‘Bugonia’ Review: Schrödinger’s Alien

There is nothing normal about a Yorgos Lanthimos film. His filmography is filled with strange, surreal, and eccentric characters brought to the forefront by real-word issues such as the gothic sexuality of Poor Things to the absurdist courtship of The Lobster. Bugonia is no different. The film dives into conspiracy theories and the hold they can have on people regardless of the truth that is in front of their face. Throw in an alien kidnapping plot and you have a movie that is pure Lanthimos, for better and for worse. The premise is interesting enough but lacks any nuance, resulting in an average film from an outstanding director.

Teddy Gatz (Jesse Plemons) is convinced that pharmaceutical company Auxolith’s CEO Michelle Fuller (Emma Stone) is an alien from the Andromeda Galaxy who has been sent to Earth to enslave all humans and take over the planet. He and his cousin Don (Aidan Delbis) devise a plan to kidnap Michelle and force her to take them to her mothership so they can negotiate the Andromedans leaving the planet. A stunned Michelle does her best to explain how irrational they sound, but Teddy isn’t falling for any of her tricks. He believes he is destined to save the human race and no amount of logic can convince him otherwise. Despite how absurd the reasoning behind her kidnapping is, the danger is absolutely real for Michelle.

At the heart of Bugonia is the question of whether or not Michelle is an alien. Is Teddy just some conspiracy theory nut job who has kidnapped an innocent woman or is he saving humanity from an alien invasion? In all honesty, the truth doesn’t matter. Teddy is convinced that Michelle in an alien and no amount of logic or pleading with him is going to change that. There are no other options for him. As he tells Don, “just follow the plan.” That plan involves kidnapping and torture whether Michelle is an alien or not. Like Schrödinger’s cat, Michelle is both an alien and not an alien at the same time depending on what’s required of the situation. Either way, it doesn’t have any overall impact on the outcome.

For their parts, both Emma Stone and Jesse Plemons are fantastic; Stone builds her characters a a tough and unwavering CEO so it’s not surprising that she can remain calm and convincing during a hostage situation. Her potential of being an alien constantly moves back and forth like a metronome. She’s believable, whether she’s a CEO who’s playing along with her kidnapper’s ideas so that she won’t get murdered or whether she’s an actual alien trying to hide from someone who has discovered her true identity and plan. Plemons, on the other hand, is steadfast in his beliefs too and will go to whatever lengths possible to show everyone how smart he is for figuring it all out. There are times where you want to believe what he’s saying, although his methods are without a doubt the wrong way of handling things.  Their performances are the best thing in an otherwise mediocre movie.

Despite the brutality of the kidnapping, the film’s narrative surprisingly lacks intensity. There are the beginnings of ideas that have to do with the prevalence and influence of conspiracy theories and how the flaws of society continue to infect harm on the planet. But Lanthimos doesn’t appear interested in exploring those themes at any length. Instead, Bugonia narrow-mindedly focuses on the alien element; the answer to witch doesn’t have any impact on the events of the film whatsoever. There is an interesting story here, but the film unfortunately glosses over it in favor of a mediocre alien mystery. It has the same message about society at the beginning of the film as it has at the end with very little development. Sure, a lot happens during the film but it doesn’t mean much in the grand scheme of things.

Yorgos Lanthimos will always be a fascinating filmmaker, and he is one of the few directors with the ability to generate interest in his films through his name alone, no matter the subject matter. His absurdist style of storytelling is starting to show its cracks, however. Bugonia is his third film in as many years, and I can’t help but feel like it’s been rushed out of the gates. Perhaps it could have been better with a little more time to flesh out its ideas. Or like Michelle’s possible alien identity, it wouldn’t matter one way or another.