“Poor Things” is currently the number one movie on Hulu in the US, according to FlixPatrol (as for March 18, 2024). The film reached the top spot of the platform ten days after its release on streaming, boosted, of course, by the Oscars ceremony.
Directed by Yorgos Lanthimos, the film received 11 nominations at the 96th Academy Awards, winning four: Best Production Design, Best Makeup and Hairstyling, Best Costume Design and, finally, Best Actress for Emma Stone.
Stone also won the Critics Choice Award, the BAFTA and the Golden Globe for her performance as Bella Baxter. Despite all the praise, the black comedy film was also subject to some controversy, surrounding its themes and the depiction of women in society.
Emma Stone’s ‘Poor Things’ reigns on Hulu in the US
Tony McNamara, who also worked with Lanthimos in ‘The Favourite,’ adapted the script of ‘Poor Things,’ which is based on the 1992 book by Alasdair Gray. It tells the story of Bella Baxter (played by Stone), a young woman in Victorian London who, after attempting to take her life, undergoes a brain transplant that saves her life.
The film is bold and it’s filled with raunchy scenes, which divided critics. Many believed that the movie’s protagonist asserted her personhood throughout the story, others think that the story fell short to sell the message, such as Angelica Jade Bastién from Vulture and Manohla Dargis, chief critic of The New York Times.
Speaking with Stephen Colbert, Stone explained that the film is a “metaphor” and that she loved playing Bella “because she doesn’t judge herself of her impulses, or really judge anything as positive or negative experience, it’s all just part of life and it’s all meaningful and all just interesting to her, that was an incredible thing to do.”
Apart from Stone, Mark Ruffalo, Willem Dafoe, Ramy Youssef, Christopher Abbott, and Jerrod Carmichael also star in the film. If you want to watch it before the Oscars, here’s all you need to know about its streaming release date.