Stone plays Michelle Fuller, CEO of pharmaceutical company Auxolith. Shortly after the title card, we see her continually fluff a video she is recording on corporate inclusivity, bristling at the continued use of the word "diversity". She then instructs her assistant to draft an e-mail telling employees they are no longer required to remain in the office beyond 5.30. Unless they have work to do. Unbelievably, this pesticide-spreading, corporate lip-service-paying, business shark will soon cut a sympathetic figure.
That's because she is about to be abducted and held captive by conspiracy nut Teddy Katz (Jessie Plemons) and his intellectually disabled cousin Don (Aidan Delbis). We have already met them in a scene where Teddy convinces his well meaning relative to join him in chemical self-castration, which he claims, along with shaving her hair and slathering her in antihistamine cream, will reduce Michelle's ability to manipulate them. These precautions are necessary since, according to Teddy, their soon to be captive is an alien.
So the majority of the film centres around discussions between a scheming corporate elite and an unhinged conspiracy nut. Add in a passing cop who alludes to having done something despicable to Teddy back in the days when he babysat him, and some viewers may find it hard to get behind any of the characters, apart from poor, sweet Don. In reality, both protagonists are more relatable than they first appear.
Whatever Michelle's corporate rap sheet, it's hard not to sympathise with someone who is abducted, chained up and tortured. Stone does a fantastic job of conveying the conflict between her desire for survival bumping up against her pride and worldview. With the help of her shaved head and cream induced white skin, she embodies an otherworldly quality that makes you think maybe, just maybe, her captor is on to something. For his part, Teddy is a man who has suffered in life and genuinely believes he is fighting for the future of the human race. Plemons is himself appearing in his second Lanthimos film and brings the naturalistic quiet intensity that has him at the top of so many casting lists.
As ever, the director mines plenty of humour from the dark depths and, despite some bleak moments, the film avoids feeling mean spirited. Quite an achievement given the film has some pitch black moments and an ending that is a nihilistic as it will be audience dividing.
This is Lanthimos's most expensive movie to date but actually feels much smaller than his last couple of films. The cinematic flair is still there but it's focused on making things feel claustrophobic, with an in your face grime to the power dynamics at play. It is thematically streamlined as well, with the director's love for the absurd focused directly on the ridiculousness of human nature, there is a clarity to the storytelling that isn't always there in his other films. It also means there is a little less meat on the bones, and it feels less texturally rich.
This results in Bugonia feeling like a starting point to its creator's work rather than him working at the peak of his powers. That's not to say it isn't still an engrossing, finely crafted and thoughtful parable on human stupidity.
8 thriving bee colonies out of 10.
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