Ten. That’s the number of films that Greek director Yorgos Lanthimos has reached with the release of Bugonia.

It’s a beguiling collection, which his latest fits into nicely, that sees a high-powered woman kidnapped for supposedly being an alien.

The CEO of the pharmaceutical company Auxolith is Michelle Fuller (Emma Stone). She’s made a name for herself and has found her portrait on many the front cover of a magazine.

Working in one of her warehouses, scanning packages, is Teddy (Jesse Plemons). He is obsessed with his boss, but not in a good way; he genuinely believes her to be an alien, and wants to take her hostage, along with his autistic cousin Don (Aidan Delbis), in a bid to force her to send them to her spaceship so they can speak with her emperor.

And unfortunately for Michelle, the oddball pair do get the better of her, and she soon finds herself trapped in their basement.

Is she suffering from the madness of two deranged conspiracy theorists, or are the two of them actually onto something?

Lanthimos has a record of producing quirky films, and this is no different. What is different about it is that it’s a remake – the director’s first – of Jang Joon-hwan’s 2003 South Korean film Save the Green Planet.

It’s an amusing plot, but somewhat limited; it can only go in one of two directions, which is clear from the outset, so whichever way Lanthimos decides to go, the audience is all too well prepared.

It also suffers from a sluggish middle, where the story treads water for too long, making pacing a major issue.

There’s nothing wrong on the performances front, with muse Stone appearing in his fifth film in yet another bold role, joined by Plemons in what is his second film for the director, as he embodies his conspiracist with venom. There’s also a standout performance from Delbis, in his debut, who is also on the autistic spectrum like his character.

And although the three main leads are brilliant, the narrative is on somewhat the weak side, meaning they have to do the majority of the heavy lifting, which is an obvious struggle at times.

You can’t help but wonder how the film would have turned out if regular writing contributor Tom McNamara (The Favourite, Poor things), who has a knack of elevating material.

Still, with Lanthimos behind the camera, Bugonia is still very much in his quirky wheelhouse, that his fans will appreciate, despite not being out of this world.