Poor Things (2023)

Bella Baxter (Emma Stone) is the Frankenstein-esque creation of Willem Dafoe’s Dr. Godwin (whom she refers to as God), a respected surgeon with facial deformities from a traumatic childhood and an inability to pass gas on his own. She has the brain of a child, literally, and so we watch her discovering things for the first time, including self pleasure, while being observed by God’s young apprentice, Max (Ramy Yousseff). The two become engaged, but then in comes the unscrupulous lawyer Duncan (Mark Ruffalo), who becomes so enamored of her that he convinces her to run off and travel the globe with him. She continues to learn more and more about the world and herself, and when her actions cause them to go broke, Bella gets a job at a brothel in Paris, all to Duncan’s dismay. She eventually makes her way back to God and Max, and just when it seems like we’re in for a happy ending, things get disrupted yet again. This is by far Emma Stone’s most naked role to date, with the Oscar winner stripping down several times for scenes of “furious jumping” (aka sex) with Ruffalo as well as her nameless brothel clients. It may be called Poor Things, but it’s rich with nudity!