The opening of “Bugonia” (Universal), showing now at the Montrose Playhouse, powerfully sets the stage for a serious meditation on the toxicity of the U.S. as seen from a safe distance. The blending of ideas such as appearing to be under the control of secret globalist forces, lacking agency to tame greedy corporations warped by the profit motive, marching to the drumbeat of militarisation as the inevitable solution, meeting a dangerous gap between the moneyed and the poverty-stricken, merging of conspiratorial thinking with mental illness and science fiction; all these observations and more pack this ambitious film, the second of three terrific thrillers out this weekend.
Emma Stone puts in a tremendous performance as Michelle Fuller, “a high-profile female corporate executive” in charge of Auxolith, a pharmaceutical company, whose slogan is “Heal Tomorrow Today.” Michelle is pitted against two poor men—Teddy, played by Jesse Plemons (who reminded me of the Patrick Swayze character in “Point Break”), and his cousin Don, played by Aidan Delbis. In a tale of two exercise programs, Michelle works out with a personal trainer, runs on her treadmill wearing an oxygen mask, and follows a “very strict reverse-diet and -ageing program.” Meanwhile the two men, neither of whom bears much resemblance to fitness fanatics, do press-ups and knee-touches in the kitchen. “We are not in charge, Don,” Teddy says. “They are. Now it’s up to you and me to stop them.” But their commitment is taken to a whole new level; Teddy says, “We have to clear our head of all psychic compulsions,” while injecting progesterone, a female reproductive hormone, into his cousin’s backside.
Michelle commutes to work at the corporation’s sleek headquarters (on its own campus) and we watch her ill-temperedly filming an in-house motivational video to mark diversity day; “Can we try to diversify the language a bit?” Long working hours appear to be the norm, but people are restless and there have been complaints. So, in classic corporate double-speak, she suggests that her workers should leave the office at 5:30, putting it like this: “Feel free to leave early unless you’re busy or have things to do,” which her staff always do. Arriving home after work, her kick-boxing training isn’t sufficent to prevent the cousins from violently kidnapping her and imprisoning her in their makeshift-torture-chamber basement.
The magnificent twist on the run-of-the-mill-conspiracy-theory movie is the cousins’ belief that Michelle is an alien from Andromeda. Much of the middle section of the film is designed to test this implausible theory. “Best I’ve ever seen,” notes Teddy. “How can you tell she’s an alien?” Don asks. “You won’t notice,” says Teddy, “unless you know what you’re looking for.” When Michelle wakes up, she notices something. “Where is my hair?” “Your hair has been destroyed,” Teddy replies. “Why have you shaved off my hair?” “To prevent you from contacting your ship.” Much of the to-and-fro between Teddy and Michelle is like this, but delivered deadpan; Teddy really believes his theory and backs it up with facts like, “There’s Andromedan code all over your Instagram.”
The set which provides for the headquarters of Auxolith is a production-design masterpiece and feels rather like an advert for a business class seat on, say, Singapore Airlines. There are hardly any desks, computers, or, for that matter, people. Most of the air-conditiining bill must be spent on cooling empty space. The audience is also presumed to admire (or be envious of) Michelle’s house. In order to emphasise the sheer scale of the wealth gap between the two parties, a shot of Teddy and Michelle fighting while entangled in a hedge is filmed from inside Michelle’s indoor swimming-pool room. With placid pool in the foreground and perfectly placed pristene pool-side chairs on the left, the audience observes the violence outside through sparkling floor-to-ceiling glass. It is one of the best shots of the whole movie.
What is so stirring about Ms Stone’s performance as Michelle is that she draws on such a toolbox of techniques to try to get out of her predicament; each tactic accompanied by an appropriate, pitch-perfect facial expression and tilt of voice. Amongst other things, she tries her hand at fighting, negotiating, role-playing, toughing it up, threatening, accepting, belittling, blackmailing; often one style returns in a slighly different key later in the film, as if after a costume change between scenes.
One of the many opportunities afforded to try something new at the Playhouse is to explore the hyperactive emotions of the opera; colossal orchestra, take-your-breath-away crescendos, act-and-scene architecture. Now and then “Bugonia” feels a touch like the opera. Take the shocking moment where Michelle’s hair is removed (which is in itself an operatic theme): the music gets louder and louder until its climax at a series of glorious fortissimo chords. “End of Act 1,” the composer seems to be trumpeting.
I won’t disclose two excellent twists in the closing ten minutes or so of “Bugonia”—just to say that the final few moments might be the finest piece of filmmaking I have ever seen; I found myself walking quietly from the screen feeling very grateful for the LandxSea Festival in Montrose each September. At the very, very end of the credits a very welcome statement appears which I have never noticed before: “This work may not be used to train A.I.”
Don wants to believe the Andromeda pitch beloved of his crazy, desirable, charismatic cousin. “If you are an alien, will you help me?” he asks Michelle. “If you are, will you take me with you?” We know she won’t deliver—but nonetheless she replies, “I promise.”
Adam Poole
8th November 2025
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