The Design of Bugonia: Conspiracy, Chaos and Control

In this episode of The Film and Furniture Podcast, host Paula Benson sits down with Bugonia production designer James Price to unpack the quietly unsettling visual world of Yorgos Lanthimos’s Bugonia. This one is for true film obsessives: unapologetically nerdy and endlessly illuminating, it goes far beyond surface aesthetics to explore how furniture, design and architecture shape the film’s gloriously bonkers logic. Anchored by Emma Stone’s performance as Michelle and Jesse Plemons as Teddy, the film unfolds across sharply contrasting environments: the chaotic, time-stalled house of Teddy; Michelle’s pristine, modernist spaces; and a final world that slips fully into the other-worldly. Here, interiors operate as psychological tools — signalling conspiracy, mayhem and control, and quietly asking whether Michelle may be operating on an entirely different plane. James discusses how these worlds were conceived and built, from constructing an entire house and basement from scratch to using modernist restraint, sculptural furniture and corporate architecture to guide the audience without ever needing to explain themselves.

🎯 Episode Highlights 🏚️ Teddy’s House: Designing Chaos Discover how Teddy’s home was deliberately suspended in the 1990s — layered, cluttered and emotionally arrested — to reflect a life defined by loss, obsession and conspiracy. James explains why chaos can’t be designed on paper, and how memory, instinct and lived-in detail shaped this psychologically charged space. 🏢 Michelle’s Office: Control, Power and Modernism Step inside Michelle’s corporate world: a glass-box office set within a stripped-back industrial shell. From the use of modernist restraint to the Barcelona Chair by Mies van der Rohe, the space hints at authority, surveillance — and something faintly alien. 🏠 Michelle’s Home: Wealth as Precision Explore the contemporary Surrey house used for Michelle’s home, where immaculate gardens, controlled vistas and carefully chosen furniture reinforce her status and self-command — including the Imola Chair by Henrik Pedersen, which frames her almost like a Bond-era villain. 🪑 Furniture as Semiotics Hear how specific pieces were chosen to avoid overused “hire-house classics” while still carrying cultural weight — including the Jan Bočan armchairs by the swimming pool, selected for their sculptural authority and relative rarity on screen. 🏋️ The Gym: Training Beyond the Human Michelle’s gym features the NOHRD Sprintbok curved treadmill and sculptural weight system — equipment that feels closer to a training facility than a wellness space, reinforcing the sense that this body may be operating on another level. 💡 The Office Lamps: Warped Modernism In Michelle’s office, lighting becomes a clue. The Claire Norcross Ribbon lamp for Habitat, seen here in high-gloss black, introduces a subtly warped, space-age note, while a Frank Lloyd Wright Taliesin floor lamp anchors the room with architectural gravitas. 🌌 The Andromedan World James unpacks the design of Bugonia’s final, other-worldly space — drawing on anatomy, rebirth, sacred architecture and science fiction — and explains how this sequence was developed alongside the house build, evolving over time into one of the film’s most audacious moments. 🧠 Behind the Scenes James reveals: • Why Bugonia’s house was built entirely on site, basement included • How modernist design can signal alien logic without saying a word • Why restraint can be more unsettling than spectacle • How design choices quietly “speak to the audience” rather than explain themselves 🎞️ Designers, Furniture & Objects Mentioned • Mies van der Rohe – Barcelona Chair • Henrik Pedersen – Imola Chair • Jan Bočan – Poolside Armchairs • NOHRD – Sprintbok Curved Treadmill & Weight System • Claire Norcross – Ribbon Lamp for Habitat • Frank Lloyd Wright / YAMAGIWA – Taliesin Floor Lamp 🔗 Links & Resources Explore furniture and design featured in Bugonia: https://filmandfurniture.com/film/bugonia/ Read Film and Furniture features on design in film: https://filmandfurniture.com/features Join our newsletter for exclusive content, giveaways and behind-the-scenes insights: https://filmandfurniture.com/membership When to Watch / Listen? This episode contains spoilers Whether you’re a Bugonia fan, a lover of modernist interiors, or a design professional interested in how objects shape narrative, this episode offers a rare, in-depth look at production design as storytelling. Listen before or after watching the film for a deeper understanding of its visual world. 🎨 Credits, Guest & Host Info Guest: James Price – Production Designer (Bugonia) Host: Paula Benson – Founder and Editor, Film and Furniture With thanks to: Focus Features 🔔 Don’t forget to subscribe, rate and share with fellow lovers of film, design and storytelling.