Yorgos Lanthimos jokes that Poor Things is his contribution to sex scene discourse

For better or worse, film discussions on the internet in the year 2023 have almost invariably given way to discourse about sex scenes. This discourse went beyond the internet today and onto the floor of the New York Film Festival, where Yorgos Lanthimos responded to a question about his submission into the discourse with Poor Things.

“Well, the contribution is this [film],” Lanthimos quipped to laughter. Without giving away too much, Poor Things follows Emma Stone’s Bella as she begins to move from a childlike place and learn more about the world—and that progression includes a lot of sex.

“It was a very important part of her journey, we felt that we shouldn’t shy away from it. I would feel very disingenuous to tell this story about this character who is so free and open and then be a prude about the sexual aspect of it,” Lanthimos continued. “She had to be free, there should be no judgment. The same way she learns about language and human suffering and love and science and politics, she should be equally free about sex.”

Outside of that question, the director spoke often about Stone’s contributions to the film, not just as an actor, but as a producer too. Lanthimos rarely writes films with specific actors in mind, but he and Stone got to talking about the project when working together on The Favourite. Lanthimos has been working to bring the film, which is based on the 1992 novel of the same name, to the screen since about 2011.

“I mentioned Poor Things to [Stone], and she immediately got very excited,” Lanthimos recalled of shooting The Favourite. “I still don’t think she’s read the book, by the way. It’s my fault, I told her, ‘Don’t read the book, it’s very complex, it’s a novelistic structure,’” he continued, explaining he didn’t want it to influence her feelings about the film. “Maybe she’s read it by now.”