There have been a lot of takes on the “Frankenstein” tale the past few years, the most recent being Guillermo Del Toro’s adaptation of Mary Shelley’s novel. I discussed that masterpiece in an article back in November. However, director Maggie Gyllenhaal manages to bring new life to Shelley’s story and even Shelley herself in her latest film “The Bride!”
Gyllenhaal creates an American punk-rock gothic romance genre set in 1930s Chicago. For me it felt like a fever dream, blending styles of films like “La La Land” and “Lisa Frankenstein,” with the television show “The Sopranos.” It stars Jessie Buckley, who recently starred in Oscar nominated film “Hamnet” and Christian Bale, known for his leading roles in “The Dark Knight” and “American Psycho.”
The film follows Bale as Frank, who seeks help from Dr. Cornelia Euphronious (Annette Bening) to help him create a wife as he is suffering an incurable loneliness and Tony Soprano-like panic attacks that he fears will be the death of him. They together dig up recently murdered Ida, who happened to be possessed by the spirit of Mary Shelley. Once reanimated, Ida has no memory of who she was or what happened to her. Instead she is told Frank is her husband and the antics begin from there as she is determined to remember who she was before the supposed accident. All the while, phantom Shelley acts as a sort of conscious voice in her mind mudding up the situation even further. There is a second plot line throughout the film where two detectives are on the hunt for Frank and his new bride for some trouble they have both gotten into since her reanimation. Avoiding any major spoilers, the female detective Myrna Mallow, played by Penélope Cruz, adds to the feminist undertones of the film, outdoing her partner in just about every way possible while sleuthing out the trail of Frank and his bride.
On the note of feminism, the film showcases women in historically untraditional roles in the 1930s, and follows a sort of revolution: women empowered by The Bride to speak out and solve a long line of murders that occurred as hate crimes to women who dared to speak out about their abusers with mob ties.
I don’t often talk about the advertising and time of release for the films I review, however, with this one I think it’s worth mentioning how clever it was to be released at the start of Women’s History Month. The film not only centers the female lead and tells the story of The Bride who goes on an epic journey to discover her identity, it also gives (albeit fictionalized) but nonetheless an empowering voice to Shelley herself, this gives Shelley’s ghost the opportunity to tell the rest of her story beyond creating Frankenstein. With the opening lines from Shelley herself being, “Mmm, my darlings, a revolution is coming. If Frankenstein frightened you, my next story will make you stand up and yell, ‘Help!’”
Sticking to a theme is not the only thing this film got right – another major highlight was the acting of both Buckley and Bale! The special effects makeup on Bale paired phenomenally with his acting, I personally forgot all about his other characters while watching. That’s something that can be challenging with well known actors, who often at this point in their careers fall victim to type casting. Buckley, being so new to her roles within the film world, did an incredible job playing not only The Bride, but also Ida and Shelley. Her ability to switch accents rapidly during her possession moments, speaking like Shelley, an old English sound, to Ida with a Chicago accent and then The Bride with a blend of those and something all its own. It was even more impressive to learn after watching that Buckley is Irish, so none of those accents were her native to her.
Lastly, I would like to shout out all of the creative nods to previous “Frankenstein” films. Gyllenhaal was clever in adding in little details to both Franks’ scarring to match our classic iconic monster, doing the same with the side of The Bride’s hair, matching what we know from the original Bride of Frankenstein films. She also took opportunities to dress the two in costumes during dance numbers and dreamy sequences that matched the old school horror icons’ looks.
“The Bride!” earns an electric 5 out of 5 for me on the spicy scale. A new classic I will be adding into my rotation through the years, be it around Halloween, or as a rewatch every Women’s History Month from here on out. Stay tuned as I dive into a list of other must-watches to embrace for the rest of this month!