What filmmaking techniques does Bugonia use?

CineCode breaks down 4 techniques in Bugonia (2025): Wide-Angle Observational Staging, Asymmetric Power Framing, Deadpan Absurdism and Epistemic Collapse.

Who directed Bugonia?

Yorgos Lanthimos directed Bugonia, released in 2025. CineCode also covers Dogtooth (2009), The Lobster (2015), The Killing of a Sacred Deer (2017), The Favourite (2018), Poor Things (2023), Kinds of Kindness (2024).

What films are similar to Bugonia?

Films that share techniques with Bugonia include Network (1976), The Favourite (2018), Memories of Murder (2003), Dogtooth (2009).

Is there a video breakdown of Bugonia?

Yes. There is a short video breakdown of Bugonia on the CineCode YouTube channel, embedded on this page.

Comedy · Crime · Science Fiction

Bugonia

Yorgos Lanthimos, 2025

A delusional beekeeper is convinced that a pharmaceutical CEO is an alien in disguise. He kidnaps her and locks her in his basement to get a confession. It's a dark, absurd hostage thriller where paranoia, corporate power and human self-deception blur until you can't tell them apart.

2 Cinematography 1 Narrative 1 Psychology

At a glance

Bugonia is a 2025 comedy, crime and science fiction film directed by Yorgos Lanthimos. This breakdown covers 4 techniques (2 cinematography, 1 narrative and 1 psychology), each with the scene where you can see it. If you like how it is made, Network uses several of the same techniques.

Video breakdown

Wide-Angle Observational Staging

Filming a scene in wide shots from a distance and refusing to cut to close-ups. You watch awkward or extreme behavior play out in full, like a witness.

How this film uses it

Cinematographer Robbie Ryan (Lanthimos's regular collaborator) shoots most scenes in wide frames that barely move. Rooms feel too big and the people in them feel exposed. The camera never cuts to a reaction shot to give you relief. It just watches.

Where to see it

The basement interrogation sequences. Michelle sits, Teddy circles her and you can see the whole layout of the room.

Cinematography

Asymmetric Power Framing

Using camera angles and framing to show who has power. A low angle makes a character look bigger and a high angle makes them look small. The balance can shift between shots.

How this film uses it

Lanthimos shoots Teddy from low angles, so he looms with an authority that exists only in his head. Michelle is often framed from above, which shrinks her despite her corporate power. When the balance of power changes, the camera's position changes with it.

Where to see it

The first interrogation scene and its mirror scene in the third act. In the later scene, the roles start to flip.

Narrative

Deadpan Absurdism

Showing extreme, violent or surreal events while the characters react as if nothing unusual is happening. That mismatch is funny and unsettling at the same time.

How this film uses it

Jesse Plemons plays Teddy's alien conspiracy with total sincerity, with no winking and no camp. Emma Stone's Michelle responds to being held captive with a manager's calm. Real delusion runs into corporate manners, and the film ends up funny and fairly unsettling at the same time.

Where to see it

The 'interrogation protocol' scenes. Teddy follows serious procedures for pseudoscientific nonsense.

Psychology

Epistemic Collapse

Taking away, piece by piece, any way of telling truth from delusion. A character's whole understanding of events falls apart, and you end up just as lost.

How this film uses it

The film keeps taking away any solid sign of what's real. Is Michelle actually an alien? Does Teddy's worldview show something true? For most of the runtime, neither you nor the characters can get to the truth, and that uncertainty is what the film is after until the ending settles it.

Where to see it

The film's long middle stretch. Events pile up that fit both Teddy's conspiracy theory and an ordinary explanation.

Questions

Bugonia: quick answers

What filmmaking techniques does Bugonia use?: CineCode breaks down 4 techniques in Bugonia (2025): Wide-Angle Observational Staging, Asymmetric Power Framing, Deadpan Absurdism and Epistemic Collapse.
Who directed Bugonia?: Yorgos Lanthimos directed Bugonia, released in 2025. CineCode also covers Dogtooth (2009), The Lobster (2015), The Killing of a Sacred Deer (2017), The Favourite (2018), Poor Things (2023), Kinds of Kindness (2024).
What films are similar to Bugonia?: Films that share techniques with Bugonia include Network (1976), The Favourite (2018), Memories of Murder (2003), Dogtooth (2009).
Is there a video breakdown of Bugonia?: Yes. There is a short video breakdown of Bugonia on the CineCode YouTube channel, embedded on this page.

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