If you had told me Maggie Gyllenhaal made the most unhinged movie using Mary Shelley herself as the embodiment of feminine rage, I would have thought you the unhinged one. And then I would have asked for one ticket, please. This is most certainly the film she made.
Jessie Buckley uses everything she has in her to breathe life into the reanimated corpse that Frankenstein’s monster demanded of the 1930s doctor played by Annette Bening. She has Mary Shelley’s voice in her head, giving her two personalities. Each embodies what it is to be a woman. One feels empathy and guilt. The other turns her loneliness into rage against the male machine. Together they love ferally, untamed by the likes of man.
Christian Bale’s monster is obsessed with movie actor akin to Fred Astaire. He visits the movie theater to quell his anxiety and loneliness that make it hard for him to breathe. Its also place in the dark where he can unmask his monstrous face. He sees his life with his new undead friend as if they were in a musical. Problem is, the couple leaves dead bodies everywhere they go and the angry mobs give chase. And the police.
Two detectives (Peter Sarsgaard and Penelope Cruz) follow them from Chicago to Niagara Falls. This side narrative gives life to the bride’s previous living arrangement as an informant reporting on the mob to a detective (Sarsgaard). He passes off his case to his successor when all is revealed about his relationship with the bride who was named Ida at the time. The successor (Cruz) is a woman, and I love that Gyllenhaal did this while her movie was set in 1930s America.
Amid all the crazy storylines of mob bosses, cops and detectives, mad doctors, and two undead Bonnie and Clyde-esque lovers, the film is beautifully shot. A feast for the eyes. The score mixes with the visual for a visceral experience. There’s even a dance sequence that’s a grotesque 1930s ensemble as if Fred Astaire and Ginger Rodgers were in a Thriller video. Utter brilliance, the entire scene.
Themes of female empowerment run throughout, not just with the bride but with the doctor and the detective as well. These women are all of us who have struggled with violence at the hands of men. This is the kind of film I’m going to love more each time I watch it. Its bonkers. Unhinged. Loud. Above all, it’s ahead of its time. People won’t understand it now. Ten years from now, though, everyone will rediscover it and fall in love with it much like they did with Jennifer’s Body, Diablo Cody’s horror film with Megan Fox and Amanda Seyfried. Give us more of this, Maggie.
4.5 out of 5 stars.
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Becky Tyler Art and Photography 
If you had told me Maggie Gyllenhaal made the most unhinged movie using Mary Shelley herself as the embodiment of feminine rage, I would have thought you the unhinged one. And then I would have asked for one ticket, please. This is most certainly the film she made.
Jessie Buckley uses everything she has in her to breathe life into the reanimated corpse that Frankenstein’s monster demanded of the 1930s doctor played by Annette Bening. She has Mary Shelley’s voice in her head, giving her two personalities. Each embodies what it is to be a woman. One feels empathy and guilt. The other turns her loneliness into rage against the male machine. Together they love ferally, untamed by the likes of man.
Christian Bale’s monster is obsessed with movie actor akin to Fred Astaire. He visits the movie theater to quell his anxiety and loneliness that make it hard for him to breathe. Its also place in the dark where he can unmask his monstrous face. He sees his life with his new undead friend as if they were in a musical. Problem is, the couple leaves dead bodies everywhere they go and the angry mobs give chase. And the police.
Two detectives (Peter Sarsgaard and Penelope Cruz) follow them from Chicago to Niagara Falls. This side narrative gives life to the bride’s previous living arrangement as an informant reporting on the mob to a detective (Sarsgaard). He passes off his case to his successor when all is revealed about his relationship with the bride who was named Ida at the time. The successor (Cruz) is a woman, and I love that Gyllenhaal did this while her movie was set in 1930s America.
Amid all the crazy storylines of mob bosses, cops and detectives, mad doctors, and two undead Bonnie and Clyde-esque lovers, the film is beautifully shot. A feast for the eyes. The score mixes with the visual for a visceral experience. There’s even a dance sequence that’s a grotesque 1930s ensemble as if Fred Astaire and Ginger Rodgers were in a Thriller video. Utter brilliance, the entire scene.
Themes of female empowerment run throughout, not just with the bride but with the doctor and the detective as well. These women are all of us who have struggled with violence at the hands of men. This is the kind of film I’m going to love more each time I watch it. Its bonkers. Unhinged. Loud. Above all, it’s ahead of its time. People won’t understand it now. Ten years from now, though, everyone will rediscover it and fall in love with it much like they did with Jennifer’s Body, Diablo Cody’s horror film with Megan Fox and Amanda Seyfried. Give us more of this, Maggie.
4.5 out of 5 stars.
Discover more from Becky Tyler Art and Photography
Subscribe to get the latest posts sent to your email.
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