The use of Chappell Roan’s Good Luck, Babe! in trailers and it’s actual appearance within Yorgos Lanthinmos off-kilter world reflects the overall arc of Bugonia, exemplifying the pinnacle of Lanthinmos career in his creative partnership with Emma Stone. Like the song, Bugonia builds on a strong and easily understandable concept, adapted from it’s South Korean predecessor Save the Green Planet!. It foremost has quite a build up, deviating from the usual pattern of Lanthinmos’ work, leaving me a little sceptica. It’s honestly quite strange to see how much care was taken in adhering to a pretty linear plotline after all these years. Like the chorus of Good Luck Babe!, both Emma Stone and Jesse Plemmons performances sing, the actors enter into conversation, perfectly choreographed with camerawork from the incomparable Robbie Ryan, a long-time collaborator. Just as nothing can beat the iconic bridge and final chorus combo from Roan, Bugonia finds it’s peak in an absolute gut punch of an ending, and will become the main talking point for the film overall, no doubt. Both successfully encapsulate a cultural moment, Bugonia a particularly impressive feat as it gives this impression more diplomatically than similar films from this year like Eddington, director Ari Aster having worked on both. Tact certainly feels like the wrong word to apply here given it’s an absurdist film, but really, it is a masterfully tactful commentary. As Roan mentioned for the Las Cultristas podcast, Good Luck Babe! is almost impossible to recreate vocally, even for herself, the magic in the collaboration Lanthinmos and Stone is certainly identical, perfectly enshrining the complicated moment in time that is the present decade.
The following contains spoilers for the film.
Bugonia is set in a time much like our own, following a female CEO of a pharmaceutical company Michelle Fueller (Stone), the epitome of corporate imagery, with the slang to boot. The aforementioned song is played very early on here, on Fullers drive to work, and I also think this moment unintentionally captures the unexpected success which Good Luck Babe! experienced commercially. Nonetheless, the cinematography here is classically unnerving for Lanthinmos, when paired with the direction he usually provides his actors of deadpan humour, it presents a familiar concept in an unfamiliar way, immediately establishing that despite it’s current looks, this is still a Lanthinmos flick after all.
Of course married with his usual cynicism, it is peppered with anti-capitalist messaging in this opening sequence, but still manages to feel fresh, particularly due to Stones input. In fact, this can be said of the majority of Stone’s character for the rest of the film, after her kidnapping, she unsurprisingly remains reliant on her corporate identity. The use of Fuller’s knowledge in psychology, likely mostly based in marketing more than her pharmaceutical background (or so we are presented with), is what she continually comes back to in her conversations with Teddy, her kidnapper, an even more ruthless take on executive power than in the films opening scenes as she attempts to manipulate her way out of the situation.
This wouldn’t be possible however without the incredible on screen partnership with Jesse Plemmons, combining both of their wealth of experience, as well as a substantial amount of chemistry. Playing on an absurd but well crafted premise of Fuller’s involvement in Teddy’s mother’s sickness, scenes at the dinner table feel both hilarious but real, particularly in the portrayal of radicalisation stemming from internet activity, and how it plays into an almost family dynamic. This is the real meat of Lanthinmos’ cultural commentary, but Plemmons’ Teddy is so masterfully acted that the character is engaging in his insane rhetoric, rather than tired, like mentioned before with the reception to Joaquin Phoenix in Eddington.
Plemmons’ is truly at the pinnacle of his career with this performance, and finds himself, somehow, the heart of the film. The eventual reveal that Teddy was in fact, correct, still leaves the audience with a sense that despite his foresight, his insecurities were always going to be his downfall in the end. The vulnerability this therefore requires in the portrayal of the character should not be underestimated, despite the bizarre exterior presented.
Of course Aidan Delbis as Don needs be mentioned here, a young autistic actor in his first film, Delbis both represents the community on film as they never have been so casually before, and beautifully grounds the dynamic between Stone and Plemmons’ characters. As an autistic person myself, the unprompted inclusion of a character in this manner is truly a humongous step forward, after the likes of films like Sia’s Music, it truly does mean a lot to have a film casually represent neurodivergent voices, as well as jumpstarting the career of autistic actors in this way.
These actors wouldn’t be able to produce their work without a quality screenplay, provided here by Will Tracy, of course adapting Save the Green Planet! Tracy’s other screenplay work is The Menu, which is extremely evident here, as mentioned before even the dinner scene is quite reminiscent of the ugly relationship of Nicholas Hoult and Anya Taylor Joy, within that film. Usually a Television writer, Tracy’s script is dense and masterful, providing so much ground for both conversation and laughter. It manages to carry so much weight, that themes and meanings might get a little lost amongst a general audience. Generally, it feels like there was somewhat of a cultural impact lost in the distance the film keeps from its audience, rather than its predecessor. Where Poor Things is an incredibly personal foray into womanhood, sexuality and aging, to grossly summarise it’s themes, Bugonia’s much more broad commentary on the world as it stands is a difficult sell, and harder to resonate with.
Within it’s own space of films with cultural commentary, it absolutely outshines, but the complex nature of the issue as a whole, as well as the times we live in, somewhat limit the impact Bugonia can have. The ending, the definitive highlight of the film sums up this idea perfectly. The audience is not left shocked by the end of the world as Teddy previously described it, and the existence of the aliens in general makes a lot of sense. At this point, people are tired in our society, and really do think to some degree that we might cause our own extinction at some point, probably to something frivolous. It therefore makes for a satisfying ending, and technically, Lanthinmos has outdone himself, creating a moment that will definitely stay with audiences, but ultimately is guaranteed to leave them a little more world weary, and a little more disconnected.