“Humanity may destroy itself while trying to save itself.” Yorgos Lanthimos’s new film Bugonia confirms this sentence on both visual and philosophical levels, reflecting the fears of the modern world in an absurd mirror—a masterpiece.
Plot — Between Truth, Belief, and Madness
Two young men believe they are destined to save the world. Obsessed with conspiracy theories, the duo kidnaps Michelle (Emma Stone), the CEO of a major tech company—convinced she is not human but an alien sent to destroy the planet. Yet Bugonia does not tell a classic abduction story; instead, it shows how dangerous believing can be. The hostage situation becomes a power game, then a philosophical laboratory on faith, fear, and identity.
The film stars Emma Stone, Jesse Plemons, and rising talent Aidan Delbis. Shot on 35 mm, with hypnotic visuals and Jerskin Fendrix’s unsettling score, it is poised to become a Lanthimos classic.
Why Watch It? — Fear, Humor, and the Melting Boundaries of Reality
🎭 Career-peak performances: Jesse Plemons embodies the fragility of the human mind; Emma Stone balances cold intelligence with inner terror.
🧩 Unpredictable structure: Constantly shifting between dark comedy, philosophical thriller, and sci-fi.
🌍 Mirror of our time: A sharp satire on conspiracy cultures, information pollution, and digital fears.
🎥 Mesmerizing visual language: Every frame is both menacing and beautiful; Lanthimos’s obsession with order makes chaos even more striking.
🧠 Cinema that disturbs while provoking thought: The kind of film discussed not right after, but days later.
Trend: The Absurd Turn of Technological Paranoia
Bugonia is one of the most striking examples of the rising “techno-absurd allegory” current in contemporary cinema. In an era where reality and fiction, fear and humor merge, Lanthimos intertwines humanity’s digital anxieties with a crisis of faith.
Conspiracy realism: Satirizes the post-truth age where social media shapes identity.
Philosophical sci-fi: Merges the multivalent meaning of Everything Everywhere All at Once with the grotesquerie of Poor Things.
The “alien” metaphor: Embodies the alienation of the powerful through the image of the extraterrestrial.
Dark humor politics: Like Dr. Strangelove, turns absurdity into a tool of political critique.
The Director’s Vision — Between Mind, Chaos, and Compassion
Yorgos Lanthimos continues to read human behavior through the lens of irrationality:
Existential humor: Characters reveal truth more nakedly by acting absurdly.
Symmetric horror: Emotional breakdowns unravel within perfectly composed frames.
Mockery laced with empathy: Lanthimos ridicules his characters while also trying to understand them.
Creative partnership with Emma Stone: The director-actor harmony that began with Poor Things reaches a more minimal yet sharper point here.
Critics — “Lanthimos’s Boldest and Most Unsettling Film”
🎬 The Guardian: “Where paranoia meets poetry—Lanthimos’s sharpest work.”
🎬 IndieWire: “A cinematic experience that enchants with tonal shifts, every shot laden with meaning.”
🎬 Variety: “Funny, creepy, biting—a mirror to modern madness.”
🎬 The Hollywood Reporter: “Unescapable spaces, claustrophobic camera—trapping the viewer inside the characters’ minds.”
Rotten Tomatoes: High critic score, divided audience reactions.
Metacritic: 68 / 100 — “Mentally intense, emotionally provocative.”
Festival Success and Awards
Venice Film Festival (October 2025):
🏆 2 awards
🏅 3 nominations (Best Screenplay, Best Actor — Jesse Plemons)
Critics praised Lanthimos’s most ambitious film since The Favourite for balancing absurdism with human warmth.
Screening Information
🎥 World premiere: 31 October 2025 – Venice Film Festival
🎟️ General release: 7 November 2025 (international rollout)
📺 Netflix streaming: February 2026 (post-awards season)
Social Echo — A Mirror to the “Cult of Reality” Age
The film tackles today’s era of paranoia and information overload: everyone wants to believe in something—even if it isn’t true. Bugonia coolly exposes how belief and fear transform into each other. In the internet’s “age of lies,” Lanthimos’s characters still defend not the truth, but “what they believe.”
Apartment No:26 Note
Faith, Madness, and the Rotting Body of Power
Bugonia is not just watched—it is debated. Yorgos Lanthimos turns humor into pain, fear into thought, delivering one of the sharpest critiques of the modern world.
Dark, mesmerizing, intelligent, and unsettling. Bugonia is a masterpiece that tells the absurdity of being human in the age of paranoia.
📽️ Director: Yorgos Lanthimos
✍️ Screenplay: Efthimis Filippou, Yorgos Lanthimos
⭐ Cast: Emma Stone, Jesse Plemons, Aidan Delbis
🎵 Music: Jerskin Fendrix
🎞️ Runtime: 2 hours 8 minutes
🎬 Genre: Dark Comedy / Thriller / Philosophical Sci-Fi
