Awards, dates and real numbers behind Yorgos Lanthimos’ “Pauvres créatures” : the bold film with 4 Oscars and the Golden Lion, explained with clear facts.
Searches for “Yorgos Lanthimos Pauvres créatures” point to one film that refused to play safe. Known internationally as “Poor Things”, it grabbed the Golden Lion at Venice in 2023, then swept into the 96th Academy Awards with 11 nominations and 4 wins on 10 March 2024 : Best Actress for Emma Stone, Production Design, Costume Design, Makeup and Hairstyling. That is a rare festival to Oscars bridge, and it changed the season’s momentum overnight.
The context helps. Adapted by Tony McNamara from Alasdair Gray’s 1992 novel, “Poor Things” follows Bella Baxter through a wild rebirth and a European odyssey, with a visual grammar that flips from monochrome to saturated color. It reunites Yorgos Lanthimos with Emma Stone after “The Favourite”, runs 141 minutes, and premiered at the 80th Venice Film Festival before a U.S. release on 8 December 2023.
Yorgos Lanthimos, “Pauvres créatures” and Poor Things : the essentials
The main idea sits plainly : this is not just another awards vehicle. Yorgos Lanthimos turns a Frankenstein echo into a liberation story, with Bella learning desire, power and consent on her own terms. The French title “Pauvres créatures” steers many searches, yet it is the same film that critics celebrated as “Poor Things”.
One observation keeps returning in festival reports : the worldbuilding is tactile. Production design and costumes did not just decorate scenes, they drove meaning. The Academy confirmed that by awarding both categories in 2024, alongside Makeup and Hairstyling, acknowledging craft that audiences actually feel.
There is a common friction : some viewers expect a typical period drama and stumble on the film’s tonal pivots. That mismatch can fade once the story is read as Bella’s point of view expanding scene by scene. The evolving color palette and lens choices signal that growth rather than quirky style for its own sake.
Awards, dates and numbers behind Poor Things by Yorgos Lanthimos
Facts first. Venice gave “Poor Things” the Golden Lion on 9 September 2023, placing it at the front of the awards conversation (La Biennale di Venezia, 2023). Searchlight Pictures opened it in the U.S. on 8 December 2023, then widened in early 2024 as nominations landed.
At the 96th Oscars on 10 March 2024, the film won 4 of its 11 nominations, including Best Actress for Emma Stone and craft-category victories that matched its visual ambition (Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, 2024). That slate put Lanthimos beside the year’s most decorated filmmakers.
Audiences followed. By spring 2024, worldwide grosses climbed past 117 million dollars against a reported budget of about 35 million dollars, a strong result for an audacious adult drama (Box Office Mojo, 2024 ; Variety, 2024). Critical reception stayed high too : Rotten Tomatoes lists a 92 percent critics score for “Poor Things” in 2024, confirming broad critical alignment.
For quick orientation, the key data points line up clearly :
- World premiere : Venice Film Festival, 1 September 2023, Golden Lion winner
- U.S. release : 8 December 2023, Searchlight Pictures
- Oscars : 11 nominations, 4 wins on 10 March 2024
- Runtime : 141 minutes
- Worldwide box office : over 117 million dollars by 2024
Reading Bella Baxter’s journey in “Pauvres créatures” without missing the point
Advice comes down to framing. Start with Bella’s agency and curiosity as the compass. The film sidesteps moral framing and invites a watch that centers discovery, not punishment, and that shift explains both the controversial laughs and the bursts of tenderness.
Common mistake : treating the explicit material as shock value. The staging works like a diary of sensation. Scene after scene, language and costume change as Bella learns to name what she wants. The camera loosens, the sets open, the hues intensify. It reads less like provocation and more like an emancipation chart you can map.
One concrete example lands in the production design that the Academy recognized. Early interiors feel boxed and clinical, then give way to layered cityscapes with impossible geometry. That world tilts with Bella’s experience, a choice that underlines why those 2024 wins made sense to voters and to viewers who felt the arc, not just saw it.
So the missing piece for many searches labeled “Pauvres créatures” is this : look at how Yorgos Lanthimos pairs outrageous humor with meticulous craft to plot growth. The numbers tell a story of impact through 2023 and 2024, the Venice crown, the Oscar quartet, the box office that held week after week. The next step is simple and definitly practical : explore the source novel by Alasdair Gray to see what changed, then revisit key scenes in “Poor Things” with Bella’s curiosity as the lens. That approach keeps the film’s boldness readable, and its reputation earned.