TEHRAN – Arasbaran Cultural Center in Tehran screened the 2025 dark comedy film “Bugonia” directed by Yorgos Lanthimos on Sunday.

After screening the movie, it was reviewed by the film critic Kourosh Jahed, Cinema Ticket reported.

As an English-language remake of the 2003 South Korean film “Save the Green Planet!” by Jang Joon-hwan, “Bugonia” follows two young men who kidnap a powerful CEO, suspecting that she is secretly an alien who wants to destroy Earth.

A co-production of Ireland, South Korea, and the United States, the film stars Emma Stone, Jesse Plemons, Aidan Delbis, Stavros Halkias, and Alicia Silverstone.

The title of the film is the name of a folk ritual described in some ancient Mediterranean texts, including Virgil's Georgics. It involves sacrificing a cow, believing that bees would spontaneously generate from its carcass.

“Bugonia” had its world premiere in the main competition of the 82nd Venice International Film Festival in August and was theatrically released in the United States by Focus Features on October 24. It received generally positive reviews, with the performances of Stone and Plemons receiving praise. Both received nominations for their performances at the 83rd Golden Globe Awards and the 32nd Actor Awards. At the 98th Academy Awards, the film received four nominations, including Best Picture and Best Actress for Stone.

On the review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, 88% of 324 critics' reviews are positive. The website's consensus reads: “Emma Stone and Jesse Plemons are at the top of their game in Bugonia, a bonkers entertainment that applies director Yorgos Lanthimos' whip-smart method to modern society's madness.” Metacritic, which uses a weighted average, assigned the film a score of 72 out of 100, based on 61 critics, indicating “generally favorable” reviews. Audiences polled by CinemaScore gave the film an average grade of "B" on an A+ to F scale.

The film marks Stone’s fourth collaboration with Lanthimos after the period black comedies “The Favorite” (2018) and “Poor Things” (2023), and satirical black comedy “Kinds of Kindness” (2024).

Yorgos Lanthimos, 52, is a Greek filmmaker and theater director. Often described as one of the preeminent filmmakers of his generation, he has received multiple accolades, including a BAFTA Award and a Golden Lion, as well as nominations for five Academy Awards and a Golden Globe Award.

He rose to prominence directing the psychological drama film “Dogtooth” (2009), which won the Un Certain Regard prize at the Cannes Film Festival and was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film. Lanthimos transitioned to making English-language films with the black comedy “The Lobster” (2015), which earned him a nomination for the Academy Award for Best Original Screenplay, and the psychological thriller “The Killing of a Sacred Deer” (2017).

Lanthimos received nominations for the Academy Award for Best Director and Best Picture for “The Favorite” and “Poor Things,” in addition to winning the Golden Lion for the latter.

SS/SAB