When Will They Ever Learn?: Lanthimos Turns to Eco-Horror
Yorgos Lanthimos embarks on his first remake with Bugonia, a loose adaptation of the 2003 Korean film Save the Green Planet!. The acerbic mixture of environmental conspiracy theory, grotesque violence and satirical comedy remains intact in Lanthimos’ vision, co-written by Will Tracy (The Menu, 2022) and reuniting him with a slew of past collaborators. Arguably less sensational and surprisingly straightforward, it’s another expertly crafted bit of bizarre theatrics from an auteur who remains fascinated with exploring characters struggling to comprehend situations from obscured vantage points, puzzling skewed realities together often too late to avoid disaster.
Teddy (Jesse Plemons) and his cousin Donny (Aidan Delbis) are training to kidnap Michelle (Emma Stone), the CEO of a pharmaceutical company in Georgia. Teddy has convinced his neurodivergent cousin that Michelle is an alien, hailing from the planet Andromeda, and is not only hellbent on destroying Earth but was also responsible for the fate of his mother (Alicia Silverstone) thanks to an experimental drug for opioid addicts which left her in a permanent coma. On top of this, Michelle’s company is also responsible for creating a product which was linked to Colony Collapse Disorder (CCD) in bees, which are near and dear to Teddy’s heart as a beekeeper himself. Upon kidnapping Michelle, it appears obtaining a confession (at least one Teddy believes) will be a difficult task as they await the arrival of her mother ship, due to arrive, according to his calculations, during an impending lunar eclipse in four days’ time.
A majority of Bugonia plays like a chamber piece, taking place in the isolated countryside home of Teddy and Donny as they attempt to force a confession out of Michelle regarding her extraterrestrial origins. Jesse Plemons has transformed himself as Teddy, having wasted away to an extent comparable to Christian Bale in The Machinist (2004). Unkempt and jittery, Teddy looks like someone who’s barely keeping it together. Newcomer Aidan Delbis’ Donny is a surprisingly empathetic character in a Lanthimos universe, who has a tendency to embrace chilly detachment. Donny clearly doubts his cousin’s methods but is so completely codependent he has no other option but to follow along.
Emma Stone is caustically comical as a decidedly unwelcoming CEO who approaches her situation as if it’s a hostile board meeting. The amusing banter between crazed captor and poised captive eventually shifts into disturbing gear, particularly in a torture sequence involving electric shocks. Stone, whose head is shaved by her captors early in the film, channels Rose McGowan in her “RM486” music video, while production elements and the poster design suggest Soviet sci-fi cinematic influences. Jerskin Fendrix, who served as composer for both Poor Things (2023) and Kinds of Kindness (2024) supplies an intrusive but fitting score of symphonic booms, initially at odds with Robbie Ryan’s visuals until suddenly everything lines up.
The title relates to a misunderstanding, referring to an ancient Mediterranean belief that bees were created from the carcasses of cows. The metaphorical scope of Bugonia parallels this misunderstanding of nature and humanity. In humankind’s trajectory regarding how information and technology once progressed in conjunction, knowledge eroded by misinformation proliferated through technology has caused regression, and, in the microcosm of this film, chaotic violence. These metaphorical subtexts work on the dual realities of the narrative, eventually revealed in a third act twist. Lanthimos ends the film with Marlene Dietrich’s cover of Pete Seeger’s “Where Have All the Flowers Gone?” Indeed, the world is ours to lose.
Reviewed on August 28th at the 2025 Venice Film Festival (82nd edition) – In Competition. 120 Mins.
★★★★/☆☆☆☆☆
