Emma Stone and writer/director Yorgos Lanthimos have been on a heater as a creative duo since 2018’s The Favourite making three films together that garnered 20 Academy Award nominations including two for Stone with one win for Best Actress. The two have reunited again for the fourth time in seven years with their latest entry.
Bugonia follows conspiracy-obsessed cousins Teddy (Jesse Plemons) and Don (Aidan Delbis) who, after doing research on the internet, become convinced that CEO Michelle Fuller (Stone) of the pharmaceutical company Auxolith, that botched the treatment of Teddy’s mother Sandy (Alicia Silverstone) with an experimental drug, is actually an alien from Andromeda in disguise who wants to destroy Earth. The two cousins kidnap Michelle and plan on forcing her to negotiate a meeting with the Andromedans before an upcoming lunar eclipse, which allows the Andromedan mothership to enter Earth’s atmosphere undetected, so that Teddy can force them to leave the planet and save the world.
A film exploring aimless, emotionally stunted working class young men swept up in internet fueled conspiracy theories sounds like one aimed toward making a statement about the world in which we currently live and indeed, Lanthimos is not seeking to throw too much of a curveball here; topical social commentary is exactly what Bugonia seeks to offer the audience. Teddy’s descent into conspiratorial madness and his eventual dehumanization of Michelle mirrors the current debate over the plight of young men in America and their lurch toward far-right conservatism and authoritarianism. Teddy simultaneously experienced the traumatic experience of his mother being hospitalized, being abused by his babysitter, then growing into a working class factory employee barely making ends meet as an adult while helping look after his mentally challenged cousin Don who also receives the short end of life’s stick due to his disability. Seeking answers for his turbulent life and having the seed planted by his mother in her hospital bed discussing healthcare and pharmaceutical conspiracies, Teddy fell into the rabbit hole that is internet self research until he believed the CEO who botched his mother’s care was fueled by an extraterrestrial evil that only he could identify and stop.
His character’s story is a stand-in for his real life analogues, young men with no direction, close immediate family, or future prospects for prosperity finding solace in angry echo chambers connecting them all worldwide. Teddy’s dehumanization of Michelle is a specific take on the general issue of how easily our culture seeks to dehumanize the other, those who speak, look, or think differently than us are increasingly not just people we disagree with, but existential threats to ourselves and society writ large. Plemons’ performance displaying Teddy’s determined, unhinged nature is effective in driving home the point of what fuels young men in similar real life circumstances and what their isolated anger can lead to. Bugonia of course contains much of the dark humor that is now a trademark element of a Lanthimos film, but aside from his comedic moments, Teddy is often terrifyingly mentally unwell, culminating in a brutal scene where he tries to physically force Michelle to cop to her extraterrestrial origins and the climax scene when his plan finally unravels. Plemons hits every beat on this character arc perfectly, which is to be expected from him by now.
Stone performs capably as Michelle, often serving as the voice of the audience and expressing bewilderment and incredulity at the bizarre, dumb conspiracy theory of Teddy as to her true origins. When the script calls for her to transform from slightly arrogant executive, dumbfounded at the stupidity of her captors, to terrified hostage trying to remain unharmed and figure a way out of her predicament, Stone’s capabilities as an actress make the change in demeanor feel natural and believable, moving both the story and the character along at a steady pace. She hits the familiar beats of her previous work with Lanthimos, funny at times and emotional at times, with a sudden burst of tension during the explosive climax, even if neither she or the material don’t reach the heights of previous films like The Favourite and Poor Things. Delbis must also be noted for his performance as Don, a very sympathetic and tender performance as a challenged young man with a good heart who wants to do right by his cousin and the world while maintaining his innate sense of right and wrong. His dynamic with Teddy brings to mind a darker version of Lennie and George from Of Mice and Men, with the same amount of sympathy for Don as with Lennie. This is in large part due to the performances of both Plemons and Delbis, with Delbis handling the more sensitive role with aplomb.
Indeed, what is sure to separate the reactions to Bugonia from Lanthimos’ previous efforts is his choice in how to end the film. It takes quite a turn toward the absurd that is slightly more silly and over-the-top than we’ve even come to normally expect from the director, but for this reviewer, it hearkened back to the twists from Rod Serling’s The Twilight Zone TV series, although not quite as impactful as the show’s most legendary episodes. Still, that spirit of using science fiction surprises to accentuate commentary on the human condition and contemporary society’s behavior is present in how this film ended and Lanthimos’ directorial intent. While a bit of a curve, the ending drives home the film’s theme regarding humanity’s destructive nature and poor stewardship of the world in a way that remains true to Lanthimos’ style while illustrating his point and staying faithful to the world within the film. Bugonia is a silly film that felt over the top for stretches, but the ending tied it together in a way that strengthens what comes before it, the mark of a well executed film.
Image: Focus Features
