite (2019).
The movie follows the story of Bella Baxter (Stone), a result of an experiment by an unorthodox scientist Godwin Baxter, portrayed by Willem Dafoe, who implanted a child's brain into her adult body to bring her back to life. The young woman later runs off with a lawyer (portrayed by Mark Ruffalo) on an adventure across the continents to discover herself and her sexuality. Being ahead of her time, Bella grows in her purpose to stand for equality and liberation, ultimately finding an independent voice to express herself without any societal constraints.
Poor Things has earned more than USD 105 million at the global box office, emerging as one of the highest-grossing limited releases of 2023.
Emma currently has the anthology film Kinds of Kindness, helmed by her Poor Things director Lanthimos, in the pipeline. She will star in the movie alongside Jesse Plemons, Willem Dafoe, Margaret Qualley, Hong Chau, Joe Alwyn, Mamoudou Athie and Hunter Schafer.
