VENICE – In her latest film, US actress Emma Stone plays a powerful CEO who is kidnapped by two men who believe she’s an alien. It might sound a little out there, but Bugonia is one of the most talked-about movies at this year’s Venice Film Festival, thanks to its unique depiction of the impact of conspiracy theories and echo chambers. The film could easily have been a preachy lecture about the dangers of the internet. But Bugonia, directed by Oscars favourite Yorgos Lanthimos, is spinning a lot more plates than you initially think, and there is more at play than meets the eye. “There’s so much that’s happening that I think is reflective of this point in time and our world,” says Stone at the film’s launch, “and is told in a way that I found really fascinating, moving, funny, [messed]-up and alive.” The film is Stone’s fourth collaboration with Lanthimos following The Favourite, Kinds of Kindness and Poor Things – which won the 36-year-old her second best actress Oscar. “The opportunity to get to work on these things that I have with him has been just a dream,” Stone reflects, “because this material, there’s so much [to confront].”
The director’s films aren’t for everyone – they are often dark, twisted and gory. But while this one ticks those same boxes, viewers who struggled with his earlier films might find Bugonia more accessible. Regardless of your thoughts on alien life, the film functions as a gripping kidnap drama, and is a truly wild ride. Stone plays Michelle Fuller, the CEO of a pharmaceutical company which a troubled young man, Teddy (Jesse Plemons), holds responsible for his mother’s ill health and a declining bee population. As a result, Teddy carefully plans the kidnap with his reluctant cousin Don (Aidan Delbis). Stone puts up a hell of a fight, but ultimately ends up being held captive in Teddy’s basement, where much of the film plays out. It’s easy to dismiss Teddy as crazy, with foil on the windows around his house, but the film gradually shows more of his character and explores the factors that shaped his personality.
“Throughout history, there has been a human instinct to unconsciously categorise someone, and I think I probably tried to do that [with Teddy] when I started reading this script,” says Plemons. “His core, his relationship with Don, what you discover happened to his mother, I could talk for a long time about Teddy but my way of understanding him was he’s a really tortured soul that was trying with all his might to help. It’s a crazy thing to say, but I believe that.”
It’s true, Teddy believes, that capturing the CEO and trying to extract information from her is for the greater good of humanity. Some of his beliefs seem ridiculous and he would be laughed at by many – but that’s the point.
“For all his ranting and raving, Plemons brings plenty of depth to Teddy, a man who has locked himself down in the wake of past traumas,” wrote Screen Daily’s Nikki Baughan.
“In this battle of wits between this well-dressed, carefully-controlled woman and this pony-tailed, irrational bumpkin, we know who we are supposed to believe. But can we? Should we?”
