Bugonia

There’s not much hope for Earth or its human inhabitants in Bugonia, which fortunately doesn’t take its bleak outlook too seriously.

This dystopian satire from director Yorgos Lanthimos (Poor Things) starts as an intense depiction of ideological extremism that morphs into a power struggle with escalating stakes — providing a mix of laughs and thrills for those on the same offbeat wavelength.

The film follows Teddy (Jesse Plemons), an amateur apiarist whose mother (Alicia Silverstone) is bedridden with a mysterious affliction. He lives in his rural family home with Don (Aidan Delbis), his mentally challenged cousin.

It’s a George-and-Lenny relationship. When it comes to indulging Teddy’s conspiracy theories, Don is an easy target as either a sounding board or an accomplice.

The latter is true when the duo abducts Michelle (Emma Stone), a callous and arrogant pharmaceutical executive who Teddy suspects of representing an alien species on an espionage mission to take over the planet. In the days leading up to a pivotal lunar eclipse, he keeps Michelle tied up and shaves her head, evidently to prevent communication with her superiors.

For all of his wacko ideas, Teddy’s power of persuasion makes him all the more chilling. Yet for Michelle, he’s a puzzle that needs to be solved by engaging in her own brand of condescending psychological manipulation.

Indeed, part of what makes their back-and-forth so chilling is that, despite technically being the victim, she’s actually the less likeable of the two.

We learn some details about links between their respective pasts. Are his actions driven by a personal vendetta or paranoid delusion? Or does he really know something the rest of us don’t?

Despite its logistical constraints, the sharply crafted film — enlivened with playful conviction by frequent Lanthimos collaborators Stone and Plemons — unspools some compelling twists while maximizing moviegoer discomfort.

Primarily an intimate three-handed chamber piece, the character-driven screenplay by Will Tracy (The Menu) forces some of its eccentricities as the narrative momentum lags during the bloated middle act.

Still, amid all of its violent outbursts and logical absurdities, the film remains just grounded enough to convey an eerie resonance while scrutinizing corporate greed, medical ethics, ecological destruction, and socioeconomic class division

It’s difficult to develop a rooting interest on either side in Bugonia, but it’s also impossible to ignore its gleeful audacity.

Rated R, 118 minutes.