BUGONIA: Unhinged is just the beginning

Directed by Yorgos Lanthimos 

Starring: Jesse Plemons, Aidan Delbis, Emma Stone 

★★★★☆ 

To call Yorgos Lanthimos a stylistic director is an understatement. The Greek auteur first gained international attention in 2009 with Dogtooth, a darkly comic family thriller that built a world as hilarious as it was horrifying. Since then, Lanthimos has steadily climbed the ranks of Hollywood, drawing in A-list talent like Colin Farrell (The Lobster, The Killing of a Sacred Deer) and Nicole Kidman. These films paved the way for his creative partnership with Emma Stone, who has now starred in his last four features, beginning with the Oscar-nominated The Favourite. His 2023 film Poor Things cemented his reputation as a master of offbeat, pitch-black comedy. 

Enter Bugonia, a film so fiercely committed to its vision that the joke is on anyone unwilling to buy in. Jesse Plemons stars as Teddy, a dangerously indoctrinated conspiracy theorist who believes the world is under threat from an alien cabal. So convinced is he of his mission that he chemically castrates himself to stay focused. His only ally is his neurodivergent cousin Don (Aidan Delbis), who stands by him with quiet loyalty. Emma Stone plays Michelle, a high-powered pharmaceutical CEO whom Teddy believes is part of the extraterrestrial plot. His plan? Kidnap Michelle and force her to take him to the mothership so he can negotiate humanity’s salvation. What unfolds from there is best experienced firsthand. 

Lanthimos is, at heart, a comedian—albeit one with a taste for the macabre. For those willing to follow him down his twisted rabbit hole, Bugonia offers moments that are as gut-wrenching as they are gut-busting. But beyond the laughs, Lanthimos remains a formalist. Every shot is meticulously composed, every sound purposeful, every beam of light part of the story. His direction draws out performances that exist in their own strange orbit—just ask Colin Farrell, whose deadpan delivery in past Lanthimos films felt alien in any other directors hands yet perfectly at home with the Greek master. 

It’s no surprise that two of today’s most compelling actors would follow him anywhere. Plemons is both terrifying and heartbreakingly sincere as a man consumed by delusion, while Stone brings nuance and depth to a role that could have easily been one-note. The screenplay by Succession writer Will Tracy is razor-sharp, covering more ground than you’d expect—and then some. But the true star is Lanthimos himself, once again proving that the marriage of technical precision and singular vision is what elevates cinema to art. 

Make no mistake: Bugonia is not for everyone. Some viewers will be unsettled by Plemons’ unhinged commitment, and the horror may feel uncomfortably real. But that’s precisely the point. Lanthimos isn’t just making a joke—he’s holding up a mirror. Men like Teddy exist. The world is full of quiet horrors, and sometimes the most unhinged voices are the ones closest to the truth. 

Oscar Wilde once said, “If you want to tell people the truth, make them laugh—otherwise they’ll kill you.”

That might as well be Lanthimos’ manifesto.