You probably went into the theater expecting a lot more of her. Honestly, most people did. When the casting news first broke that Margaret Qualley was joining the weird, wide-angle world of Yorgos Lanthimos, the internet basically assumed she’d be a co-lead or at least a major foil to Emma Stone’s Bella Baxter. Then the movie actually happened.
Margaret Qualley in Poor Things is what you’d call a "blink-and-you’ll-miss-it" performance, but that doesn't mean it’s unimportant. She plays Felicity. If that name doesn't ring a bell, it's because she doesn't show up until the back half of the film, and even then, she’s mostly there to show us how much Godwin Baxter (played by a very scarred Willem Dafoe) has failed—or succeeded, depending on your perspective.
Who is Felicity?
While Bella is off discovering "furious jumping" and socialist pamphlets in Lisbon and Paris, Dr. Godwin Baxter gets lonely. He’s a scientist. Scientists experiment. So, he does it again. He creates Felicity.
Felicity is basically Bella 2.0, but without the spark. She’s the "new" sister, another resurrected woman with a child’s brain. But where Bella’s development is explosive and rebellious, Felicity is... slow. There’s this one scene where she gets hit in the face with a ball and just sort of stands there, leaking tears. It’s uncomfortable. It’s meant to be.
Godwin—or "God" as he’s known—tells Max McCandles that her gross motor skills are developing slowly. It’s a harsh reality check. It proves that Bella wasn't just a product of a successful surgery; she was a freak occurrence of nature and spirit.
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Why her role feels "wasted" to some
Look, if you’re a fan of Qualley’s work in Maid or Once Upon a Time in Hollywood, her two minutes of screen time in Poor Things feels like a crime. I get it. She’s a powerhouse. Putting her in a role where she mostly imitates a toddler and stares blankly at walls seems like using a Ferrari to drive to the mailbox.
But there’s a reason high-profile actors take these tiny "nothing" roles in Lanthimos movies.
- The "Lanthimos" Factor: Actors want to be in this director's orbit.
- The Contrast: Felicity serves as a mirror. Without her, we might think any brain-swap surgery would result in an Emma Stone-level genius. Felicity shows us the tragic side of God’s experiments.
- The Payoff: Qualley eventually got her "real" Lanthimos experience by starring in his follow-up, Kinds of Kindness. Think of Poor Things as the appetizer.
The dark humor of the final scene
The best moment for Margaret Qualley in Poor Things actually comes at the very end. It’s that sunny garden scene. Everything looks perfect, right? Bella is a doctor, Max is there, and they’ve found a weird sort of peace.
Then you see Felicity. She’s there with a pitcher of water, and she just... douses General Alfie Blessington (Christopher Abbott). You remember Alfie? The abusive husband whose brain was replaced with a goat’s? Yeah, him. Felicity is just hanging out, being a part of this bizarre "found family," while the goat-man bleats in the background. It’s a weirdly wholesome, deeply disturbing image of domestic bliss.
What this role says about "Scientific Daring"
In the original novel by Alasdair Gray, Felicity doesn't even exist. She’s a total invention for the movie. By adding her, screenwriter Tony McNamara and Lanthimos highlight the ethics of the whole situation.
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Bella is a success story, sure. She’s free. She’s brilliant. But Felicity is the reminder that playing God has a high failure rate. She represents the "arrested development" that Bella managed to escape. While Bella learned to speak in complex prose and navigate the philosophy of human suffering, Felicity is still struggling with the basics. It’s a bit of a "nature vs. nurture" argument wrapped in a steampunk aesthetic.
Key differences between Bella and Felicity:
- Rate of Growth: Bella develops at an exponential, almost supernatural speed. Felicity is "normal" in her slowness, which makes her look defective in God’s eyes.
- Autonomy: Bella fights for her independence almost immediately. Felicity is passive. She stays in the house. She does what she’s told.
- The "Spark": There’s an intangible quality in Bella—maybe left over from her previous life as Victoria—that Felicity just doesn't have.
The "Ableism" Controversy
I should mention that some critics haven't been kind to this character. There’s a valid argument that the film uses Felicity’s slower development as a punchline. When she gets hurt or acts "stupid," the audience is invited to laugh at her.
Compared to Bella, who is celebrated for her neurodivergent-coded quirks, Felicity is treated more like a failed prototype. It’s one of the few parts of the movie that feels genuinely mean-spirited, rather than just "weird." It’s worth thinking about next time you watch it. Is the movie mocking her, or is it mocking Godwin’s disappointment in her? Probably a bit of both.
How to appreciate the performance
If you're going back for a rewatch, don't look for Margaret Qualley the movie star. Look for Felicity the experiment.
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- Watch her physicality: Qualley is a trained dancer, and you can see it in the way she moves—or doesn't move. There’s a stiff, heavy quality to her walk that perfectly mimics a child who hasn't quite figured out how legs work.
- The Eyes: In the garden scene, look at her expression while she’s pouring the water. There’s no malice, just a simple, toddler-like curiosity.
Next Steps for Fans:
If you want to see Qualley actually get to talk in a Lanthimos film, go watch Kinds of Kindness. If you want more of the Poor Things vibe, check out the original book by Alasdair Gray—just be prepared, because it's way more cynical than the movie. Finally, if you're curious about the production, look up the Budapest studio sets where they built these worlds from scratch; it makes Felicity's "imprisonment" in the house feel much more real.