Director Yorgos Lanthimos is one of my favorite directors working today. He’s consistently creating films that surprise me and subvert my expectations. And his latest film, Bugonia, which premiered to acclaim at this year’s Venice Film Festival, is no different. I’m still trying to put these pieces together and make them make sense in my mind, because there is so much to unpack with this one. I’m not sure if Bugonia succeeds quite as strongly as some of Lanthimos’ previous work, but what you’re left with is fascinating, bold and chilling. There’s so much complexity in what unfolds and where we end up, that I’m not completely sure what to make of it all. So what follows will be my initial gut reaction of Bugonia. My mind is very much still working through this, and I predict this film will be a point of discussion for the rest of this year’s awards season, at least, so no better time to start that discussion than now.

Michelle Fuller (Emma Stone) is the CEO of a pharmaceutical company. She’s cold, ruthless and very successful. Teddy (Jesse Plemons) is a conspiracy theorist beekeeper who lives in the middle of nowhere with his neurodivergent cousin Don (Aidan Delbis). Michelle is kidnapped by Teddy and Don, who are convinced she’s an alien sent from outer space intending to destroy Earth. 

There are two distinct personalities of a Yorgos Lanthimos film – the demented whimsy of a Poor Things or The Favourite, and the black-hearted bleakness of Dogtooth or The Killing of a Sacred Deer. Bugonia falls decisively into the latter, but there are still some humanist and empathetic messages to take away from the experience. No doubt, this is harrowing, dark, depressing stuff, and the movie kind of slaps you across the face with that darkness. I left the theater thinking about what this all meant and I’m still figuring it out a few days later. But what I’ve settled on for now is that the film is ultimately about how people from wildly different walks of life need to figure out how to communicate with each other in a real way. We must figure out how to relate to one another because if we don’t, we’re all screwed. And that’s a stronger message than the many message-of-the-moment movies we’ve seen this year. I’m looking at you, Eddington.

Emma Stone needs to keep working with Yorgos Lanthimos for the rest of her career, it’s as simple as that. This is her fourth film with the director, she won her second Oscar for his 2023 film Poor Things, and I struggle to think of a modern actor/director duo that blows me away like this every single time. Stone is going to strange, dark places here, perhaps more than she ever has. And at this stage in her career, it’s clear she enjoys this kind of challenge. A lot has been written about Stone shaving her head for this film, and while that’s true, it’s far from the most exciting part of this performance, and her performance is more than that initial gimmick. Her work is captivating and completely unexpected, and don’t be surprised if you see her at the center of yet another Oscar season conversation.

This is Jesse Plemons’ second collaboration with Lamthimos, after last year’s Kinds of Kindness. He also seems like the kind of performer who has a complimentary energy with this filmmaker’s. This is also not the first collaboration with Plemons and Stone, and I certainly hope not the last. Aidan Delbis co-stars as Don, the cousin of Plemons’ character. This surprisingly is Delbis’ first role in a feature film brings a humanity to the film that isn’t coming from anywhere else. He’s doing very impressive work here, and fits effortlessly into Lanthimos’ strange sensibilities. He’s the unexpected heart of this movie, and he’s a crucial reason why it works.

Will Tracy wrote the script here, adapting it as a remake of the 2003 Jang Joon-hwan film Save the Green Planet! Not having seen the original, I can’t speak to what does or doesn’t work as a remake, but I will say that for a remake of a 20-year-old movie, Bugonia feels like it’s happening right now. Tracy also was a writer on HBO’s Succession as well as the 2022 film The Menu, and if you’ve seen either of those, it will give you an idea of what to expect here. Bugonia works for very different reasons than The Menu, even though on paper the two projects look thematically similar. Our judgement of who’s right and who’s wrong keeps changing, as well as our perception of what’s happening outside of this house where most of the story takes place. A lot of what happens in the third act could be written off as shock value, but the way in which these two characters evolve as the story progresses is easily the most impressive part of this screenplay. 

Yorgos Lanthimos brings back a lot of his usual technical crew here. Jerskin Fendrix, who also worked with Lanthimos on Poor Things and Kinds of Kindness, composed the score here. And as is the case in those films, the music here is abrasive, sharp and theatrical. This is not the kind of score that just fades into the background. Robbie Ryan has served as the cinematographer on Lanthimos’ films since The Favourite, and Ryan shoots this in the boxy 1:33 academy ratio, which effectively adds to the claustrophobia and tension of this story. James Price is our production designer, and the dichotomy between the sleek, cold look of Michelle’s office to the cluttered, chaotic look of Teddy’s house is very well defined. 

I was ultimately impressed with Bugonia for all the typical reasons I enjoy the work of Yorgos Lanthimos. It’s funny, it’s dark, it’s biting and it has a lot to say about the way people treat each other in the year 2025. I gave it two days before I sat down to write this review and even as it stands now, the ending is a bit of a head scratcher for me, but at the same time, this is indicative of so many reasons why I love going to the movies. I love a story that can challenge my perceptions and my expectations of what I thought I was getting at the outset. And this is decisively not going to be for everyone – it’s pretty bleak and unforgiving, but the film rewards you for taking the time to dissect what it all means. This is definitely one you’ll want to see with people, you’ll want to discuss it afterward. And definitely see it before someone spoils it for you, because I imagine people will be talking about this one throughout the rest of awards season.