Aidan Delbis, Alicia Silverstone, Bugonia, comedy, drama, Emma Stone, film festivals, Jesse Plemons, movies, reviews, Stavros Halkias, Telluride Film Festival, Venice International Film Festival, Yorgos Lanthimos
October 19, 2025
by Carla Hay
Directed by Yorgos Lanthimos
Culture Representation: Taking place in New Jersey, the comedy/drama film “Bugonia” (based on the film “Save the Green Planet!”) features a predominantly white cast of characters (with a few African Americans, Asians and Latin people) representing the working-class, middle-class and wealthy.
Culture Clash: Two cousins, who are conspiracy theorists, kidnap a famous and powerful CEO of a medical company because they think she’s an outer-space alien who plans to destroy Earth.
Culture Audience: “Bugonia” will appeal primarily to people who are fans of the movie’s headliners, filmmaker Yorgos Lanthimos, and oddball movies that have serious messages cloaked in dark comedy.
“Bugonia” is more than a dark comedy about conspiracy theorists kidnapping a high-powered CEO and hiding her in a house. It’s also a sly and subversive warning about an emergency that’s in plain sight but is often ignored. “Bugonia” can get a bit repetitive with the wacky conflict scenes between the kidnappers and the CEO, but viewers who are patient enough watch the entire movie won’t be fully prepared for the impactful way that this movie ends.
Directed by Yorgos Lanthimos and written by Will Tracy, “Bugonia” is based on the 2003 South Korean movie “Save the Green Planet!,” written and directed by Jang Joon-hwan. “Bugonia” had its world premiere at the 2025 Venice International Film Festival and its North American premiere at the 2025 Telluride Film Festival. The movie’s story takes place in New Jersey, but “Bugonia” was actually filmed in London, Greece and Atlanta.
The conspiracy theorists/kidnappers are domineering Teddy Gatz (played by Jesse Plemons) and passive Don (played by Aidan Delbis), two ne’er-do-wells who kidnap Michelle Fuller (played by Emma Stone), the CEO of Auxolith Medical, a company worth billions. Teddy works for Auxolith as a package processer who scans delivery packages. Teddy (who is the bossy leader of the duo) and Don (who is seems to have autism and learning disabilities) believe that Michelle is really an outer-space alien who is planning to destroy Earth.
Michelle is famous enough to be on the cover of magazines such as Time and Fortune. She has a brittle personality that she often masks by being professionally cordial when she has to be. Michelle is 45 years old, but she looks like she’s in her 30s. The reason why she looks much younger than 45 is explained in the movie. In the beginning of “Bugonia,” Michelle is seen filming a public-relations video in response to a recent Auxolith scandal, which is also revealed in the movie.
Most of “Bugonia” shows what happens when Teddy and Don keep Michelle captive in Teddy’s dilapidated house that is in an isolated rural area. It’s a battle of wits that also involves physical fights and torture. One of the first things that Teddy and Don do to Michelle is shave off all the hair on her head and cover her body in antihistamine cream.
Michelle isn’t the only one subjected to degrading and painful acts. Near the beginning of the movie, Teddy orders Don to ingest a toxin that will do a chemical castration of Don’s genitals because Teddy says that Don can no longer be allowed to procreate. Teddy has also ingested this castration chemical.
The disappearance of Michelle makes big news. A local police officer named Casey Boyd (played by Stavros Halkias) investigates the disappearance. Viewers will have to suspend disbelief that this type of cop is the only law-enforcement official in the movie who’s seen doing any real investigating for such a high-profile case. Casey has a connection to Teddy because Casey used to be Teddy’s babysitter when Teddy was a child.
Alicia Silverstone has a supporting role in “Bugonia” as Sandy Gatz, Teddy’s ailing mother, who is in a coma at a hospice. Sandy is seen in a few dream-like flashback scenes that show a brief glimpse of what Sandy was like before she was in a coma. The reason why she’s in a coma is mentioned in the movie.
“Bugonia” (which has compelling performances from Plemons and Stone) keeps viewers guessing about how much truth could be in the seemingly bizarre theories that Teddy and Don are convinced are real. The movie pokes fun at society’s tendency to be paranoid about “outside enemies,” when much of the harm and danger can come from within that society. “Bugonia” has a twisted and unconventional way of making the statement that it does at the end of the movie, but there’s no ambiguity about what that powerful message is saying.
Focus Features will release “Bugonia” in select U.S. cinemas on October 24, 2025, with an expansion to more U.S. cinemas on October 31, 2025.