‘Bugonia’ Review – Lanthimos Shoots For Brilliance With Emma Stone & Jesse Plemons In A Madcap World Gone Wrong [Telluride 2025]

The world keeps on spinning. Yet, every day, there is a feeling that it might take one final spin and go twirling off its axis. Director Yorgos Lanthimos muses on this idea in his new film Bugonia, but in classic Lanthimos fashion, takes that thought and us on a turbocharged ride of a topsy-turvy world. Using humor and a satirical streak, Lanthimos crafts his boldest film yet, which features a devilishly unhinged performance by Jesse Plemons and a calculated killer turn by Emma Stone. In a study on the conspiracy mind, the film plunges deeper than a black comedy on brain rot. The film is as much a comment on this moment in our world as it is our place in it.

Let us begin by revisiting something we may not have thought about since our days in school: Greek mythology. There is a poem (Georgics) by Virgil that describes a ritual that represents the birth of bees. Rather than emerge organically from other life. To wit, bees are generated spontaneously from the dead cadavers of animals, usually cows. The poem describes the birth of bees and seemingly life on Earth. The name for this ritual is Bugonia.

Notably, Lanthimos begins the film by showing us the bees thriving in their natural habitat. The scene is like something out of Planet Earth. Still, instead of David Attenborough’s voiceover, we hear the voice of Teddy (Jesse Plemons) describing the degradation of bee colonies. The cause of this phenomenon is unknown. However, Teddy hints there is a connection between the disappearance of bees and the use of pharmaceutical pesticides. In this opening diatribe, we enter the off-kilter mind of Teddy, who takes us into his den of revenge-crazed paranoia.

Living almost entirely off the grid, two cousins, Teddy and Don (Aidan Delbis), are hellbent on kidnapping the CEO of a major pharmaceutical company. Namely, presuming that an alien of humanity, having done his own research, concludes Michelle Fuller (Emma Stone) is part of a secret alien race that has infiltrated humanity and intends to destroy planet Earth. Don is sadly along for the ride and falls victim to Teddy’s persuasions and paranoia.

The initial premise is a lead in a story ripped right out of our own headlines. A maladjusted individual commits an act against a high-profile member of society under the guise of self-righteous indignation, and for a cause that only makes sense to the individual. This is where Teddy starts in the film. He directs his fury at Auxolith Corp, a mega pharmaceutical company, where he happens to work in the shipping department. Believing this company to be the cause of the degradation of the bee colonies only fuels Teddy’s rage. This rage he aims squarely at Michelle.

This premise and Teddy’s unhinged thinking that Michelle is a secret alien are only part of the layering. At first glance, we believe Teddy to be another conspiracy kook, but the film goes out of its way to add a layer of sympathy for his character. Notably, his mother, Sandy (Alicia Silverstone), is shown to have been treated with an experimental drug to counteract her illness, but seemingly leaves her in worse condition. The justification strengthens Teddy’s resolve, making his characterization more complex. We have the portrait of a person on the periphery of society. He is seemingly crushed by the awesome weight of both his conspiracy and quest for personal justice.

Here, Jesse Plemons transforms into a ratty-haired, haggard young man. He navigates life’s challenges with a hint of nervousness and a touch of pathetic sadness. Plemons portrays a complicated, delusional loner. While at the same time capturing a young man arrested in development, whose intuitive nature can be boiled down to hunches and child-like innocence. His humor makes his character easy to digest, and because Plemons can bring a hearty amount of pathos to Teddy’s psyche, we cannot help but feel a twinge of sympathy.

The script effectively portrays the character as the poster child for extremism. His mind and home are a web of all the rancid and dark conspiratorial chokeholds that cling like cobwebs on windows to our modern society. There is a satirical nature to be sure, but the script is too clever to play it all for laughs.

Bugonia, like Eddington, might be one of the most important films of the year. The mindset captured here is similar to Eddington’s, which holds a mirror up to our modern world. We see the fractures and fault lines. The conclusions both films arrive at are different, with Bugonia speaking on an esoteric level about the fate of our planet. As an aside, the symmetry about the state of our world shown in both films would make for a bonkers double feature.

After the two successfully kidnap Michelle, they hold her in the basement of their house. They are waiting for the upcoming lunar eclipse. When it arrives, Teddy believes, after doing copious amounts of research and study, they will be able to contact Michelle’s mothership. Once aboard, Teddy thinks he will be able to make peace and save humanity and the world. For three days, it is a battle of wills and insight into the minds of the elite and the downtrodden. Gibberish talk becomes a battle for a meeting of the minds and the unraveling of reality.

The cousin shave her head, believing it to be a manner of contacting her ship. Further, they bathe her skin in a cream as another means of stopping her communications. Both Teddy and Don are two flown over the cuckoo’s nest, toiling into paranoia and unhinged mania that, while satirically crafted in the film, is a quite frank account of how many in our world have gone full-court depravity.

Now, the person at the center of the conspiracy maze is Michelle. Stone proves her chameleonic skills as an actress by bringing an icy calculation to this pharmaceutical head honcho. Her character could be a stand-in for the modern CEO. She is detached and playing three-dimensional chess, all the while flashing out two-faced smiles for the media. She is a phony in every sense of the word. This is Stone’s most complex performance to date. She creates a character that can be villainized, while also playing to the audience’s sympathies. She envelopes us with her on-screen charm, while surprising us with a flabbergasting assault by the end.

Rounding out this trio is Delbis as Don, whose sweet earnestness makes his role in the story tragic. His character is impressionable to a fault. He follows Teddy into a rabbit hole of utter madness, which is sure to leave him dirty in a manner of speaking. Delbis is a relative newcomer, but he can shine next to the brightness of Stone and Plemons. He shares a poignant scene with the latter near the end of the film that effectively reflects on the tragedy of these situations. It is a gutwrenching scene that delivers the first of two astonishing twists that leave our mouths wide open.

The acting here is first-class from everyone. Stone should be in the Oscar conversation again for Michelle’s intrepid soliloquy alone. However, do not discount the others, especially Plemons. Lanthimos culls multilayered performances that are devastating. They pull no punches and leave us jittery and enthralled by the depths of depravity and tragedy.

As mentioned earlier,  Bugonia could stand as a metaphor for the radicalization of the American mind. Lanthimos could have left it there, and it would have been wild. While that is part of the narrative,  Lanthimos is more interested in addressing the larger themes concerning our planet vis-à-vis us. He shows we are but a tiny speck on a plane of existence, extremely committed to our selfish ends, while oblivious to any sense of a greater purpose. That is the real tragedy.

Here, we return to the presence of the bees as both a metaphor for life, but also the natural evolution. The pharmaceutical company’s possible role in the destruction of bee colonies, in the name of scientific discovery, is akin to its role in providing a cure for people like Sandy in the film. They say they are helping, but they are systematically destroying all in their wake. The film stakes a claim beyond being an anticapitalist approach, becoming a full-throated rebuke of humanity and how it is stoking the flames of its own destruction. Life seemingly must end for life to begin anew. In essence, the world does indeed keep right on spinning.

The hook over whether or not Michelle is ailen serves as a function to the plot. It is both hilarious and dark. While a driving force, it is tangential to Bugonia’s themes. The destruction of our planet by the pillaging of our natural resources. The fever-brain that displaces logic and reason. The film wears its satire front and center, but make no mistake: this is ultimately a tragedy, one that is our doing and seemingly beyond our control.

That brings us back to the meaning of Bugonia and the ritual involving bees. Bees are a vital element in the health of our world, and without them, life seemingly would not exist. It is by no accident that Lanthimos plays with imagery and symbolism to further his point. The world is spinning out of control, and Lanthimos isn’t afraid to show us the point of no return. Herein lies the film’s second twist, which plunges the narrative into deeper and darker territory than just a satire. It will undoubtedly be discourse-worthy, but it feels necessary given how the film starts by showcasing the colonization of bees.

Bugonia will generate a lot of discussion as more eyes see it, but whether or not the twists and commentary work, the sheer boldness makes it a triumph. This delicious and warped honeycomb of a movie is Lanthimos shooting for the stars.

Bugonia will debut in limited release exclusively in theaters on October 24, 2025, courtesy of Focus Features. The film will expand to wide release on October 31st.