Phoebe Yafano

I went into watching Poor Things feeling concern. I am an autistic woman and earlier today I'd read a few articles about disabled people leaving the cinema early into the film due to it's ableist language and tropes which appear early on. And when I was watching the film at this point myself I felt uncomfortable and concerned. Yargos Lanthimos definitely did not handle everything delicately and there were parts of disabled representation which made me cringe. The early use of the R word was quite unsettling, and the way men take advantage of Bella Baxter sexually was quite haunting when considering the amount of developmentally disabled people who are sexually abused. However, by the middle and end of the film I had a huge smile on my face. By the end these concerns were completely turned on their head, with Bella becoming one of the best representations of a neurodivergent woman I have seen in years. I felt SEEN watching this film. I felt represented in a way I have not experienced before. My personality has always felt odd and different and not something I think I have ever seen on screen, and Bella became the recognition I've desperately wanted and needed for years. She is one of the first women with a personality like mine I have seen have sexual desires, and be sexually desired by others. She is funny, intelligent, strange, insane, autonomous, and a sexual being - despite the pre-conceived notions of others about her brain. I also thought Willem Defoe's character was brilliant, he is sneered at by others due to his physical disability despite himself and Bella thinking of it quite plainly. He acknowledges that his love for Bella is wrapped in how she always accepted him as he is, despite others treating him as though he is a monster (I also love how he refers to himself as God, the undying love and acceptance of the disabled characters for themselves and acceptance of themselves as they are is brilliant)... The film also handles other matters brilliantly, the absolute fool which is Mark Ruffalo's character is a great depiction of how absurd it is that idiot men try to use such brilliant women. I loved laughing at him - his performance was one of the best. The depiction of sex work and women's bodily autonomy was stellar. And turning an abuser into a bodily shell for a goat always gets plus points from me! We finish poor things in a garden full of strange people who accept themselves as they are, and full of a screening of people who love them, and who I hope will leave the cinema ready to love and accept us strange folk in the real world too.

I don't understand the bad reviews for this one. A very emotional show about being human, family relationships, trauma, and forgiveness. I was on the edge of my seat during each episode. Covers a dark subject matter but also has some laughs. Very human and the characters are all very enjoyable to watch. It's sad, but I don't think it would be as real if it wasn't. Some people say it empathizes with serial killers, I personally think the ending shows it doesn't. It just shows them as human, which is what they are, whether you want to admit that or not.