All hes interested in is how Bella seems excited by his presence.
And so he saunters away with a smile after answering her question, introducing himself as Mr. Duncan Wedderburn.
Duncan thinks that hes hit the jackpot.
I hate polite society, he tells Bella (Emma Stone) with flourish.
Its fucking boring and destroys ones soul.
Its God who tells Max to marry Bella, insisting on the limitations that he puts on his experiment.
When Max expresses hesitation, he does so not with regard to Bellas preferences, but to Gods intentions.
When she asks, You are?
Alfie talks less about himself and more about her relationship to him.
You left in a state of mental addlement and hysteria over your pregnancy, he explains.
On the discovery of your absence I felt disembowelled.
Must be quite a woman to warrant such binding, Duncan says with more than a little relish.
Its that curiosity that drives Duncan to excuse himself and see Bella for himself.
ThroughoutPoor Things, both Lanthimos and Ruffalo delight in exposing Duncan as a doofus.
When she talks frankly about his semen at a dinner table, Duncan responds with mortified anger.
A weakness in men?
In perhaps Ruffalos best scene, Bella informs Duncan that she has raised money from sex work.
But instead, Duncan is shocked and upset, hurling sexist insults at her and punching the air.
Neither attempt to attack Bella finds its mark.
But when he encounters a woman who actually doesnt care, then hes rendered a completely impotent buffoon.
Thats a lesson that Duncan never learns.
Duncans behavior in his final scene reveals something that was true throughoutPoor Things.
Many men dont actually hate polite society.
Instead, they rely on its ability to control women.
Poor Things is now streaming on Hulu.
