'Astounding' Poor Things confirms Emma Stone's star status

It’s not going out on a limb to say you have never seen a performance quite like Emma Stone’s in Poor Things.

- Anne Billson

In this adaptation of Alasdair Gray’s novel, from “ Greek weird wave” director Yorgos Lanthimos, she plays Bella Baxter, an adult woman with the mind of an infant, who embarks on a journey of self-discovery through fantastical Victorian-era steampunk cityscapes. It’s a tour de force of finely honed slapstick and wonky wordplay at the service of a plausible, sincere character arc, and it’s very, very funny.

Critics have been falling over themselves in the search for superlatives. “ Stone goes for bawdy, boundary-pushing broke .” “ Entirely astounding .” “ A hilarious, beyond-next-level performance .” More than one writer used the word “fearless” – thinly veiled code for the sort of unabashed nudity and sexual content most Hollywood actors shy away from nowadays.

The film is an Irish-British- US co-production, but the vibe is European arthouse. It will almost certainly net the actor a fourth Academy Award nomination. “Above all, this film is the central character of Bella Baxter, this incredible creature, and she wouldn’t exist without Emma Stone, another incredible creature,” Lanthimos said while accepting the Golden Lion at the Venice Film Festival in September.

Who could have predicted this sort of twist in the career of a green-eyed 18-year-old who dyed her naturally blond hair red for her film debut in the gormless teen comedy Superbad? But she already had enough talent to convince you a hot chick could fall for Jonah Hill at his least alluring, which instantly gained her a big nerd following. Over the years she has fine-tuned a combination of goofy girl-nextdoor glamour and comic timing into an appealing screwball persona not a million miles from the likes ofirene Dunne or Carole Lombard.