BUGONIA
Starring: Emma Stone, Jesse Plemons, Aidan Delbis, Stavros Halkias, and Alicia Silverstone
Director: Yorgos Lanthimos
QUENTIN
As a director, it must be tough when your adherence to being weirdly unpredictable leads to being the total opposite. While I understand it’s a remake, that is the problem director Yorgos Lanthimos faces with Bugonia. Had this black comedy been made by any other filmmaker, I likely would have enjoyed the ride a bit more. However, I knew exactly where this story was going from jump street, which hurt my experience a bit. That aside, the performances are as excellent as you’d assume, and Lanthimos’ delightfully oddball tone permeates every corner of the film. For better or worse, it’s exactly what I expected.
ADRIANO
Yorgos Lanthimos must be enjoying his recent success with Poor Things and The Favourite, and while Bugonia isn't at that tier, I do think he found an interesting angle to flesh out his signature cynicism. Anchored by two magnificent performances from Emma Stone and a career-best Jesse Plemons, Bugonia takes a wild stab at the potential failure of the human experiment, with wild filmmaking that takes a non-judgmental yet scathing dive into the minds of conspiracy theorists at the bottom and the powerful CEOs at the top. It's the type of Lanthimos magnetism that makes a film unforgettable.
BODE
I admittedly haven’t truly liked a Yorgos Lanthimos flick since The Favourite. I wasn’t as hot on Poor Things as everyone else, and I was even more mixed on Kinds of Kindness. But Bugonia managed to get me back on board. Though a tad overlong, there’s still enough that makes its deeply sad (but still absurd) damnation of humanity entirely engaging. Emma Stone and Jesse Plemons are expectedly great, newcomer Aidan Delbis is a real find, composer Jerskin Fendrix delivers a career-best score, and Robbie Ryan’s camerawork is as wild as ever. It’s a mostly solid turn for the Greek freak.
PAIGE
Bugonia is one of those movies that truly keeps you on your toes. Just when you think you’ve figured out where it’s headed, director Yorgos Lanthimos throws another wrench into the story and keeps you guessing. It’s a disturbing and dark comedy, yet also a strange, gripping thriller that is elevated by Jerskin Fendrix’s grand score which keeps the tension high throughout. While I found it to be a profound and captivating watch, there are a few undercooked subplots that if fleshed out could’ve added more layers to the story. As expected, Emma Stone is excellent, but it’s Jesse Plemons who steals the show, delivering his best performance to date.
AMARÚ
Bugonia is director Yorgos Lanthimos’ complete undressing of today’s society in his uniquely bonkers fashion. From corporate greed to the double speak, vague buzzwords, and emotional manipulation of our social climate, Lanthimos presents our current culture’s frustrating ideological battles in a way that’s depressingly outlandish yet surprisingly straightforward. Both Emma Stone and Jesse Plemons are riveting, and composer Jerskin Fendrix’s harrowing score adds to the paranoid insanity that steadily has you questioning how this will end (being a Yorgos project, anything is plausible). Your enjoyment will hinge on your willingness to accept Yorgos’ crazy, and if you’re willing, then there isn’t much to objectively dislike.
This film was reviewed by Quentin as part of Bitesize Breakdown's coverage of the 2025 Zurich Film Festival.