{"id":94240,"date":"2025-11-15T17:37:16","date_gmt":"2025-11-15T17:37:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/ccmagazine.es\/?p=94240"},"modified":"2025-11-16T11:50:06","modified_gmt":"2025-11-16T11:50:06","slug":"bugonia-lanthimos-most-radical-take-on-contemporary-absurdity","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ccmagazine.es\/en\/bugonia-lanthimos-most-radical-take-on-contemporary-absurdity\/","title":{"rendered":"“Bugonia”: Lanthimos\u2019 most radical take on contemporary absurdity"},"content":{"rendered":"

A loose adaptation of the South Korean film“Save the Green Planet!”<\/em>, “Bugonia”<\/em> becomes, through the lens of Greek director Yorgos Lanthimos<\/em>, a sublime physical, visual and emotional experiment about the breakdown of rational discourse. The result is a piece that shifts between claustrophobic thriller, social grotesque and low-frequency science fiction. A radical portrait of what it means to exist in a present saturated with noise, fear and misinformation.<\/p>\n

\u201cBugonia is a radical portrait of what it means to exist in a present oversaturated with noise, fear and misinformation.\u201d<\/h2>\n
A kidnapping as narrative device<\/h6>\n

The film revolves around a premise as absurd as it is unsettling: Teddy (Jesse Plemons)<\/em> and his cousin Don (Aidan Delbis)<\/em> kidnap Michelle (Emma Stone)<\/em>, a powerful pharmaceutical executive, convinced she is an alien infiltrator plotting to destroy Earth. In this basement \u2014 both literal and symbolic \u2014 much of “Bugonia”<\/em>\u2019s metadiscourse is concentrated: a tension between reality and fiction that, although partially resolved, culminates in a plot twist as unexpected as it is impactful.<\/p>\n

Lanthimos<\/em> sets the main action in a confined, almost theatrical space, where bodies, silences and objects become expressive vectors. As in “Dogtooth”<\/em> or “The Lobster”<\/em>, body language and the internal rules of the narrative universe are not meant to be realistic, but revealing. Here, Teddy<\/em>\u2019s madness is as absurd as it is coherent. And Michelle<\/em>\u2019s resistance is as rational as it is suspicious.<\/p>\n

A still life of chaos: photography in VistaVision<\/h6>\n

Visually, “Bugonia”<\/em> is one of Lanthimos<\/em>\u2019 most ambitious works. Shot in VistaVision<\/em>, with a hypersaturated colour palette and a composition that echoes both Flemish<\/em> still life painting and contemporary photojournalism, each frame seeks to transform confinement into a canvas of psychological tension.<\/p>\n

The static framing magnifies faces and minimises gestures. Michelle<\/em>\u2019s body, shaven and covered in an absurd mix of anti-alien lotions, becomes a sculpture of vulnerability.<\/p>\n

It is no coincidence that Lanthimos<\/em> constructs the basement as a pop still life of the apocalypse: tins, beehives, rusted suits, an old TV looping conspiracy theories. Everything arranged with an obsessively detailed art direction that evokes the mental order of the paranoid, where each object holds symbolic function.<\/p>\n

Emma Stone and Jesse Plemons: duelists of the inexplicable<\/h6>\n

Emma Stone<\/em>, in her fifth creative alliance with Lanthimos<\/em>, fully commits to a performance that is unrestrained, visceral and profoundly magnetic. Michelle<\/em> is a sphinx who moves from arrogance to fear, from sarcasm to manipulation. In that play of layers, the actress navigates with internal tension, avoiding histrionics and embracing disorientation.<\/p>\n

Jesse Plemons<\/em>, meanwhile, turns Teddy<\/em> into a tragic character without abandoning his grotesque nature. His performance is simply extraordinary: the vacant stare, his logic-defying ramblings, the sickly tenderness he shows towards Don<\/em>… everything about him points to a loneliness that has morphed into fanaticism.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s impossible not to read his character as an allegory for disconnected men, those who find in collective delusion an emotional refuge.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Comedy as the sharp edge of horror<\/h6>\n

“Bugonia”<\/em> is not a comedy, but it allows itself to be comic \u2014 in the most brutal sense.<\/p>\n

Lanthimos<\/em>\u2019 humour is built on awkward silences, improbable reactions and senseless rituals. The ridiculous outfits, the interrogation with questions about bees and eclipses, the absurd rules of the plan to save the planet… Everything is profoundly ridiculous and, precisely for that reason, chilling.<\/p>\n

The director does not judge his characters, but neither does he grant them redemption. He presents them in their distorted humanity. “Bugonia”<\/em> is not a parody of conspiracies; it is an exploration of why they work, what voids they fill, how a shared lie can become truth when the real world no longer offers certainty.<\/p>\n

A political fable without moralising<\/h6>\n

If “Bugonia”<\/em> stands out within contemporary cinema, it\u2019s for its ability to be political without being didactic.<\/p>\n

The critique of the pharmaceutical industry, extractive capitalism, misinformation and technology as a generator of parallel realities is not delivered as a manifesto, but rather permeates the atmosphere.<\/p>\n

This is where strangeness enters \u2014 Lanthimos<\/em>\u2019 signature not merely as an aesthetic choice, but as a narrative tool: a form of deprogramming that destabilises certainties, shifts perception and forces the viewer to rethink everything from a place of disorientation.<\/p>\n

Michelle<\/em> may not be an alien. Or maybe she is. It doesn\u2019t matter \u2014 and we\u2019re not here to spoil it.<\/p>\n

Because what\u2019s truly at stake in the film is not the truth, but the characters’ (and the viewer\u2019s) ability to endure ambiguity. Will Tracy<\/em>\u2019s script, fast-paced, brutal and full of double meanings, builds this tension without offering easy exits.<\/p>\n

A cinematic experience<\/h6>\n

Lanthimos<\/em> has insisted that “Bugonia”<\/em> must be seen in cinemas. Not only for its immersive sound design, the grandeur of VistaVision or the fabulous soundtrack \u2014 which accompanies and destabilises with surgical precision \u2014 but because it proposes a communal experience. A shared nervous laugh. A collective shudder. An immersive exercise that comes to life in the darkness and silence of a cinema.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe film explores how a shared lie can become truth when the real world no longer offers certainty.\u201d<\/h2>\n
A film about the present, with no nostalgia and no future<\/h6>\n

There is no nostalgia for the analogue in “Bugonia”<\/em>, nor any faith in technology. Only a hyper-accelerated present, confused and dangerously performative.<\/p>\n

This is a film about how narrative shapes reality. About how heroes can become monsters if given a strong enough motive. And about how alienation doesn\u2019t need spaceships: all it takes is a motherless home, an empty hive, and an internet connection.<\/p>\n

“Bugonia”<\/em> doesn’t seek to provide answers, but to disturb. And in that, as with Lanthimos<\/em>\u2019 best films, it finds its power. A work to laugh at with fear, to doubt everything, and to leave the cinema with a single question echoing: What if they\u2019re right?<\/p>\n

One final vision<\/h6>\n

The final images of “Bugonia”<\/em> are among the most visually stunning seen in recent cinema. They are surreal, evocative and deeply poetic. It\u2019s a closing gesture that lingers, suggesting that even after the plot concludes, the emotional and symbolic resonance continues to unfold.<\/p>\n

Credits with an authorial signature<\/h6>\n

The film’s poster and opening titles were designed by renowned Greek designer Vasilis Marmatakis<\/em>, a regular collaborator of Lanthimos<\/em> whose work visually translates the director’s unsettling, precise and symbolic universe. We\u2019re sharing with you the interview we did with him during his participation in the Paradis Festival<\/em> in Valencia.<\/a><\/p>\n

Highly recommended.<\/p>\n

(*) <\/strong>Images: UPI Media.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A loose adaptation of the South Korean film“Save the Green Planet!”, “Bugonia” becomes, through the lens of Greek director Yorgos Lanthimos, a sublime physical, visual and emotional experiment about the breakdown of rational discourse. The result is a piece that shifts between claustrophobic thriller, social grotesque and low-frequency science fiction. A radical portrait of what […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":94054,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[5904,5903],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-94240","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-cinema","category-culture-en"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n"Bugonia": Yorgos Lanthimos's vision of contemporary absurdity<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Yorgos Lanthimos\u2019 Bugonia is a radical, claustrophobic fable about paranoia, conspiracy and shared madness.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/ccmagazine.es\/en\/bugonia-lanthimos-most-radical-take-on-contemporary-absurdity\/\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:title\" content=\""Bugonia": Yorgos Lanthimos's vision of contemporary absurdity\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:description\" content=\"Yorgos Lanthimos\u2019 Bugonia is a radical, claustrophobic fable about paranoia, conspiracy and shared madness.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:image\" content=\"https:\/\/ccmagazine.es\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/Bugonia_Lanthimos16.jpg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@cecilecollage\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@cecilecollage\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Cecilia Camacho\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"6 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/ccmagazine.es\/en\/bugonia-lanthimos-most-radical-take-on-contemporary-absurdity\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/ccmagazine.es\/en\/bugonia-lanthimos-most-radical-take-on-contemporary-absurdity\/\",\"name\":\"\\\"Bugonia\\\": Yorgos Lanthimos's vision of contemporary absurdity\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/ccmagazine.es\/en\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/ccmagazine.es\/en\/bugonia-lanthimos-most-radical-take-on-contemporary-absurdity\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/ccmagazine.es\/en\/bugonia-lanthimos-most-radical-take-on-contemporary-absurdity\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/ccmagazine.es\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/Bugonia_Lanthimos16.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2025-11-15T17:37:16+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2025-11-16T11:50:06+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/ccmagazine.es\/en\/#\/schema\/person\/52a8bfc6898cc8937794edb7e040be91\"},\"description\":\"Yorgos Lanthimos\u2019 Bugonia is a radical, claustrophobic fable about paranoia, conspiracy and shared madness.\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/ccmagazine.es\/en\/bugonia-lanthimos-most-radical-take-on-contemporary-absurdity\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/ccmagazine.es\/en\/bugonia-lanthimos-most-radical-take-on-contemporary-absurdity\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/ccmagazine.es\/en\/bugonia-lanthimos-most-radical-take-on-contemporary-absurdity\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/ccmagazine.es\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/Bugonia_Lanthimos16.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/ccmagazine.es\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/Bugonia_Lanthimos16.jpg\",\"width\":1550,\"height\":1033,\"caption\":\"Emma Stone stars as Michelle in director Yorgos Lanthimos' BUGONIA, a Focus Features release. 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