Lanthimos‘s Bugonia Delivers a Provocative, Unresolved Narrative
Yรณrgos Lรกnthimos, known for his darkly comedic and surreal films, continues his exploration of human behavior and societal structures with Bugonia. The film, inspired by Jang Joon-hwan’s 2003 South Korean film Save The Green Planet!, deliberately avoids a definitive conclusion, a hallmark of Lรกnthimos’s directorial style.
Bugonia centers on Teddy Gatz (Jesse Plemons), an electronics worker and beekeeper consumed by conspiracy theories. He believes Michelle Fuller (Emma Stone),the CEO of biomedical company Auxolith,is an alien intent on destroying humanity,especially linking her to his mother’s comatose state following Auxolith’s clinical trials.
Driven by this conviction, Teddy kidnaps Michelle with the assistance of his cousin, don (Aidan Delbis), and holds her captive in his basement. His methods include shaving her head (to disrupt potential telepathic interaction) and applying antihistamine cream, based on his own reasoning. He demands she connect him with the leadership of her species.
During a series of intense interrogations and increasingly bizarre “negotiations,” Michelle claims to be an Andromeda and its leader, detailing a history of her race’s infiltration of Earth and the purpose of Auxolith’s research. This confession, presented with unwavering sincerity, convinces Teddy.
During a lunar eclipse, Teddy escorts Michelle to Auxolith headquarters, anticipating a teleportation to her spaceship.Rather, Michelle activates a device, and Teddy’s rising body temperature triggers an explosive device, resulting in his death.
However, the film subverts expectations. A subsequent sequence shows Michelle escaping from an ambulance and returning to her office. She enters the blood-stained closet and seemingly teleports to a jellyfish-shaped spaceship. Emerging from an orange substance, adorned in an imperial headdress, she is greeted by a group of aliens.
addressing them in her native language, Michelle declares humanity irredeemable and initiates the destruction of Earth by collapsing a protective bubble over a flat Earth model. The film concludes with a montage of lifeless bodies across the globe, set to “Where Have All the Flowers Gone?”, while animals, notably bees, survive.
