And you thought Barbie’s creation myth was head-spinning! “Poor Things,” which premiered at the Venice Film Festival on Friday, often plays like a wild, art-house remix of Greta Gerwig’s blockbuster doll opus. But this is no family film: As baby-brained Bella starts to come of age, her lack of inhibitions steers her toward sexual situations that had the Venice moviegoer next to me squirming in his seat. Quite literally a child in a woman’s body, Bella can barely string words together and is given to shocking outbursts. Even gaining control of her limbs is a challenge: Bella lurches through Baxter’s mansion like a zombie dressed in drag, which I suppose she kind of is.

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Persons: Billie Eilish, “ Barbie, Bella Baxter, “, ”, Emma Stone, Yorgos Lanthimos, she’s, Willem Dafoe, Greta Gerwig’s, brained Bella, Alasdair Gray, Tony McNamara, Bella, Dafoe’s Dr, Godwin Baxter, McCandles, Ramy Youssef, Bella lurches Locations: Venice