Absurdist Bugonia finds sad truths

Watching any film by Yorgos Lanthimo means putting aside mainstream audience expectations, though his movie Bugonia avoids previous unsettling aspects in his projects like killing dogs, cats, and other cute animals. Instead, Bugonia involves trapping Emma Stone and shaving off all her hair—not necessarily nice, but somewhat less squirm inducing than what the writer-director did in Dogtooth, The Lobster, and some of his other films. This time Lanthimo presence Stone as the driven head of a pharmaceutical firm, so accomplished and efficient that a schlub played by Jessie Plemons believ

es her powers come from outer space. So, in an effort to save the world, he kidnaps her. Sounds crazy—yes, and that nonsensical quality gives Bugonia the label of comedy even though any laughs it creates come from head-shaking satire rather than pratfalls and jokes. Such satire involves surprising depth and insights about people plus requires actors attuned to the project’s overall weirdness. As in Poor Things and their joint work in the director’s Kinds of Kindness, Stone and Plemons suit his style, catching both the nuance and extremes of their roles. The stars make an absurdist situation feel almost credible—and if not credible, certainly one that makes dishearteningly valid points about people and the society we live in.