The first 25 minutes of “Poor Things” are in black and white. But when Emma Stone’s Bella Baxter embarks on a journey with Mark Ruffalo’s Duncan Wedderburn to Lisbon, “we’re…
Perfection is rarely achieved in movies, but this heaven-sent concert doc hits the sweet spot. Over two days in January 1972, the Queen of Soul, Aretha Franklin — she was 29 at the time — sweeps into the New Temple Missionary Baptist Church in Watts in front of a congregation and testifies to God in song. The blessed thing took nearly half a century to come out because director Sydney Pollack failed to sync the image with the sound. Then digital angels stepped in, and glory, glory, hallelujah!
Perfection is rarely achieved in movies, but this heaven-sent concert doc hits the sweet spot. Over two days in January 1972, the Queen of Soul, Aretha Franklin — she was 29 at the time — sweeps into the New Temple Missionary Baptist Church in Watts in front of a congregation and testifies to God in song. The blessed thing took nearly half a century to come out because director Sydney Pollack failed to sync the image with the sound. Then digital angels stepped in, and glory, glory, hallelujah!
Perfection is rarely achieved in movies, but this heaven-sent concert doc hits the sweet spot. Over two days in January 1972, the Queen of Soul, Aretha Franklin — she was 29 at the time — sweeps into the New Temple Missionary Baptist Church in Watts in front of a congregation and testifies to God in song. The blessed thing took nearly half a century to come out because director Sydney Pollack failed to sync the image with the sound. Then digital angels stepped in, and glory, glory, hallelujah!
Perfection is rarely achieved in movies, but this heaven-sent concert doc hits the sweet spot. Over two days in January 1972, the Queen of Soul, Aretha Franklin — she was 29 at the time — sweeps into the New Temple Missionary Baptist Church in Watts in front of a congregation and testifies to God in song. The blessed thing took nearly half a century to come out because director Sydney Pollack failed to sync the image with the sound. Then digital angels stepped in, and glory, glory, hallelujah!
Perfection is rarely achieved in movies, but this heaven-sent concert doc hits the sweet spot. Over two days in January 1972, the Queen of Soul, Aretha Franklin — she was 29 at the time — sweeps into the New Temple Missionary Baptist Church in Watts in front of a congregation and testifies to God in song. The blessed thing took nearly half a century to come out because director Sydney Pollack failed to sync the image with the sound. Then digital angels stepped in, and glory, glory, hallelujah!
Perfection is rarely achieved in movies, but this heaven-sent concert doc hits the sweet spot. Over two days in January 1972, the Queen of Soul, Aretha Franklin — she was 29 at the time — sweeps into the New Temple Missionary Baptist Church in Watts in front of a congregation and testifies to God in song. The blessed thing took nearly half a century to come out because director Sydney Pollack failed to sync the image with the sound. Then digital angels stepped in, and glory, glory, hallelujah!
Perfection is rarely achieved in movies, but this heaven-sent concert doc hits the sweet spot. Over two days in January 1972, the Queen of Soul, Aretha Franklin — she was 29 at the time — sweeps into the New Temple Missionary Baptist Church in Watts in front of a congregation and testifies to God in song. The blessed thing took nearly half a century to come out because director Sydney Pollack failed to sync the image with the sound. Then digital angels stepped in, and glory, glory, hallelujah!
Perfection is rarely achieved in movies, but this heaven-sent concert doc hits the sweet spot. Over two days in January 1972, the Queen of Soul, Aretha Franklin — she was 29 at the time — sweeps into the New Temple Missionary Baptist Church in Watts in front of a congregation and testifies to God in song. The blessed thing took nearly half a century to come out because director Sydney Pollack failed to sync the image with the sound. Then digital angels stepped in, and glory, glory, hallelujah!
The first 25 minutes of “Poor Things” are in black and white. But when Emma Stone’s Bella Baxter embarks on a journey with Mark Ruffalo’s Duncan Wedderburn to Lisbon, “we’re introduced quite strikingly into a very colorful space,” says cinematographer Robbie Ryan.
“From there on, the whole perspective and vision expands, and the color floods in. Everything is just brought to another level in the film because she’s enjoying experiencing so many new things in a new place,” he continues.
Bella’s newfound lust for life is exemplified in the film’s wacky dance scene, which takes place in a fancy Lisbon restaurant. While most of “Poor Things” was filmed on soundstages, the dance scene was shot on location. “It was a difficult space to light because it was an old building, and we were put to the challenge on that one,” Ryan says. Because the natural lighting was weird, the team lit the scene through a big window on the ceiling and blacked out the surrounding windows.
“When Bella starts dancing into the dance floor, Mark’s character Duncan goes, ‘Oh my God, she’s so magnetic. I want to be a part of that.’ And he jumps up and they start having this really beautiful dance routine that gets more and more elaborate and wild,” Ryan says. “And in the meantime, all of the rest of the restaurant is still just dancing to this song as if it was a normal song.”
Director Yorgos Lanthimos wanted to find a vignetted wide lens to “create a portal feel so that you’re looking into another world,” Ryan says. To create that vignette, he used a 16-millimeter lens called a four-millimeter Optex on a 35-millimeter format.
“Every time we felt the scene needed to go a little bit further, Yorgos would go, ‘Get the four-mil,'” he adds. “I think it adds to the humor and the broadness of the film in a way because it’s such a statement lens.”
While filming the fight scene that breaks out after the dance, Ryan used a wide lens, which meant he had to get a lot closer to the actors to capture the action. While following Stone, she kicked back and her boot hit the lens — which Lanthimos decided to keep in the scene. “He quite likes it because in the soundtrack you can hear her foot hit the lens. It just all landed very nicely and it was a lot of fun,” Ryan says.
The film wrapped in December 2021, and the grading process did not begin until January 2023 — which was the first time Ryan saw the dance scene.
“There’s so much going on in the film all the time, but it’s almost like a comforting part of the film where you go, this is just standalone,” he says. “The dance is just so wonderful and it just jumps off the screen as an enjoyable part of the film because it’s so much fun.”
Watch the video above.