In Poor Things (film, 2023, dir. Yorgos Lanthimos), the twist about Bella’s brain is as follows:
What actually happened
- Bella’s body originally belonged to a pregnant woman called Victoria Blessington, who dies by suicide after jumping from a bridge.
- Victoria’s unborn fetus was still alive; Dr. Godwin Baxter removes the fetus from the pregnant body and transplants the baby’s brain into Victoria’s now-deceased adult body. This creates Bella. She awakens with an infant’s mind. Over time, she quickly learns language, motor skills, and begins to form her own identity.
Implications
- Bella doesn’t retain Victoria’s memories; she has no recollection of Victoria’s life. Her mental identity begins from the baby’s brain.
- Her journey—sexual discovery, moral awakening, rejection of patriarchal and abusive control—comes through the baby mind growing into its new adult body.
So, whose mind is in Bella? It’s the brain of an unborn fetus (Victoria’s child) transplanted into Victoria’s adult body—making Bella both separate from Victoria and a product of her body.
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