BUGONIA, LANTHIMOS RETURNS TO VENICE: GREEK MYTH AND CONTEMPORARY POWER

BUGONIA, LANTHIMOS’S RETURN TO VENICE

The 82nd Venice Film Festival welcomed Bugonia , the new work by Yorgos Lanthimos . After the successes of Poor Things! and Kinds of Kindness, the Greek director returns with a work that delves into contemporary obsessions, blending satire, allegory, and anxiety.

At the center of the story is Michelle Fuller , played by Emma Stone, Lanthimos’s increasingly muse and favorite actress. Michelle is the CEO of a pharmaceutical giant: charismatic, impenetrable, ambiguous. A powerful woman suspected of being an alien bent on exterminating humanity. A character suspended between allure and menace, rational and disturbing, which amplifies the actress’s enigmatic aura.

Alongside her is Teddy , a paranoid and reclusive beekeeper played by Jesse Plemons. The American actor, with his singular, almost eerie appearance, seems perfect to embody a fragile man obsessed with conspiracy theories. His physicality becomes an integral part of the story, creating a stark contrast to Stone’s imperturbability.

The film, written by Will Tracy ( Succession , The Menu ), is a corrosive satire. It never mentions vaccines or pandemics, but instead plays on the slippery terrain of global pharmaceutical power and the damaged relationship of trust between institutions and citizens. Bugonia offers no solutions: it takes the viewer into that vertigo where reality and paranoia intertwine, and where contemporary myths are constructed with the same force as ancient tales.

The title is rooted in Greek mythology: the “bugonia” was the ritual intended to generate bees from the body of a dead bull. A vision of rebirth and regeneration, but also of illusion. Lanthimos uses it as a powerful metaphor to illustrate how human folly can continually be reborn in new forms, fueled by fear, power, and ideologies.

Shot on 35mm film, with cinematography by Robbie Ryan, the film adopts a deliberately grainy and disturbing aesthetic. Each frame seems to reject the patina of digital perfection, offering the viewer a dirty, imperfect, yet profoundly evocative image.

The cast, in addition to Stone and Plemons, includes Alicia Silverstone as a manipulative and cynical journalist, and newcomers Stavros Halkias and Aidan Delbis. This ensemble cast accentuates the film’s visionary and disturbing nature.

Bugonia will be distributed by Universal Pictures and will be released in Italian theaters on November 13, 2025 .

With this work, Lanthimos doesn’t simply craft a sci-fi thriller. Bugonia is an allegory about power and contemporary alienation, inviting the viewer to reflect on who truly writes the myths of our time.

Disclaimer: This article is written for educational and cultural purposes only. It is in no way intended to engage in political, medical, or ideological controversy or debate. Any reference to issues related to pharmaceutical power and its representations is intended as an artistic and narrative analysis of the film.