THE BEAUTY OF BELIEVING IN THE UNBELIEVABLE. THE CASE OF ADAPTING “POOR THINGS”

Abstract

I have always been drawn towards oeuvres of the past centuries, and towards richly decorated literary and filmic landscapes. And last year, as I was trying to figure out a theme for my thesis, the trailer for a new film called “Poor Things” was released. Even from those few minutes, I understood that it was something I wanted to see not just as a filmgoer, but to analyse it. I found out that it was actually an adaptation of a book by the same name, and after reading it, I knew I wanted to take a deeper look at the differences between the two mediums, and why they might have been made. At times puzzling, many times bold, and usually philosophical, both the book and the film offer ample room for study and scrutiny. Given the amount of ideological discourse that the film sparked, I chose to focus on the visual, aesthetic aspects, some of which take the film from being a period drama to be closer to a pretty fever dream than a historical piece