🎥 Once again, Greek director Yorgos Lanthimos teams up with the brilliant Emma Stone to deliver an experimental film that weaves reality together with dark comedy — this time throwing science fiction and outer space into the mix. Bugonia marks the fourth collaboration between Lanthimos and Stone, including The Favorite and Poor Things, and the second with actor Jesse Plemons, who starred alongside Stone in the director’s Kinds of Kindness.

One of Lanthimos’ signature moves is overlaying ancient myths onto modern stories, often referenced through the title, á la The Killing of a Sacred Deer. The word “bugonia” comes from an old Greek belief that bees are born from dead cattle carcasses. This wasn’t an aesthetic choice — screenwriter Will Tracy (who wrote The Menu and episodes of Succession) explained in an interview with The Independent that it reflects the tragedy of contemporary life and humanity as a whole.

The opening shot follows bees moving dutifully from flower to flower as a narrator celebrates them as organized, hardworking creatures. But there’s trouble — the bees are slowly dying off from a disease that is reducing their productivity and throwing off their reproductive abilities. We soon learn that the speaker is Teddy (Plemons), a young beekeeper who lives with his cousin and only friend Don (Aidan Delbos in his first role), who is autistic. Teddy works as a packaging employee at a huge pharmaceutical and pesticide company.

Teddy is deeply entrenched in conspiracy theories. He’s convinced that his employer is the source of all evil, and that the company’s powerful CEO Michele (Stone) is actually an alien sent by the Andromedans on a mission to destroy Earth by sabotaging animals and humans through the company’s products. Teddy and Don hatch a plan to kidnap Michele, force her to admit she’s an alien, and arrange a meeting with the emperor of her species so Teddy can negotiate to save Earth and humanity.

**THE NEXT THREE PARAGRAPHS REVEAL PLOT DETAILS

Teddy is a deeply complex character. As the film progresses, we discover more and more evidence that he’s mentally unwell — a victim of a god complex, trapped in an echo chamber of his own making. While the film gives us plenty of reasons to doubt him, the ending actually vindicates Teddy as the only person who recognized a real threat, even if he completely missed its actual source.

In Teddy’s mind, humanity’s downfall must come from malicious extraterrestrial sources. But if he looked more carefully, he’d see that humans have been destroying Earth long before any supernatural forces entered the picture. In Lanthimos’s vision, we’re harming our planet through our own selfishness and relentless pursuit of money and power — so much so that even aliens feel sorry for us.

Interestingly, this might be Lanthimos’s least absurd and most grounded film. The apocalyptic ending isn’t actually bleak—it’s hopeful. Nature will always find a way to restore balance. Even if powerful aliens tried to help us change for the better and save the planet, they’d fail as long as we don’t truly grasp the damage we’re doing to life and ourselves.

**END OF SPOILERS

Bugonia is adapted from the 2003 Korean film Save The Green Planet, but Lanthimos takes it much deeper than simple comedy or sci-fi. The filmmaker boldly critiques human civilization in unconventional ways, building on the original story to create something uncomfortable, mature, and deeply affecting. This film feels like a step back from Lanthimos’s last three movies toward his earlier work like The Lobster.

Plemons brings remarkable depth to Teddy that unfolds gradually — his tense, suspicious body language, the way he shifts from calm conversation to nervous agitation, glimpses of a past he can’t move beyond, and his powerful influence over his cousin Don. Stone is equally brilliant as Michele, delivering a performance that could easily earn her a third Oscar. If corrupt corporate America had a voice, it would be Michele — she interacts with her employees, Teddy, and Don like a cold, calculating, utilitarian machine.

This is a stunning piece of work — beautiful and heartbreaking, disturbing and dark all at once. The soundtrack is masterfully deployed, hitting exactly the right notes at exactly the right moments for maximum emotional impact. The visuals and color palette perfectly complement the wild events and unpredictable plot. This definitely isn’t a film for everyone, but if you’re a Lanthimos fan or you love surreal, experimental cinema that digs deep into the human psyche in creative ways, you won’t be disappointed.

WHERE TO WATCH IT- You can catch Bugonia at Vox Cinemas in City Center Almaza and Mall of Egypt, City Stars Cinema, CFCM’s Scene Cinema, Cima Arkan, Renaissance Cinema Dandy Mall, and Zawya. Watch the trailer on YouTube (runtime: 2:33).

Tags: