Ron’s Review

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A movie about Frankenstein is not to be missed, not in our house. After last year’s Frankenstein film from Guillermo del Toro, I was looking forward to The Bride, a Frankenstein story from the perspective of the monster’s bride. I haven’t seen the older movies with the Bride but I was intrigued by this film, mainly because Maggie Gyllenhaal was directing it and I found her previous film, The Lost Daughter, riveting, even if the story wasn’t for me.

This film is nothing like I expected. It’s surreal, meta, a dark romance, and, at times, satirical. I was completely engrossed from start to finish. This film isn’t just about Frankenstein’s monster finding a bride, it’s about the Bride finding herself and inadvertently empowering women to revolt against oppression. There are several plot points and subplots, including a serial killing mobster, a female detective trying to get recognition, and a mad scientist hiding a sad secret.

We thus also get a plethora of characters. There’s Frankenstein’s monster, played by Christian Bale, called Frank in the film. He’s profoundly lonely, so much so that he’s ready to reveal himself to a scientist whose work he’s read, in the hopes she can make him a companion.

There’s the scientist, Dr Euphronious (Annette Bening), who’s as fascinated by the monster’s existence as she is annoyed by his request. But the scientific prospect is too hard to pass up and so: enter the Bride.

Found in a pauper’s grave, the prospective Bride, played by Jessie Buckley, has no memory of who she is or the accident that she and ‘Frank’ suffered. She needs time to reconnect with the man she’s led to believe is her husband. 

But there’s a twist in all this. The audience knows who the Bride is and what happened to her. We don’t know the whole story—that’s revealed later, with details tantalizingly teased out. And even more interestingly, the Bride, just before her death is accused of having been‘possessed’.  It’s all rather meta.

Like I said, there’s absolutely no way to know what to expect from The Bride, let alone predict what happens next. The story gets more layers and depth as the film progresses. What starts off as two dead people falling in love becomes a story about revolution, revenge, and guilt.

The performances are fascinating. With a stacked cast, that’s not surprising, but the way Jessie Buckley and Christian Bale disappear into these characters is astounding. Buckley channels the  ghost that possesses her and plays the manic and lost Bride as two separate people, yet gives them both ticks to connect them. She’s charming and terrifying, proud but guilt-ridden. She completely owns the screen.

Bale surpasses the monster makeup and imbues Frank with so much pathos. This is not a monster lusting for a wife; this is a being who’s never seen a kind face, let alone a loving caress. He’s almost too used to the insults people throw at him for his face–but it still hurts him. He’s also kind of a pacifist until pushed to the edge, at which point, hell hath no fury than a monster scorned. It was a fascinating watch—so different from Jacob Elordi’s recent version, yet with similarities that one could recognize from the source material.

The rest of the cast are just as fascinating. Bening is a delightful mad scientist. Penelope Cruz is the plucky detective frustrated by being ignored. Peter Sarsgaard is a soothing, kind presence, and gives his detective interesting layers. The friendly and humorous chemistry between Cruz and Sarsgaard was delightful to watch and a breath of fresh air. 

I loved Jake Gyllenhaal in this. He plays Ronnie Reed, an actor Frank has taken a great liking to. It’s weird how much Bale actually looks like Gyllenhaal, but I hadn’t noticed it before. I loved the scenes of Frank watching Ronnie and dreaming of himself in Ronnie’s place. It was heartbreaking and sadly relatable. It also gave both Gyllenhaal and Bale an opportunity to sing and dance. Loved that!

The aesthetic of this film is hard to describe—set in the 30s and 40s, it’s a mix of cinematic and modern gothic. The locations are often bright, unexpected for a horror-ish film. The sets are grand and Gatsby-ish, yet also intimate at times. I’m so curious as to how the locations were chosen because they add personality to the story.

The only issue I had with this film is that there were a few too many scenes of sexual assault. I understand why and that it’s the main reason for the uprising but it seemed a bit of a lazy way to show oppression. I was much more interested in how a scientist and a detective were making their way in their male-dominated professions.

I’m surprised by how much I enjoyed this film. This is what Joker wanted to be, and look, it did it without being racist and incendiary.

Mon’s Review

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I didn’t know what to expect of The Bride! I am very fond of Frankenstein, the book, and it does blinker my view of any adaptations, as is obvious from my dislike of the recent Frankenstein film.

But, the trailer for The Bride! promised to be retro and kookie, and since I’m a sucker for all things Frankenstein I was eager to watch it. 

The film is like everything and nothing I’ve seen before. An amalgamation of genres, storylines, performances and themes, it’s a chaotic journey that’s left me confused but also wishing for more. 

What can I share without giving away spoilers? The Bride is a dead woman resurrected by Frankenstein because of his loneliness. But she’s nothing like what he expected, and I can’t share why because spoilers. 

But what is a good life for monsters, living in a world of monsters? 

Let me get the negatives out of the way. I didn’t care for how frenetic parts of the film were. I wanted to spend more time with the characters and the story, and we hurtled through some parts while we lingered on others. Of course, the bits I liked seemed to fly by but the disturbing moments took forever to end. 

I also didn’t like how mean spirited some of the initial comments towards Frankenstein were. At the end of the day, the prosthetics weren’t that severe, and beneath all that is Christian Bale, so the comments felt like they were punching down on real people with disfigurements and differences. They didn’t dwell on that and it’s certainly not the point of the film. But I needed the characters to be better people from the get-go. 

I had read that viewers in test screenings didn’t care for the sexual violence in the film. The scenes are distressing especially as the potential victim’s paralysis during those instances becomes obvious. But, I had less of an issue with including these scenes — since it is a reality — except that they turned the character into a damsel in distress. Again, totally normal reaction. But, it seemed like the “hero” took forever to act and save her. I was reminded of Birds of Prey, which didn’t shy away from gender-based attempted assaults. But that film handled the scenes with a speedy finesse that was missing here. 

Now, on to the positives. I loved the production design. The sets, the locations, the costumes. I was transported to a world in the past, dripping in nostalgia for a world that didn’t exist, especially for the characters living in it.

The film is not as diverse as I would have liked, but this isn’t the revisionist all-white, all-straight history people claim the past to look like. Writer-director-producer Maggie Gyllenhaal definitely tries to make a statement with her characters and their careers of interest. 

I need to talk about the performances. I am captivated by literally every single actor, their performance, and their character. Good guy or bad, these actors were lost in these characters and imbued them with so many layers that I need to see more of them. I don’t know how Gyllenhaal was able to eke out such brilliant performances. Yes, she’s got a stacked cast of great actors, but not one single one, no matter how big or small the role, left you wondering what their motivations were, or who they were. 

Jessie Buckley carries the film. She’s got a lot of heavy lifting to do, and does it effortlessly. She’s tragic and funny and desperate and angry. She’s quirky, a commentary on the Manic Pixie Dream Girl, and yet she’s uniquely The Bride. 

Christian Bale is always fantastic. He didn’t get as lost in the role as I expected, but he’s uninhibited like I’ve not seen him before. It’s hard to be hammy with a purpose, but he can do it. I love that Bale is able to step away from the spotlight and let it shine on Buckley. 

I have to talk about Peter Sarsgaard. I get it, he’s the director’s husband, of course that’s why he got the role. But my word, I loved him in this film. He plays a detective who tries to be one of the guys, but you can just tell he’s aching to break free of the mold. He’s funny but he’s carrying some burdens that he can’t share. I’m used to him playing sad sacks, but this character is far from it. Or is he? 

Penelope Cruz has amazing presence. I was itching to see more of her character. Her and Saarsgard’s scenes were my favourite in the film. I guess I love detective stories so these two caught my eye. She was restrained and stoic, but still funny. I wanted more of this character. 

Annette Bening keeps showing up in weird places playing fascinating roles. I won’t say more than that. But I wish we’d got more of her too. She has such a cool presence and character. 

There were supporting characters galore who drew you in. But I have to give kudos to the other Gyllenhaal — Jake is so striking. He’s in the background, but he’s doing a lot more work than you think. I loved seeing him in this role. Dripping screen charisma. 

As for the story itself, there’s a lot going on here. Probably too much for just one film. The focus was everywhere and I wish we’d whittled the story down to a few plots. But which ones to cut? They were all awesome. We just needed more. That’s the theme of this review. 

Gyllenhaal doesn’t shy away from the core conundrum of Mary Shelley’s book — who’s the real monster? It seeps into the entire film but it’s drip-fed through a variety of characters and instances rather than as a poorly delivered line of dialogue. Yes, I still haven’t forgiven Guillermo del Toro for that in his Frankenstein. Here we have a unique take on the theme, but the answers aren’t as cut-and-dried as one would expect. 

Beyond that, this is also a love story, one that attempts to go beyond the physical. Is it the mind, the metaphysical, the similarities or the loneliness? Are our protagonists destined to be with one another or not? We ride along with the love story because it manages to tow and trump the tropes we expect in such a tale. 

We have other storylines such as feminism, gender disparity, women’s rage, and predatory men. There’s the investigation, there’s a mobster. There’s a revolution. It’s dizzying and a giddy experience. The Bride is, at its heart, a throwback to old-timey films like Bonnie and Clyde, and I loved it for that. Why not throw the kitchen sink at the script! 

While I’m not wholly in love with the film, I can’t take issue with what a ride we were on. Gyllenhaal brings a colourful and vibrant and dark and disturbing paradoxical film full of love and secrets and monsters. It’s a mashup of genres and tropes brought to life with stunning design and utterly gorgeous performances. The more I think about it the more I’m mesmerized by The Bride! Mary Shelley would be delighted.