‘Poor Things’: The Oscar favorite’s ending explained
‘Poor Things’: The Oscar favorite’s ending explained – We’ll answer all your questions about the acclaimed film with Emma Stone. the Poor Things is one of the hottest favorites at the upcoming Oscars.
By Megan Sauer
The surrealist epic tells the story of Bella Baxter, a woman who had her unborn baby’s brain implanted after her death. She begins to perceive the world in a completely new way and questions long-established social conventions .
Her curiosity takes her to different countries until she ultimately decides to return to London to see her father Godwin Baxter ( Willem Dafoe ) one last time.
The film is based on the novel of the same name by Alasdair Gray.
How does “Poor Things” end?
On his deathbed, crazy Professor Baxter wants Bella to marry his assistant Max. However, just as the two are standing in front of the altar, their old lover Duncan ( Mark Ruffalo ) shows up.
To destroy Bella’s happiness, he also has Alfie Blessington ( Kit Harrington ) in tow. Before Bella’s death, Alfie was married to her and curiosity about what kind of person she was in her previous life causes the wedding to collapse and drives Bella straight into Alfie’s arms.
Bella used to be called Victoria and had a similar sadistic sense of humor as Alfie. She learns that her pregnancy has made her so unhappy that she decided to throw herself into the Thames.
This triggers conflicting feelings in her, because Bella is, after all, a combination of Victoria’s body and the brain of her unborn child. She is death and life in one person.
Bella realizes that Alfie represents everything she doesn’t want to be. However, the offended noble locks her in his castle and prevents her return to Max.
She finally manages to escape from his clutches and take her fate into her own hands.
At the end of the film we see her with Max in Godwin’s house. Felicity ( Margaret Qualley ) can also be seen at her side; she was Godwin’s last major experiment before his death.
Like Bella, she has also had a new brain inserted. Bella also implanted the brain of a sheep in Alfie, which is why he crawls on all fours in her garden and eats grass.
What does the end mean?
“Poor Things” is a story of a woman. Bella develops from an infant into an emancipated woman and breaks with the ideas that are forced upon her.
Your biggest challenge to self-determination is to leave your old life behind and take your destiny into your own hands.
In the end, she not only decides to control her own fate, but also becomes a doctor.
This career choice symbolizes that she wants to change not only herself but also the world around her, just like Godwin. She wants to research, overturn old morals and create a world full of new ideas.
