Emma Stone's Steamy New Sex Comedy Drops On Netflix Today
Netflix just dropped Poor Things, Emma Stone’s award-winning, NSFW black comedy from Searchlight, with Stone as resurrected heroine Bella Baxter — now streaming.
Right, listen up if you missed it at the cinema or couldn’t stomach the wait on other platforms—Emma Stone’s headache-inducing black comedy Poor Things has just landed on Netflix in the UK. Yes, the one with the prosthetics, the mayhem, and that plot so bizarre you end up double-checking whether you read it right. Fair warning, it’s not exactly your average Sunday evening flick.
The Plot: Dead, Rewired, and Seriously Up for It
Here’s the rollercoaster setup: Emma Stone stars as Bella Baxter, a woman who’s basically brought back from the dead when a slightly unhinged scientist swaps out her brain for that of her unborn child. That’s not a typo. It’s grisly Frankenstein stuff with added shock value—and, somehow, it’s actually a comedy.
So, Bella is resurrected by Dr Godwin Baxter (Willem Dafoe looking even more unhinged than usual), and what follows is a coming-of-age story—if your coming-of-age involves bodily confusion and a relentless appetite for life’s pleasures. If that sounds bonkers, that’s because it absolutely is.
Rather than staying quietly under Baxter’s roof, Bella legs it with Duncan Wedderburn, a lawyer with more vices than morals—played by Mark Ruffalo hamming it up to the rafters. Cue a madcap, sex-fuelled journey across various continents, as Bella tries to figure out the world with the unfiltered mindset of someone who’s got no time for outdated rules, especially those to do with women’s independence. It gets irreverent. A lot.
‘The film follows the incredible tale and fantastical evolution of Bella Baxter (Stone), a young woman brought back to life by the brilliant and unorthodox scientist Dr. Godwin Baxter… Eager to learn, Bella runs off with Duncan Wedderburn… Free from the prejudices of her times, Bella grows steadfast in her purpose to stand for equality and liberation.’
Quick-Fire Credits—Who Did What
- Directed by: Yorgos Lanthimos—yes, the same one behind The Favourite and The Lobster
- Screenplay: Tony McNamara (also of The Favourite fame)
- Source material: Alasdair Gray’s novel from 1992 (which already had a cult following before the film got involved)
- Main cast: Emma Stone (Bella Baxter), Willem Dafoe (Godwin Baxter), Mark Ruffalo (Duncan Wedderburn), Ramy Youssef (Max McCandless), Jerrod Carmichael (Harry Astley), Christopher Abbott (Sir Aubrey de la Pole Blessington), Margaret Qualley (Felicity), Kathryn Hunter (Swiney)
Awards, Reception, and What Makes It Stand Out
In an awards season that felt seriously crowded, Stone walked off with the big guns: an Oscar and a Golden Globe, both for Best Actress. Not to be sniffed at, although honestly, you kind of need to see her performance to work out exactly what she’s managed to do—it’s equal parts unhinged, comedic, and unsettling. Critics were more than on board, with the film sticking at a 92% Fresh score on Rotten Tomatoes, pulled from 381 reviews. That’s rare air.
Worth noting: this marks only the second time Lanthimos and Stone have teamed up on a full feature—after The Favourite set the bar pretty high.