'Poor Things' starring Emma Stone is 'not your grandmother's Frankenstein'

PHILADELPHIA (WPVI) -- "Poor Things" is in theaters now.

It's the story of a young Victorian woman brought back to life by a Dr. Frankenstein-ish scientist.

The star-studded cast is led by, and also produced by, Emma Stone.

Stone tells 6abc's Alicia Vitarelli it was a gift to play a woman who is just experiencing the world for the first time, its expectations and norms, but also its beauty.

She plays Bella Baxter, a woman who becomes the experiment of an unorthodox scientist.

"Because she is developing so rapidly and kind of from scratch, it was so amazing to imagine what life would be without shame," Stone explains.

"She has an openness and adventure and curiosity. It was really, really beautiful to play."

Willem Defoe plays that sort of "mad" scientist.

"It was such a beautiful script, such a beautifully designed world," Defoe explains.

This is comedian and actor Ramy Youssef's first film role.

"It's not grandma's Frankenstein," Youssef laughs. "It's definitely today's 'right now' Frankenstein. The film is gorgeous and dressed up and presented in this really eloquent way. But, it breaks all the rules at the same time."

So does its main character, Bella, who doesn't care a bit about polite society.

Some scenes have drawn long applause for their raw shock value.

"It does get a little naughty," says Mark Ruffalo, who plays Duncan Wedderburn, Bella's love interest.

"There's all the humor, there's the hijinks, there's the emotion, but really, there's this other story about what it is to live a life without conditioning, especially for a woman."

That's precisely what Stone says drew her to this role.

"For me, what I took away from playing Bella was just this kind of hunger for experience," Stone says. "She's really happy to be alive and she's so inspiring to me for that reason. It's really a reminder to really live."