Emma Stone as Bella Baxter in an Early Black and White Scene from Poor Things (2023)

Emma Stone won the Academy Award for Best Actress for playing Bella Baxter in “Poor Things” (2023), Yorgos Lanthimos’s surreal comedy based on the novel by Alasdair Gray. Bella is a woman brought back to life by the eccentric surgeon Godwin Baxter, played by Willem Dafoe, after a radical experiment, and she has to discover the world and her own body from the beginning. This scene comes from the film’s early black and white section, set in Godwin’s house in Victorian London. Bella lies in bed and, for the first time, discovers sexual pleasure, reacting with surprise and delight. The scene is played for curiosity and comedy rather than titillation, and it marks the start of her awakening, which soon leads her to leave home and travel across Europe. Emma Stone appears nude. The film’s striking production design, fish eye lenses and shift into colour as Bella grows in confidence made it one of the most acclaimed films of its year, winning four Oscars in total. A bold, strange and very funny film, anchored by a fearless lead performance.

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