Yorgos Lanthimos, Dear God, the Parthenon is still broken, 2024

Dear God, the Parthenon is still broken is a photo story by director Yorgos Lanthimos.
Although it was created on the set of the film Poor Things in Budapest, the book inhabits a world apart, unconstrained by time and place.

The sequence resembles a daydream, a sleepwalk between past and present, as the multiple layers between reality and fiction gradually unravel. The film was set in various locations from the late 19th century, including London, Lisbon, Marseille and a cruise ship, the cities and interiors, all recreated on set in Budapest, provide the backdrop for the photographs.
The film’s characters populate these imaginary cities, while the precarious backdrops, scaffolding, equipment, lights and crew are visible in the corners of the photographs. Lanthimos intentionally widened the frame to show reality becoming fiction, constructing a new story within the story.

The title of the book derives from a letter that the character Bella Baxter was to send to her father, Godwin ‘God’ Baxter, from Athens. The scene, however, was cut from the final version of the film.
The book opens with an unpublished poem by Patti Smith, inspired by the film.