Every year there is at least one movie that becomes a love-it or hate-it phenomenon. People will walk out of theaters wondering what they just watched and talk about it for years to come. Bugonia was that movie for 2025. The film, a weirdly hilarious sci-fi thriller from provocateur director Yorgos Lanthimos, was nominated for four Oscars including Best Picture. Continuing Lanthimos's body of work that explores the absurdity of people, paranoia, and moral ambivalence, Bugonia was perhaps predictable for people who have seen his previous works with Emma Stone Poor Things and The Favourite. The film represents another bold and unsettling cinematic experiment.
By Allan R. Ellenberger
Bugonia, adapted by screenwriter Will Tracy from the cult 2003 South Korean movie Save the Green Planet!, stars two unhinged cousins who come to believe that a prominent businessman is actually an alien bent on annihilating mankind. Teddy (Jesse Plemons), an unemployed beekeeper with a penchant for conspiracies involving extraterrestrial life secretly controlling the planet, is living at the end of his rope. After enlisting the help of his sweet but meek cousin Don, Teddy kidnaps Michelle (Emma Stone), a young pharmaceutical CEO.
Teddy is convinced that Michelle is not human but an alien infiltrator responsible for the destruction of Earth’s ecological balance—including the mysterious collapse of bee populations. Together, the cousins abduct her and imprison her in Teddy’s basement, setting in motion a tense and often darkly comic psychological confrontation that explores delusion, power, and the frightening persistence of belief.
Though Emma Stone garnered most of awards season glory for her steely turn as Michelle, Bugonia has two powerhouses portraying the men keeping her prisoner. Jesse Plemons instills Teddy with an unsettling earnestness that complicates the character beyond bully.
Many critics mentioned how his performance brings legitimacy to Teddy's conspiratorial mindset. I loved Plemons in this film, I thought he gave one of the best performances. Plemons Teddy is idiotically noble in his own way, a man sincerely trying to do right by the Earth. He was criminally snubbed come awards season.
Equally compelling is Aidan Delbis as Don, Teddy’s emotionally stunted cousin. So loyal is Don to Teddy that he continues to follow along despite obviously not grasping what’s happening. Delbis infuses Don with sensitivity and innocence, creating one of the film’s most heartfelt character arcs. His performance as Teddy’s confused yet loyal cousin humanizes a film that could have easily slipped into utter nihilism.
Lanthimos approaches direction in the exact manner one would expect, employing stilted compositions, atmospheric shifts that often feel menacing, and dialogue spoken matter-of-factly about deeply disturbing topics. Bugonia looks like a grounded world with a faintly warped edge, as though the characters exist several degrees outside of reality. Robbie Ryan's camerawork and Jerskin Fendrix's score build a world of unsettling dread mixed with comedy and terror.
Critics responded with intrigue and bewilderment. Many applauded its biting critique of conspiracy theorists and big business. Some were put off by its pessimistic mood and bizarre plot twists. Reviews described it as “deranged” and “explosively enjoyable,” while acknowledging that Lanthimos’s brand of storytelling “isn’t for everyone.”
On review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, the film received widespread critical acclaim for its audacity and its performances, with critics agreeing that Stone and Plemons are "at the top of their game" delivering their lines in a darkly comedic yet unnerving tale.
Audience reception has been mixed. Some applauded its absurd humor and depth, regarding the film as fearless social commentary on insanity in contemporary society. Others believed the film tried too hard to be uncomfortable or unclassifiable, wondering if it was satire or science fiction or horror-psychological thriller. It is all of these.
Bugonia was fascinating and challenging for me to watch. It isn’t meant to make you comfortable; in fact, Lanthimos has never crafted films like that. He will continue to force people to question what they’re watching and why.
The best part about Bugonia is how it makes you wonder about belief versus reality. Teddy believes he’s being logical, but Michelle thinks he’s insane. Bugonia throws you in the middle of those ideas and makes you think about how belief can become obsession.
Without spoiling the film’s final twist, I will say this: Lanthimos doesn’t offer any simple explanations. The story ends with more questions than answers, allowing you to debate its events well after the theater dims. Perhaps that ambiguity is what helped Bugonia become one of the most talked-about films of the year; it’s certainly among the strangest films to be nominated this season.
Whether audiences ultimately loved or hated Bugonia, you can’t say that you forgot about it. Creepy, bizarre, and strangely affecting, it recalls just how powerful films can be when they’re willing to venture into uncomfortable territory. And thanks to the committed performances of Jesse Plemons and Aidan Delbis, this peculiar tale of conspiracy and belief becomes something more than satire. It becomes, in its own strange way, a deeply human story.
So, have you seen Bugonia? What did you think? Please comment and rate below, and share the review.
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