Movies | Emma Stone became an Oscar favorite – “Shame is a terrible drug for me”

If summer's big movie character was Barbie, spring is ruled by Bella. Emma Stone plays the lead role in the film Poor Thingswhich rose in Oscar speculation Oppenheimer, Barbie's and alongside other favorites.

Like In Barbiealso In Poor Things emancipation is underway. The events take place in an imagined and visually emphasized world, and the tone is wittily satirical.

The differences between the works are also great. Poor Things is an adult film playing with the imagery of horror fantasy and Victorian sci-fi, where sex plays a large, even exceptional role in American terms.

“Sex is one part of Bella's journey. He learns about sex as well as about food, politics and the idea of ​​money,” says Stone in a remote interview.

“But finding pleasure and Bella's development with it is undeniably very fun. Also because he explores the nature of pleasure so clinically. Bella's growth story is remarkable: she is Willem Dafoe created by a half-mad scientist who gets to know the world in different roles and through the desires of different men. The journey goes through pseudo-historical Europe from Glasgow to Lisbon and Paris.”

“Bella learns about power relations and her own position,” Stone reflects.

“And in the end, everything is quite familiar to us. He discovers our world, and that's why the film tickles.”

of Poor Things directed by a Greek Yorgos Lanthimos. Stone previously starred in Lanthimos' previous arthouse blockbuster The Favorite. It received six Academy Award nominations, including a supporting actor nomination for Stone.

“We started talking about this film right away The Favourites after the filming. It took four years before we could shoot,” says Stone.

At the beginning of the story, Bella is mentally like a child, and according to Stone, the search for a character was an effort to understand what it would be like to live without self-criticism.

“Then you don't judge others either,” says Stone.

“What if I didn't have all the rules and restrictions of society around my neck? of Poor Things the visual world is unique. There is gothic Frankenstein imagery, a steampunk sci-fi spirit set in the Victorian era, exaggerated Art Nouveau architecture and parodic Parisian kitsch.”

The borderline of exaggeration was also moved in the way the characters are played. Bella has the essence of a child, an adult, an animal and even a monster.

“It was one thing to conceptualize the world and rehearse the scenes, and another to actually make the film because there were so many expectations,” says Stone.

“I was nervous that I wasn't the one pushing this. Will I succeed? What exactly are we even aiming for?”

The costume guided and facilitated Stone in finding the tone.

“Before the filming sessions, I was probably most looking forward to the final costume solutions. Pastels change to black, details communicate more. It all led to a logical dramaturgy.”

Ultimately Poor Things is a film about knowledge. Bella is always thirsty for information, and therefore she develops into a sovereign actor, beyond men who are convinced of their own excellence.

For the male characters, she is first an object – and then a mirror through which they see who they are.

“Bella is not afraid to grow and develop,” says Stone.

Bella's path gives a glimpse of an ideal world without shame.

“I was raised Lutheran. Shame is a terrible drug for me,” says Stone.

“I have learned that there is right and wrong, and I am not talking about morality, but about what is allowed to feel and experience internally.”

Internalizing norms defines life, Stone reflects, and playing the role of Bella made me think about the difference between guilt and shame. Being aware of guilt has the dimension of whether things could be done differently, while shame is the experience that a person will not become better than this.

“Shame does not mean that you are more prone to apologize and improve. Shame just hurts,” says Stone.

With Emma Stone is already the best actress Oscar. He also won that for a role that is not the most typical serious drama: a musical La La Land seven years ago.

Like La La Land success road, too of Poor Things success started at the Venice Film Festival. Poor Things won the main prize there in September, the Golden Lion. On Sunday, Stone received a Golden Globe for the role of Bella Alma Pöystin and the Barbie star Margot Robbie's in front of the nose.

By Alaisdair Gray based on the novel and Tony McNamara written by Poor Things also won the Golden Globes for best musical and comedy film. It is even predicted in the Oscar previews Oppenheimer along with the highest number of nominations