The dark comedy of Yorgos Lanthimos Poor things, which hits digital platforms on Tuesday, is up for eleven Oscars – and while it’s up for the bigs, like Best Director and Best Picture, it’s no surprise that it was also nominated in the design categories. One of the most outrageous, visually over-the-top films of 2023. Poor things places its female Frankenstein figure Bella Baxter (Emma Stone) in puffed sleeves bigger than her head, surrounds her with stitched-together duck-dog hybrid creatures, and situates her in a house that feels like an eerie design wonderland.
In an exclusive clip from a featurette on the Blu-ray and DVD release provided to Polygon by Searchlight Pictures, Poor things co-star Willem DaFoe walks us through that house and points out some of the stranger details. At the same time, the designers discuss their influences and intentions in putting together the place.
The nicest detail in this video is the incredibly detailed 3D flythrough graphic, which shows what kind of previsualization imaging went into building this multi-story, multi-room set. Both during the tour and during the flythrough, every inch of available surface is crammed with paintings, fabric bas-reliefs, momentos, decorations and occult or strange-scientific trinkets. Check out that two-headed fetal skeleton, or the pancreas-shaped alchemical retort that doubles as an external pancreas for DaFoe’s character, mad scientist Godwin Baxter.
The best details of the house tour are undoubtedly the anatomical details. DaFoe points out the secret door, and Stone points out the fish lamps and seaweed designs sewn into Bella’s walls, but the real star of the show is the ceiling made up of two intertwined earlobes, and the makeup mirror with prominent ears on it is a nice touch too. Then there are the details meant to evoke an operating room (the coiled fetus sculpture wrapped in a womb and given pride of place in the dining room) or a mental institution (the padded floors throughout the house). It all goes together in quite a creepy way with the ‘Victorian children’s playroom, but for adults’ theme of Bella’s bedroom.
Poor things will be available for purchase digitally on February 27 and on Blu-ray and DVD on March 12.