Emma and Yorgos have done it again, with a wholly absorbing, bloody bonkers yet strangely sincere dark comedy thriller of sorts (many a Yorgos Lanthimos film defies genre classification, and this is certainly one) that will likely divide audiences and, certainly, critics. Bugonia is a cinematic wonder in so many ways.
Just how well it does with the Academy is a curiosity but the two central performance—especially Emma Stone’s edgy, riveting turn— must be considered as well as the intelligent, satiric and continuously intriguing screenplay.
Stone plays Michelle Fuller the headstrong CEO of Auxolith, a pharma company that has quite a few skeletons in its closet. She’s the kind of leader who speaks one thing, but means the other, as I’m sure do too many heads of major companies. “You’re welcome to leave at 5:30, but if you have extra work you want to do, you can stay as well,” is the gist of what she keeps telling her employees. And what message does that send?
Jesse Plemons is Teddy, a menial Auxolith employee who is also a beekeeper who is also convinced that Michelle is an alien, whose species is hellbent on destroying Earth. That’s why he and his cousin, (Aidan Delbis), decide to kidnap her. Well, Teddy decides. Donny follows blindly, even when Teddy chemically castrates him. But Teddy has another reason to want to cause harm to Michelle which involves his mother (Alicia Silverstone).
Much of the wicked Lars von-Trierian fun is then had as Michelle goes toe to toe with Teddy, intellectually and physically, after she is chained up in Teddy’s basement, tortured and her head is shaven.
Stone delivers another complex performance, terrifying one moment, gentle and sweet the next—her character is always playing a role. Divulging too much more would spoil the riches involved as the nuances of Michelle unfolds and reveals new layers. Suffice to say, Stone never played a part quite like this one before and, not surprisingly, nails it, keeping us transfixed until the wacky end.
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Plemons is fully committed to his seemingly insane character. But is Teddy really crazy? Regardless, it’s a bold turn, and one he’s physically transformed for, losing weight and looking like someone who has bodies buried under the floorboards.
You may find yourself picking sides early on, only to vacillate as things get heady and more violent levels are raised. That’s part of the film’s dastardly charm.
The question is she or isn’t she an alien hangs over most of the running time, although the answer becomes a bit obvious as the narrative progresses and the ending could be seen as a bit of a cop-out. But I think Lanthimos has already made his point. And the use of Marlene Dietrich’s vocal of “Where Have All the Flowers Gone,” is sublime.
The film is saying something profound, if rather blunt, on what fuck-ups we all are as human, but the movie is not an indictment of the left or the right or different segments of society–it’s a condemnation of humanity and as such can be seen as misanthropic, but alas we have all played our part in destroying the planet as well as hating on one another.
In the end, I see the film as a plea, perhaps a final plea, for us to get our shit together.
Bugonia is loosely based on the 2003 South Korean film Save the Green Planet! And is being presented In Competition at the Venice Film Festival.
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