Bugonia: a strange but excellent film
Avarie Mckinnon-Forgeron, Staff Writer
Yorgos Lanthimos latest film, Bugonia, released on Oct. 31, is a darkly comedic and unsettling thriller.
The film explores cultish thought through a satirical framework and reflects on the impulse to seek meaning in places that do not deserve it.
Bugonia was adapted from the South Korean cult classic, Save the Green Planet! The film maintains the narrative skeleton of its source while transforming the emotional impact and thematic centre into something distinct.
The film follows two conspiratorial men who kidnap a wealthy CEO, convinced she is an alien orchestrating humanity’s demise. The increasingly unhinged efforts to extract a confession explore paranoia, disinformation and class resentment.
Bugonia leans heavily into clinical detachment and violence, locating horror in the conviction of people who think they are superior.
Delusion and the desire for meaning
At its core, Bugonia explores the psychological vacuum created by alienation in society. The protagonist’s belief in extraterrestrial conspiracy is less about literal aliens and more about their need for a narrative that makes sense of their own failures and oppression.
The delusion of the kidnappers in the film is framed by Lanthimos as a defence mechanism against purposelessness and class-based resentment toward elites.
Rather than mocking their desperation, the film portrays how unbearable unprocessed trauma can be for individuals. The film explores how belief systems allow overlooked individuals to feel in control while at the mercy of corporate interests.
Power, exploitation and class
The CEO’s ambiguous morality forces viewers to question who is monstrous—the captors or the captured.
In the film, moral boundaries are blurred, suggesting that exploitative corporate systems and desperate conspiratorial thinking stem from structural class alienation.
Those in power bypass the restrictions that others in society face, which builds resentment. As such, the film has no heroes, rather it presents systems that produce victims.
A world that feels deliberately off
Lanthimos creates tension by placing the repressed anger of the protagonist against the elitist conviction of the CEO. The conflict ensues in a basement lit by fluorescents and washed-out natural light, emulating a clinical setting.
The cinematography adds tension by capitalising on the cramped setting, using wide lenses that distort faces and rooms to heighten unease. This allows for the characters to interact intimately, highlighting the resentment the protagonist feels toward the CEO.
The editing is sharp, cutting away at unexpected moments, representing the unhinged psyche of the protagonist. The score hums and distorts, emulating an alien signal trying to break through the static, a fitting choice for a film where reality feels frayed.
Paranoia, climate dread, and the need for someone to blame
At its core, Bugonia centres around belief exploring societal backlash when the world becomes so unlivable that people grasp at conspiracies to make sense of chaos.
The characters’ delusions are treated with tragic seriousness, symbolising the humanity of those isolated from society. The film shows that the protagonist’s actions are morally wrong as they dehumanise the CEO, but discover that the systems they rage against are also monstrous.
Unique lettering used for Bugonia movie title. Photo courtesy of Wikimedia Commons.
A disturbing, mesmerising triumph
Bugonia is uncomfortable, morally ambiguous, and stylistically abrasive. As a film it is one of Lanthimos’s most focused and haunting works.
The film is polarising and centres on the interpretation of each viewer. However, for those willing to surrender to its ambiguity, this film delves into the issues faced by society from isolation and a lack of community.
Exploring issues that are ever more present in our time, the film offers a reflection on belief, paranoia, corporatism, environmental despair, and the fragility of what we call humanity.
