At least Bugonia is not Poor Things (2023).  To be clear, I have not seen Poor Things.  From viewing its trailers, I surmised that it would be a little much for my Catholic constitution.  My hat is off to Cameron for being made of sterner stuff.  Still, Bugonia pushed the limits of my tolerance.  Though I should make no apologies for such feelings, I am sorry to say that my Faith has led me to desire at least something from a given film that gives a glimmer of hope for humanity, or at least something I can explain in such a context.  Between conspiracy theories, kidnappings, mass genocide, and torture, any potential warmth is dashed in this mire of a movie.  All I am left with is my abilities, such as they are, to describe it to you.

What Teddy Gatz (Jesse Plemons) is describing at the beginning of Bugonia is a plan he has to save humanity from their overlords from the planet of Andromeda.  If you think that sounds nuts, you are not alone.  Even his neurodivergent cousin, Don (Aidan Delbis), is dubious.  Okay, how do I untangle this for you. . . ?  As told through various flashbacks throughout the film, Teddy has come to believe that aliens are responsible for bee colonies failing, which impacts him because he is a beekeeper.  Further, he blames them for not helping his mother, Sandy Gatz (Alicia Silverstone), who has been in a coma for a number of years.  The face of all his problems is the chemical and pharmaceutical company Auxolith, and its chief executive officer (CEO), Michelle Fuller (Emma Stone).  Early on, we see a sharp contrast between her life and that of Don and Teddy.  She lives in the lap of luxury, trying to be a more benevolent boss, while they prepare to kidnap her.  Why, you might ask?  It is not for money or retribution but because they believe her to be an Andromedan who can take them to their emperor.  In so doing, they will be able to convince them to leave Earth, thus saving humanity as earlier mentioned.  According to Teddy’s research, with a lunar eclipse approaching in four days, it will provide the opportunity the off-worlders need to fly to our planet and make contact.  Hence, using hilariously improvised disguises, Dan and Terry await Michelle’s return from the office and kidnap her.  As soon as the drugs wear off that they used to subdue her, she comes to in their basement.  She is confused, not just by her surroundings, but by the fact that they have shaved off her hair and covered her body in a facial cream.  These last two features, including her restraints, are meant to counter her Andromedan powers.  She attempts to reason with them, ignoring the lunacy of their accusations of her being an alien.  Instead, Teddy insists that she make a recording that will be played as an introduction to other people of her kind, thus granting them an audience with her emperor.  She is left stunned downstairs while Don and Teddy carry on with their lives.  For Teddy, this means going to his job working in an Auxolith distribution warehouse.  On the way for one of his shifts, he is stopped by Sheriff’s Deputy Casey (Stavros Halkias).  The two go back a way, the officer having once been a babysitter for Teddy.  Something had happened during that time for which Deputy Casey has unresolved guilt.  In trying to make up for it, he offers to visit Teddy at some point in the future, to which Teddy agrees, hoping the house call will come much later.  Upon getting home, Teddy listens to Michelle’s recording and does not believe its authenticity.  In order to get her to talk, he resorts to torture involving running electricity through her body.  When the voltage goes past what he expects to be tolerable, to the point that Don finally breaks his silence in protest, Teddy comes to what he thinks is a logical conclusion: that she is the Andromedan emperor.  Though he continues to keep her in chains, he accords her a new level of respect, giving her a dress and allowing her to eat upstairs.  As she puts on the clothing, she notices a name on the tag, the name of Teddy’s mother, one that is familiar to Michelle.  Her company’s treatment had been tabbed as the reason for Sandy’s condition, and there is the perception that they did not properly compensate the Gatz family.  The subject is brought up during the meal, but her promises of action on the matter do not sway Teddy.  The discussion then turns to the subject of bees, and their disagreement turns ugly when she arrogantly dismisses Auxolith’s role in harming their population.  Teddy launches himself across the table at Michelle and a struggle ensues between them that ends with Don knocking her out with the butt of a shotgun.  In that moment, Deputy Casey arrives for the aforementioned visit.  Don is left downstairs with Michelle, while Terry entertains Deputy Casey.  The latter two eventually make their way outside so Teddy can show off his apiary, while Michelle tries to convince Don to free her.  She believes she has made progress, telling him she will take him away on his spaceship, but instead he ends up committing suicide with the shotgun.  The noise startles the two outside, and in desperation, Teddy murders Deputy Casey.  Teddy is about to do the same with Michelle, but she leans into the alien narrative, telling him that in the back of her car is a bottle that is labeled antifreeze, but is actually an Andromedan cure that can save Sandy.  While he rushes off to eventually kill his mother, Michelle is able to free herself and discovers how deep is Teddy’s depravity.  Behind a false wall is an abattoir of body parts and crazy drawings about Andromeda.  Upon miraculously evading capture at the hospital, Michelle convinces Teddy to take her to her company headquarters where she says she can teleport them to the approaching mothership, and everything can be set right.  Her staff if shocked to see her show up all of the sudden, and puzzled when she takes him alone into her office.  Telling him that the transporter is in the closet, he goes in and she pushes a button that sets off the explosive belt he has strapped around himself.  His disembodied head hurtles across the room and knocks her out.  Upon reviving, she disengages from the emergency medical equipment and hurries back to her room.  There, she enters the same closet, hits a different button, and emerges on the Andromedan spaceship.  Yep, it was all real.  The final act is the Andromedans deciding Earth is not worth saving, and Michelle popping a bubble around the model of our planet, killing every last human being.

Although humanity is wiped out at the end of Bugonia, at least the bees live?  I am sorry, but that is not any kind of hope I wanted, but I will talk more about this later.  What needs to be addressed here is the tone, which is related to hope.  The film is meant to be a “dark comedy,” which is an oxymoron in this Catholic critic’s view.  The comedy part is a little more evident.  Throughout much of the movie, though I began to suspect the truth more as the proceedings went on, Terry is presented as a lunatic.  This is not a stereotypical Catholic response to the possibility of extraterrestrial life, which the Church says is possible without confirming their existence.  Generally, such things are not worth thinking about regardless of your religious stance.  At the same time, I imagine many committed believers in such things to be much like Teddy, though I suppose that is also a stereotype.  Yet, he is presented for laughs despite being guilty of kidnap, and eventually, murder.  It is that last part that loses me.  It is clear that something tragic happened to him and his mother.  That needs healing.  To accomplish that, he needs Jesus, which is not a crazy thing to mention considering there is a cross on the wall of his house.  At the same time, I occasionally worry that my pointing out of this fact can ring as cliché.  It is such a large truth that writing almost seems too obvious for comment.  More specifically, what I can say is that somebody who follows Jesus faithfully would not hold a person hostage, regardless of their planet of origin, in order to redress perceived wrongs.

Teddy’s method for redressing those wrongs in Bugonia is full of false hope.  While this is Teddy’s motivation, the person I feel the most for is Don.  He is manipulated not only by Teddy, but also by Michelle, her words ultimately being what pushes Don to turn the gun on himself.  He is the one sympathetic character in the film, underscored by his last words, which are to give his love to Teddy.  More broadly, Teddy is selling his cousin hope.  Teddy spins a tale of aliens and how only him and Don can convince them to set things right on Earth.  In short, Teddy has a savior complex.  Faith teaches that we can do nothing without God.  He can put us in positions to do great things, to be sure, but it is not to butcher, kidnap, and maim other people.  This is why the structure of an established religion like Catholicism can be useful.  Teddy is isolated, and he drags an innocent person like Teddy into his crazy delusions.  A community like a Catholic parish can act as a bulwark against such insanity.  This is not to say that every member of a parish is a well-adjusted person.  However, history shows that it is those who cut themselves off from society that are most often the ones who commit the most heinous acts.  This is one of the reasons why the Bible says that it is not good for man to be alone (Genesis 2:18).  Though there have been hermits throughout the Church’s past, they have always been answerable to a larger group.  This is something Teddy shunned, whether you are describing him in religious terms.

There are no terms in which I would describe Bugonia as a good movie.  I would not even call Teddy’s death at the end justice.  As Michelle says previously, he needs help, and that is what I would like to see such people get, preferably through the Church.  The fact that the film concludes with the death of all humanity is the clincher.  It is bizarre and bloody and not worth your time.