Inside the surreal world of ‘Poor Things’

POOR THINGS movie – Courtesy of SearchLight Pictures anf EPK-TV.

Architecture & Interior Design – “The world is ours,” says a Parisian maîtresse to Bella in Poor Things by Yorgos Lanthimos. The surreal ‘coming-of-age’ movie starring Emma Stone, Daniel Defoe, and Mark Ruffalo won the 2024 Academy Award for Best Production Design. James Price and Shona Heath teamed up to build some of the most imaginative sets, recreating a dreamlike London, Paris, Alexandria, and Lisbon.

Poor Things narrates the adventures of Frankenstein-like heroine Bella Baxter, portrayed by Emma Stone, who won the Oscar for Best Actress. Brought back to life by an unorthodox scientist in Victorian London, the protagonist embarks on a journey of self-discovery, during which she explores the world in all its wonder and misery.

POOR THINGS - Photo by Atsushi Nishijima. Courtesy of Searchlight Pictures. © 2023 Searchlight Pictures All Rights Reserved.

“There needed to be a world created for Bella to inhabit,” explains director Yorgos Lanthimos, who searched for locations across Europe before deciding to build epic-scale sets from scratch. “It couldn’t just be something realistic. We tried to open the period and insert elements that allude to a certain era while allowing it to be more of a fairy tale or a metaphor for things. There are various elements that are either science fiction, anachronistic, or imaginary.”

POOR THINGS. Photo Courtesy of Searchlight Pictures. © 2023 Searchlight Pictures All Rights Reserved.

Indeed, Brutalist buildings stand aside Belle Epoque palaces. Victorian, surreal, and exotic details compose in-wonderland interiors filled with fantastic creatures such as mermaids, owls and dolphins. Poor Things is an exquisitely rich and refined post-modern interior design and architecture potpourri. “We always tried to imagine that this story was set in a past time, but with a vision of the future.” Explains James Price.

The first act is mostly set in Bella’s home and the theatre where the professor, Daniel Defoe, creates hybrid animals and experiments with humans. Bella’s bedroom recalls a giant baby cradle with padded walls, confetti colours, quirky furniture such as a mirror with ears and a ceiling with fishes and algae lamps. The rest of the house features is more austere Victorian interiors filled furniture and details – and often shot in black and white.

Emma Stone in POOR THINGS. Photo Courtesy of Searchlight Pictures. © 2023 Searchlight Pictures All Rights Reserved.

By contrast, the world Bella explores is an explosion of colour: Art Deco elements, Jules Verne-like cable cars, an octopus-shaped chandelier, flowers, secret alleys, passages, connected balconies… A world inviting you to explore it. The city of Lisbon is particularly rich – here, modernist architecture is in constrast with medieval buildings. “We wanted it to feel like a real city in the sense that nothing was uniform.”

Emma Stone in POOR THINGS. Photo Courtesy of Searchlight Pictures. © 2024 Searchlight Pictures All Rights Reserved.

A giant penis, copulating statues and phallic windows… The Parisian brothel is heavily decorated in a quirky and humoristic Baroque style. Another stunning set is the city of Alexandria which was built as a large miniature rather than a full-size location.

Production took over numerous sound stages at the Origo Studios in Budapest. Heath and Price built the complete worlds of London and Baxter’s House, the ocean liner ship, the Parisian square and brothel and the Alexandria hotel and slums.

Katherine Hunter, Emma Stone and the cast of POOR THINGS. Photo by Atsushi Nishijima. Courtesy of Searchlight Pictures. © 2023 Searchlight Pictures All Rights Reserved.

For the city of Lisbon, they used the largest sound stage in continental Europe at Korda Studios in Budapest. “The sets were epic in scale. We built composite sets where you can walk into a house, take your shoes off, and be at home,” Adds Price.

POOR THINGS. Photo by Yorgos Lanthimos. Courtesy of Searchlight Pictures. © 2023 Searchlight Pictures All Rights Reserved.

“We used techniques like painted backdrops or back projection, as well as new technology. In the ship, the sea behind them and the skies are LED screens,” adds Lanthimos. “Poor Things was the most detailed prep that I’ve ever done for a film, with so many drawings and references.”