The latest from Yorgos Lanthimos is more depressing than absurdist

There’s a message — I think — in Yorgos Lanthimos’ latest film, “Bugonia.” But whatever it is, it’s buried so deep beneath the shatteringly demoralizing and dehumanizing premise that it’s effectively little more than an afterthought, something that surfaces only after the shock wears off.

That’s not to say that “Bugonia” isn’t worth watching. Much like any Lanthimos film, it’s mesmerizing in a way that’s hard to pin down. “Bugonia,” written by Will Tracy (“The Menu”), is more or less an English-language remake of the 2003 Korean sci-fi film “Save the Earth!,” in which a pharmaceutical executive is kidnapped because the kidnappers believe he’s an alien from the Andromeda galaxy and they’re the only people who can save the world.

This version maintains that absurdist premise, with Emma Stone as the pharmaceutical CEO/accused alien, and Jesse Plemons and Aidan Delbis as the kidnappers/world-saviors (and cousins). But unlike most of Lanthimos’ films, the comedy here feels less dark and more obsidian black, a too-little balm easily overwhelmed by the movie’s bleak nature. (When I did laugh, it was mostly in shocked, squirm-inducing disbelief.)

Stone, shaved bald for the role, is a gem as Michelle, the CEO — but a new kind of CEO, the one who gets up at 4:30 for her morning regiment and lets her employees go home at 5:30 (unless they have work they need to finish, of course). Once imprisoned, it’s not corporate hierarchy but a commanding gift of word that serves as her power; her ability to spin anything into a deep-sounding but effectively empty platitude even in the face of torture and insanity is honestly impressive.

Teddy (a disheveled and wild-eyed Plemmons) is the mastermind behind this unhinged quagmire. He’s deeply enmeshed in internet-based conspiracy theories, and he’s convinced Michelle is part of an alien race that’s harming humanity — and he’s dragged his cousin Don (Delbis) along with him. Their relationship is … wholly unhealthy. Then again, as the film unfolds, we learn that nothing about Teddy’s emotional state is healthy, and that maybe his obsession with Michelle and aliens and the humble bumblebee stems from far deeper traumas, all inflicted by good ol’ humans. 

Those traumas manifest in cleverly shot ways, from disturbing black-and-white flashbacks to an intense number of close-ups that ingeniously use light and shadow to grab your focus. And the madcap score, composed by Jerskin Fendrix (who also worked with Lanthimos on “Poor Things” and “Kinds of Kindness”), while unnecessarily staccato, helps induce the necessary sense of dread this film demands.

The problem is, dread is almost all this film has: dread at what could happen to Michelle, to the cousins, to humanity, to the world. It’s suffocating, debilitatingly so, and nearly drowns out everything else, from the stellar acting to the well-done cinematography. 

In the end, “Bugonia” is both alienating and fascinating. It’s hard to look away from, even when you really, really want to. And it’s unapologetically dark, an unflattering mirror reflecting humanity’s horridly ugly side to the point it’s hard to believe there’s anything about us worth redeeming. Perhaps that’s the message, the entire point: Maybe we’re past saving. By the time the credits roll in their discordant serenity, it’s hard to disagree.

Four “Just what exactly is Andromeda code?” stars out of five.

Photo caption: Emma Stone in a scene from “Bugonia.” (Atsushi Nishijima / Focus Features)