Bugonia

You never know what to expect from filmmaker Yorgos Lanthimos. The prolific Greek auteur has experimented with nearly every genre, from period comedy (The Favourite) and allegorical fantasy (Poor Things, The Lobster) to minimalist horror (The Killing of a Sacred Deer) and dramedy (Kinds of Kindness). Through it all, there’s the indelible Lanthimos vibe: a sense of transcendence beyond the physical realm, an uncanny feeling that there’s more than meets the eye, a mounting tension, a clinical detachment that forms a stark contrast to the depth of feeling on display. He continues probing facets of (in)humanity in his latest — perhaps most accessible feature yet — the deranged, daring, gleeful, expectedly unexpected, and entirely wonderful Bugonia.

The undercurrent of pretentiousness that sometimes accompanies his films is absent: the focus here is on the story and the characters, thanks primarily to Will Tracy’s juicy screenplay, full of memorable one-liners and imbued with enough subtext for a hundred think-pieces. That’s not to say the film has no artistic merit beyond that — quite the opposite, in fact — with the Oscar-nominated director conjuring some of the most memorable imagery, sounds, and ideas of his filmography.

Stone, in her fourth collaboration with Lanthimos, plays Michelle, a high-profile corporate executive who gets kidnapped by two beekeeper brothers: the greasy-haired leader Teddy (Jesse Plemons) and the naive Don (Aidan Delbis), an autistic man whose heightened sensitivity gives the film much of its emotional texture. Teddy is convinced that Michelle is an alien leader, communicating with her mothership through her hair, hellbent on destroying our already-fragile planet.

(L to R) Aidan Delbis as Don and Jesse Plemons as Teddy in director Yorgos Lanthimos’ BUGONIA, a Focus Features release.
Credit: Atsushi Nishijima/Focus Features © 2025 All Rights Reserved.

“…convinced that Michelle is an alien leader…”

Back at their remote farm, the brothers shave her, tie her down, beg her to admit the truth, and beam them up. Michelle refuses to give in, then considers conceding, and then… Sorry, no spoilers here. Conspiracy theories pile up until they literally explode in a jumble of madness (Lanthimos depicts the Earth as flat in one unforgettable interlude), the ending bound to provoke not just guffaws of disbelief but endless conversations about the meaning of it all, the symbolism on display, and the pure insanity that somehow becomes wholly digestible and even profound in Lanthimos’s hands.

Bugonia functions on several levels. One can watch it just for its edge-of-your-seat narrative, filled with shocking violence and acerbic wit. One may delve into its exploration of modern feminism, the hierarchy of power, environmentalism (bees!), and loneliness, particularly among men — a masculinity that’s not exactly toxic but butchered, (literally) castrated men struggling to enact change. The title itself refers to “the generation of bees from the carcass of a dead animal”, evoking transformation, deca,y going head-to-head with creation… All very Lanthimos, all deeply compelling.

At this point, Stone and Lanthimos operate on a near-telepathic understanding. She holds the screen with a steely resolve, so much going on behind her eyes, things that we can see and things that we certainly cannot. But it’s Plemons, who’s always stellar, that proves to be the real revelation. Eyes darting nervously, switching from suspicion to rage to unadulterated love within a few frames, he’s absolutely magnetic. He keeps us guessing — whether to believe him or not, whether to love him or find him repulsive. I see an Oscar nom on the horizon.

The cop eating a slice of coconut cake. The calculator. The dinner sequence, perhaps the highlight, is where Michelle and Teddy engage in a rapidly mounting battle of wits. That sudden gory death. The perfect sustaining of tone. The ballsy finale. There’s just too much in Bugonia for one measly review to encompass. Lanthimos is truly a one-of-a-kind artist, to be applauded and cherished, just as unique and oddly inspiring as the titular phoenix-like regeneration.