10 Subtle Signs Movie Characters Were Getting Smarter

While almost every major film character will go through a change of sorts, a journey throughout the story that makes them a different or better person by the end, rarely is this evolution on the same level, or quite so comprehensive as Bella's in Poor Things.

Thanks to having the mind of her unborn baby transferred into her adult body in one of the more bizarre storylines you're likely to find on screen, Emma Stone's character went from playful infant to grown woman throughout the events of the film, her mind growing, expanding, and learning just as a child's would.

Not only could this growth be seen in how Stone portrayed the character, it was subtly signalled by her choice of clothing. Holly Waddington won the Oscar for Best Costume Design for her work on the film, thanks in no small part to how her aesthetic choices reflected where Bella was in her development.

In the beginning, the character's clothes reflected that of when a child is dressed by an adult, in that the ensemble doesn't usually stay together for too long. When she then heads out into the world with Duncan Wedderburn (Mark Ruffalo), it's the first time she is dressing herself, something Waddington compared to a child dressing up in grown-up clothes, before an undoubtedly sophisticated turn in style that follows the pattern of Bella's mind catching up to her adult body.