Best Supporting Actor 2023: Mark Ruffalo in Poor Things

Mark Ruffalo received his fourth Oscar nomination for portraying Duncan Wedderburn in Poor Things.

Poor Things is a wonderfully bizarre tale of Bella Baxter (Emma Stone), a woman reborn via an infant brain, discovering the world.

Mark Ruffalo isn't an actor I have always praised the most here, in fact frequently quite the opposite for his mannered turns like his previous Oscar nomination. Of course his Oscar nomination before that, and his work in Zodiac were also heavily mannered, and I liked those quite a bit, because it's not about if one is mannered, rather how they are. And with Ruffalo it also might not be if he's mannered, but who is directing him. As in those aforementioned ideal cases, a very talented director in each, and perhaps he just needs the right director to put his talent in the right direction. Well in the case of Poor Things, Yorgos Lanthimos is the right director for this job. Ruffalo here instantly makes an impression as Duncan Wedderburn the lawyer called upon by mad scientist Godwin Baxter (Willem Dafoe) to set-up the very specific marriage to surgeon in training Max (Ramy Youssef), and is most intrigued by this woman to be kept away from the world. Ruffalo's impression here is utterly ridiculous, and utterly brilliant. As one may question his absurd accent that is essentially the most ridiculous English cad accent fashioned in the style of something Peter Sellers might do at his most broad, and I mean that as the highest of compliments. Ruffalo doesn't just do the accent, he luxuriates in it. And if that were not enough, his whole smarmy smiling expression, even when setting up the legal proceeding is with the most wonderfully ludicrous sneer, and immediate lustful glance as he becomes intrigued by this woman. Only to walk off with his needlessly raised hands, but they need to be raised because it makes it all the more amusing particularly as he immediately pratfalls as he seeks out Bella Baxter.

Ruffalo only continues his hilarity as he goes about seeking Bella and conversing with her in his most unabashed manner where he makes his desire immediately known. And his delivery of "I'll have to pinch you to see if you're real" with just the utmost sleazy desire, that is also just perfect in setting up his not at all remotely hidden ill-intention for Bella. Ruffalo beautifully embraces the dumb in projecting the romantic, while obviously being just the lusting cad, towards Bella, such as when he invites her to her roof, where even just the way he glances around outside her window is worth a few laughs thanks to the ideal randomness of it. Ruffalo though isn't just funny, though he is that wholly and completely, as he delivers this sort of invite for Bella most falsely sincerity in his eyes only registering one idea, as he makes his overtures of romantic notions of seeing the world which Ruffalo delivers dripping with enticement. And Bella is granted the leave to go off with Duncan, though the idea is to eventually return and marry Max. Of course much furious jumping first as we see Bella and Duncan have sex every which way one can think are off in Lisbon. Ruffalo's comedic mastery here is something I can't get enough of with his delivery even of the most extreme smugness of Duncan as he denotes his sexual prowess which Ruffalo doesn't put even a hint of modesty. Ruffalo's delivery of "furious jumping, I love that" in his reaction to Bella's description of sex is just beautiful work of pure indulgence, only topped by his equally hilarious eye shifting when he ponders the limits of a man's sexual virility when Bella ponders why he can't keep having sex with her. 

Ruffalo is terrific in the way he effectively portrays the true controlling cad in every moment as even the way he has Bella eat pastries is as an indulgence where the indulgence is his teaching of her as he pleases with an emphasis on control. But for Duncan Bella isn't all that easy to control and we get another hilarious note for Duncan to play as he has to try to instruct Bella to be part of "polite society'. And Ruffalo's comedic timing again is perfection in his reaction to every one of her lines of portraying the unease and distress just pitch perfectly. Ruffalo wonderfully being the complete opposite of the indulgence before and just the right sense of the unease of the man as he fails to have any control over her. Ruffalo is as funny as he is, which frankly few performances make me consistently laugh as much as this one does, he is equally strong in still creating the sense of his character as he now tries to control Bella to the point he can. Ruffalo brings out an intensity in the desperate need to control as he instructs Bella to only say a few kew phrases that he wants her to say to be "proper" in his view, leading Bella to slap him. A moment that deserves special mention as a pure comic gold in first just how funny his face is mouth agape, then followed by the complete flawless timing of the slight delay with an eye movement before his purposefully phony "ow". Things only get worse for Duncan as Bella continues to be unpredictable, speaking of unpredictable, she leads Duncan into a dance that is marvelous, delightful and crispy insanity. Ruffalo's dance and expression being silliness on an epic scale rarely seen and rarely seen as complete wonderful madness. Ruffalo going in full force, no hesitation and none needed as he's just thriving in the ludicrousness of it in the best way possible. 

Things don't get better for Duncan with Bella finding more freedom including more men becoming interested in her where Ruffalo is just splendid in he manages even to play Duncan's overblown jealousy in a way that conveys the dissolution of the man's pompous control of the situation, while again being very funny. Ruffalo shifts instead to the emotional distress we see as the insecurity in him over not being able to control Bella becomes obvious...and this is also just still hilarious. Ruffalo's playing the anger with a boneheaded recklessness, but also even his emotional breakdown when Bella was talked into sexual behavior of another, the way he cries is convincing yet also ridiculous. Every choice of Ruffalo in a row being a big swing, but also a homerun. Leading Bella to become discontented entirely with Duncan's controlling nature, but Duncan tricks her onto a cruise ship. And again I could name frankly every individual reaction by Ruffalo, but I do have to at least single out his reaction to Bella hiding in the bathroom after a request for disrobing with his "jilted lover" head turn being just simple comic brilliance.  A brief second in his performance but what a second it is. And Ruffalo's increasingly pathetic state as Duncan continues into a marvelous mess, as we see him gamble and drink more. Ruffalo accentuating the sheer miserable desperation just oozes out of him in every scene, as this drinking and gambling seems to gradually remove any remaining sanity away. The tipping point being Bella giving his gambling winnings away, where Ruffalo's horrified and equal parts blistering anger being absolute genius work in showing a man being completely on an edge, while being this again in a way that is never not amusing. What is perhaps most impressive is that Ruffalo manages to go lower and lower, even though he's already pretty low, as they get left off in Paris where Bella turns to whoring. Ruffalo's breakdown somehow goes even further, yet never losing the path of his character, the comedy of it, and more importantly the impact of it. Ruffalo conveying this insanity in his eyes, an insanity as not only has he lost all control over Bella, Bella mentally controls him, even indirectly. Ruffalo brings this lustful obsession still while marked with a broken psyche and just a man completely lost in his mania mixed with obsession. Every physical movement, every expression on his face, creating vividly, and again hilariously, this state of a man whose whole command of even the smallest mental space seems out of his grasp. Ruffalo manages to tie so much within his work in having this physical state as though he's about to burst out of his skull, and his eyes essentially traumatized by his inability to remotely understand Bella, or how she's done this to him. Ruffalo creates a completely convincing dissolution of that confident pompousness of his first scene, to just a festering puddle of nothing as we see him rotting in a mad house. This would all be enough already for me to call this one of the most dynamic performances of the decade, and with an especially high laugh per second average, but just for good measure, let's throw in one more scene. That being as Bella is about to marry Max only for Bella's body/mother's husband (Christopher Abbott) appearing to stop the wedding, due to being told of the strange situation by Duncan. The scene is masterful for Ruffalo as every spiteful line delivery couldn't be slung better nor could his manner in the scene. I love how Ruffalo basically summarizes Duncan's pettiness and cowardice, as he hides behind Abbott, to only peek out to send out his insults in a rage, looking like the worst henchmen, and doing it all as just one last bit of comic glory. And just another example of Ruffalo looking for any excuse to be hilarious in a scene, and succeeding for every second of it. In case it wasn't clear, I loved every second of this performance where Ruffalo delivers the most winning tight rope act in his portrait of a man intending on making use of a woman as he pleases, only for him to be turned inside out by her in the process instead.