Bugonia is a dark comedy with splashes of horror and science fiction, and it leans fully into its own strangeness. It is based on a South Korean film, Save the Green Planet! The blend of genres can feel chaotic, but that unpredictability is part of its charm. Emma Stone reunites with Yorgos Lanthimos to explore themes of class, ideology, and the seductive pull of conspiracy thinking.
At the center of the story is Michelle Fuller, played with icy precision by Stone. As the CEO of Auxolith Corporation, she lives a life so rigidly optimized-diet, exercise, wardrobe, anti-aging rituals-that she almost seems extraterrestrial. Her world is sleek, sterile, and curated to the point of inhumanity.
Everything shifts when Michelle is abducted by Teddy, played by Jesse Plemons, who crushes every role he tackles. Teddy is a conspiracy theorist with a personal vendetta and an intense obsession with beekeeping. His fixation on hive behavior and “collective consciousness” fuels his belief that Michelle holds celestial knowledge capable of saving humanity. He ropes his reluctant cousin Don, portrayed by Aidan Delbis, into the plan, giving the film some of its funniest early moments.
Much of the movie unfolds inside Teddy’s rural childhood home-a cramped, worn space that carries hints of past abuse but remains deeply personal to him. It’s a stark contrast to Michelle’s minimalist, high end environments. This divide in scenery becomes a visual metaphor for the gulf between their worlds: one shaped by scarcity and trauma, the other by privilege and detachment.
Lanthimos amplifies this contrast through the film’s visual language. Sterile corporate spaces collide with eerie rural isolation, and bursts of surreal imagery keep the audience off balance. The cinematography mirrors the characters’ unraveling-clean lines give way to chaotic framing as paranoia escalates. Even the sound design contributes to the unease, shifting between clinical quiet and jarring audio cues.
The acting is sharp and intentionally messy, giving the film an unpredictable emotional texture. The choreographed fight scenes add bursts of energy and suspense, breaking up the psychological tension with physical stakes that feel both absurd and unsettling.
While I enjoyed Bugonia, I’m not entirely sure who it wants to be when it grows up. The performances are strong, but the storytelling can feel like a bit of a mishmash-ambitious, intriguing, and occasionally disjointed. Still, it’s a film that sticks with you, even if you’re not always sure what to make of it.
Film Gang Review by Susan Lovegren.
