Director Yorgos Lanthimos has built himself a reputation for films that combine dark comedy and surrealism, especially in his past collaborations with Emma Stone, like “Poor Things” and “The Favourite.”
With his newest release, “Bugonia,” a remake of the 2003 Sci-fi comedy “Save The Green Planet!” he transforms the story into something that is clearly his own flair. While both films explore themes about conspiracies and paranoia, Yorgos adapts “Bugonia” to reflect today’s social and political chaos, rooted in corporate greed and control.
Jesse Plemons plays Teddy Gatz, a beekeeper obsessed with conspiracy theories who convinces himself that Michelle Fuller (Emma Stone), a high-powered Biomedical CEO, is an Andromedan alien plotting to destroy humanity. Teddy works as a low-level warehouse employee at her company, Auxolith, and believes the chemicals it produces are causing a colony collapse disorder, affecting his honey bee hive.
Years earlier, an experiment gone wrong at Auxolith left Teddy’s mother paralyzed, only spiraling his paranoia and conspiracies. Convinced that Michelle is an alien, he and his impressionable cousin Don (Aidan Delbis) kidnap her and force her to make contact with the supposed Andromedan mothership, setting off a series of extreme actions driven by fear, trauma and conspiracy.
The film deals with themes that are extremely relevant, more so of those big corporate CEOs and their influences and corruption. It shows the higher powers as being so far removed from the lives of their employees that their actions could very well be considered alien, showing the contrast between those in power and the working class.
Delbis’s character, is the anchor that supplies a moral balance, drawing sympathy from the audience. The ease with which he followed Teddy shows how ordinary, vulnerable people can be manipulated and corrupted.
At the same time, Bugonia does a strong job of creating real sympathy for conspiracy theorists, who are driven by fear and trauma. The movie never excuses what Teddy has done, yet it gives enough context from his past to put together how his mind could become so corrupted.
His paranoia feels connected to real pain and loss in a world that seems impossible for him to make sense of. His fear and conspiracy stems from things that hurt him in his past, making it understandable how someone without stability could latch onto a belief system that gives their trauma explanation. Yet, Yorgos makes it clear that understanding someone is not the same as defending their behavior. It lets the viewer feel for Teddy while still acknowledging the damage he causes.
The performances in Bugonia are phenomenal. Plemons brings a grimy, restless intensity to Teddy that makes every scene feel unpredictable. So layered with emotion and intention that his performance feels worthy of an Oscar nomination. He fully embodies a man so deep into his own ideology that it’ll have you second-guessing yourself whether he’s onto something or simply delusional.
Stone brings a very different energy. Though she has worked with Lanthimos before, the role she takes on is entirely new from any of their previous collaborations. Playing a CEO girlboss who listens to Chappell Roan on her way to work, she balances a strange, quiet confidence that will once again have you second-guessing yourself on what side to believe.
The contrast between Plemon’s raw, anxious intensity and Stone’s calm, controlled demeanor makes for the tension whenever they’re on screen. It’s the difference in energies that makes the film have its strongest moments, keeping the audience constantly overthinking.
Bugonia is unsettling, thought-provoking and beautifully crafted. Yorgos takes the structure of “Save the Green Plant!” and transforms it into a new film that is emotionally thought-provoking and entirely his own.
The film examines the roots of paranoia and the human need to make sense of suffering while showing how easily people can be influenced by those they trust. It also amazingly critiques the corruption of powerful corporate CEOs, whose decisions can alienate the people working for them. Darkly comedic, tense and shocking, the film will have you questioning your own sanity.
