After over two weeks of reading Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein; or, The Modern Prometheus, and watching a few renowned films inspired by the novel, I have finally seen Maggie Gyllenhaal’s The Bride!. Even the first official photos released a couple of years ago impress that this film would carry on the grave tone of the James Whale films, but would be updated for modern tastes. This newer version of Bride of Frankenstein gives the titular female lead a spotlight to call her own. On the one hand, I’m impressed by the fact that there is finally a film centered on The Bride, here portrayed by Jessie Buckley. The negative responses to her recent Oscars campaign do not do the actor any favors. Regardless, Buckley owns in her performance.
On the other hand, the so-called Bride has never been properly depicted and portrayed in the live-action sphere. She received solely five-ish minutes in the 1935 film, only to perish in a laboratory explosion. Although nonexistent in Shelley’s novel, the character appeared in or inspired female characters, such as Jennifer Tilly’s Tiffany Valentine in Don Mancini’s Chucky franchise. Think of DC Comics’ Harleen “Harley Quinn” Quinzel, but with a much older popular culture reputation. While The Bride! has much to live up to following Guillermo del Toro’s awards-winning film adaptation, Frankenstein, from this past fall, Gyllenhaal essentially possesses free rein with narration.
The Bride! is written and directed by producer Maggie Gyllenhaal (Donnie Darko, The Dark Knight, The Lost Daughter).
The Bride! is based on James Whale, William Hurlbut, and John L. Balderston’s 1935 film, Bride of Frankenstein, itself based on a subplot from Mary Shelley’s 1818 novel, Frankenstein; or, The Modern Prometheus.
In this review, I will discuss The Bride!. As this article’s title suggests, spoilers will be present.
Discussion
Gyllenhaal’s screenwriting and direction are most questionable. They aren’t bad elements per se, yet the narrative point of view is where I tend to get lost. It’s one thing to invigorate a character with a soul and possess them with a personality that shifts their sense of self. It’s another thing to suggest Shelley’s (also Buckley)—a real-life individual human being and woman—ulterior wants for her story. In Frankenstein‘s Introduction, she clearly states that she wrote the novel to invoke utmost horror as a ghastly, supernatural Gothic tale. The filmmaker’s depiction of Shelley suggests that she intended for a love story to be the most horrific aspect. I am curious to know how much is true since the novel heavily conveys its titular character’s and his monster’s internal conflicts between desired love and exerted hostility.
Frankenstein ends with the two men ruefully making amends as the creator perishes and his creation departs with suicide in mind. To an extent, Gyllenhaal’s movie is a sequel to this. In The Bride!, the eponymous Ida (also Buckley) is awoken in spasms by the melodramatic, poetic spirit of a deceased Shelley. While it is its own beast, the film still displays faithfulness to the Whale film and the source material. Now self-named “Frank” (Christian Bale), the Monster speaks of his birth in Ingoldstadt. He receives help in grave-robbing for corpses. His physicality carries over from the novel. On that note, his alleyway murders from the promotional trailers do justice. The pronunciation of “Frankenstein” in the second act is a good callback to the recurring gag in Mel Brooks and Gene Wilder’s Young Frankenstein.
In for a Penny, In for a Pound
Gyllenhaal’s work with the material seems limited, and in some areas, I am dissatisfied with the results. The Bride! easily could have been a much longer project to extrapolate Frank and his Bride’s relationship. If Frankenstein also insinuated bringing the Monster and his mate’s offspring into the world, then that would have made an intriguing ending or final act here.
Viewers get to see The Bride get violent, such as when she pushes an Indiana cop (Alex Morf) off a moving train, causing him to break his neck on a rail. The subplot focused on Detective Jake Wiles (Peter Sarsgaard) and assistant Myrna Malloy’s (Penélope Cruz) investigation is fine. I just wish there were more stakes with them involved. After the second act ends with Frank and The Bride escaping from New York and the subsequent montage consisting of the outcome, the final act is quite a blur. The protagonists’ ultimate realization is not the problem but rather where to go from that point.
Rhetorically, Gyllenhaal is sufficiently sound, so that’s not entirely where The Bride! discovers flaws in the narrative. Her style of writing matches Shelley’s use of language via Frankenstein. For example, when Frank first comes to scientist Dr. Cornelia Euphronious (Annette Bening) about finding a mate to fulfill him, he specifically asserts his search for “an intercourse”. Obviously, this word can have a sexual denotation. Yet, the word “intercourse” in some cases of Frankenstein—such as at the end of Chapter 13—merely refers to communication and connection, closer to discourse. The dialogue is delightful and splendid. Take Frank’s line, “There is a whole garden of pleasure which I have not yet had the honor of enjoying”, or even better, Shelley’s “Find your name, girl. Resistance to tyranny is obedience to god.”
A Pretty Production
Production designer Karen Murphy et al’s set pieces often have something brilliant to appreciate. The spiral-ish staircase leading up to Euphronious’s laboratory is a great metaphor for the fundamentals of Gothicism. Frank’s ascent while carrying Ida’s body up is an easy symbol for the latter’s rebirth, through both science and the fictitious Shelley. The laboratory has its peak, i.e., the ceiling, where The Bride psychologically and spiritually speaks to Shelley at one point. The spiral is defined by change and what occurs to one at the end. The Bride’s case is an out-of-body experience, that she must obtain influence and power.
A post-Prohibition Era for the United States is such a fun time setting to place The Bride!. Gyllenhaal’s painting of Frank and The Bride as adults gradually learning to love as if children absorbing wonder and imagination is a solid juxtaposition with how they impress externally. The latter character’s scene with a table of eggs, toast, and jam is enticing in showcasing her ability to follow instructions and express needs. Chicago and New York’s developed atmosphere, juxtaposed with suburban/ rural fields and woods, demonstrate two lonely creatures’ exploration of America. This represents the attempt to balance chaos with calm, not that it succeeds. The lead characters’ nighttime car chase after fleeing the drive-in theatre in the final act is an awesomely constructed sequence. It’s one of a handful of promising scenes that The Bride! has to offer.
The Minor Details
Costume designer Sandy Powell et al’s outfits are swell. Frank’s coat and fedora comprise a look that fits the character well. His bodily scars that he is “used to” having display battle damage, having run from mobs and authority. The Bride’s ’30s appearance is simply lovely, and the orange dress complements her pale complexion. Even her black fishnet veil during the New York dance number gives us a hot, Gothic look. Beyond these two characters, there is nothing to write home about because the narrative focus itself is an issue.
Additionally, music composer Hildur Guðnadóttir’s soundtrack is touching. I expect nothing else after her contributions to Todd Phillips and Scott Silver’s Joker, as well as Todd Field’s Tár. The reanimation of Ida is a good score. More so, I highly enjoy the upbeat jazz and dance numbers incorporated into the narrative. I also appreciate the “Monster Mash” needle drop during the mid-credits scene when Detective Wiles eats ice cream as the radicalized women inspired by The Bride apprehend mob boss Lupino (Zlatko Burić), an alleged woman-killer.
The Crew Behind The Bride!
Lawrence Sher (The Hangover trilogy, Joker, Dua Lipa’s “Don’t Start Now” music video, Joker: Folie à Deux) serves as the director of photography.
Niko Tavernise (Black Swan, The Irishman, The Trial of the Chicago 7, Don’t Look Up, The Whale, Dune: Part Two, Challengers, Caught Stealing) serves as the stills photographer.
Dylan Tichenor (Boogie Nights, Magnolia, Unbreakable, Brokeback Mountain, There Will Be Blood, The Town, Zero Dark Thirty, Phantom Thread, Eternals) serves as the editor.
Kimberly Phelps, Victoria Jayne, Nia Rose, and Carmen Hu Almagor are the assistant editors.
Hildur Guðnadóttir (Sicario: Day of the Soldado, Chernobyl, Joker, Tár, Women Talking, Joker: Folie à Deux, Hedda, 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple) serves as the music composer.
Philip Klein scores additional music.
Randall Poster (The Royal Tenenbaums, Zodiac, Revolutionary Road, Jennifer’s Body, The Hangover trilogy, The Wolf of Wall Street, Boyhood, Joker, The Irishman, Killers of the Flower Moon, Hit Man, The Phoenician Scheme) serves as the music supervisor.
Joseph S. DeBeasi, Jason Ruder (Freedom Writers, The Hangover Part II, The Great Gatsby, The Hangover Part III, Straight Outta Compton, La La Land, A Star Is Born, Joker, Babylon, The Color Purple, Hedda, 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple), and Katrina Schiller (Gangster Squad, Mad Max: Fury Road, Crimson Peak, Birds of Prey, Hamnet) serve as the music editors.
Richard King serves as the supervising sound editor.
Damian Volpe (Drive, It Comes at Night, The Lighthouse, Robert Eggers’s Nosferatu) serves as the additional supervising sound editor.
Andrew Bock and Eric McAllister are the assistant sound editors. Dave Paterson, Michael Mitchell, and Randy Torres are the sound effects editors.
Casting, Stunts, & Visual Effects
Douglas Aibel (Unbreakable, Signs, The Village, Devil, The Grand Budapest Hotel, The Visit, Split, Isle of Dogs, Succession Season 1, The French Dispatch, Old, The Many Saints of Newark, Knock at the Cabin, Servant, Asteroid City, Trap, The Phoenician Scheme, Materialists) serves as the casting director.
Matthew Glasner (Little Women, The French Dispatch, The Many Saints of Newark, Servant, Knock at the Cabin, Reality, Asteroid City, Trap, The Phoenician Scheme, Materialists) serves as the casting associate.
Stephen Pope (American Gangster, Man on a Ledge, Detroit, If Beale Street Could Talk, Uncut Gems, Lovecraft Country, No Sudden Move, Killers of the Flower Moon, Prime Video’s Mr. & Mrs. Smith) serves as the stunt coordinator.
Mark Russell serves as the visual effects supervisor.
Aesthetics
Karen Murphy (The Matrix Reloaded, The Matrix Revolutions, Star Wars: Episode III – Revenge of the Sith, The Great Gatsby, It Comes at Night, A Star Is Born) serves as the production designer.
Nithya Shrinivasan (Okja, The Irishman, tick tick…BOOM!, West Side Story) serves as the supervising art director.
Marie Wagner and Angelica Borrero serve as the art directors.
Jonathan Collins, Joseph Feld (The Black Phone, Echo Valley), Shoko Kambara, Blythe R.D. Quinlan, Elsa Rinde (Succession Season 4, No Hard Feelings), and Lauren Rockman are the assistant art directors.
Rena DeAngelo serves as the set decorator.
Sandy Powell serves as the costume designer. Marco Piemontese, Oliver Garcia, Debbie Scott, Erika Lilienthal Gage, and Wade Laboissonniere are the assistant costume designers.
Kay Georgiou is credited as the hair designer.
Jimmy Goode and Vanessa Anderson (Joker, Prime Video’s Fallout Season 1, Joker: Folie à Deux, Queen of the Dead) serve as the key hairstylists.
Michael Buonincontro (The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel, West Side Story, Westworld Season 4) serves as the hairstylist.
Lori Guidroz serves as the hairstylist for “Frank”.
Nadia Stacey serves as the makeup & prosthetics designer. Nicki Ledermann serves as the makeup designer.
Jane DiPersio is the key makeup artist. Sunday Englis is the makeup artist.
Chris Gallaher and Scott Stoddard are credited as the special effects makeup designers for “Frank”.
Robin Pritchard is credited as the prosthetic makeup supervisor for “Frank”.
Stella Sensel (West Side Story, The Penguin, Queens of the Dead, Marty Supreme) and Kerrin Jackson are credited as the prosthetic makeup artists for “Frank”.
The Cast of The Bride!
Jessie Buckley (Chernobyl, I’m Thinking of Ending Things, FX’s Fargo Season 4, Men, Women Talking, Hamnet) portrays Mary Shelley, Ida, The Bride, and Penelope Rogers.
Christian Bale (American Psycho, Christopher Nolan’s The Dark Knight trilogy, Thor: Love and Thunder) portrays “Frank” Frankenstein.
Peter Sarsgaard (The Skeleton Key, Orphan, Dopesick, The Batman) portrays Detective Jake Wiles.
Penélope Cruz portrays Myrna Malloy, Wiles’s secretary and later appointed detective.
Annette Bening portrays Dr. Cornelia Euphronious, a scientist in Chicago, Illinois.
Jake Gyllenhaal (Donnie Darko, Brokeback Mountain, End of Watch, Prisoners, Enemy, Nightcrawler, Okja) plays fictional actor, Ronnie Reed.
Zlatko Burić (Triangle of Sadness, Wolfs, James Gunn’s Superman, Wonder Man) portrays Lupino, a mob boss.
John Magaro (My Soul to Take, Overlord, The Umbrella Academy Season 1, The Many Saints of Newark, Past Lives, Materialists) portrays Clyde, an associate of Lupino.
Matthew Maher (Our Flag Means Death, Outer Range, Relay) plays James, an associate of Lupino.
Jeannie Berlin portrays Greta, Dr. Euphronious’s maid.
Louis Cancelmi (The Irishman, Kindred, Killers of the Flower Moon, A Murder at the End of the World, Lauren LeFranc’s The Penguin, Sorry Baby) portrays Officer Goodman.
Minor Roles
Oliver Palmer and Rob Kellogg portray rough boys.
Will Dagger plays a man at a movie theater. Julianne Hough appears as Iris/ Jinx.
Massiel Mordan plays Mable.
Conor William Wright plays Eddie, while Ruby Westhoff plays “Eddie’s girl”. The two are a couple making out by Frank and The Bride at a movie theater.
Josh Caras plays a ballroom cop.
Tomoe Carr and Ramona Sarsgaard play violence girls.
Charlotte Ray Rosenberg, Melissa Beth Miller, and Morgan McGhee portray Bride impersonators.
Aimee Mullins, Sofía Ko, and Olivia Luccardi portray “Brain Attack” girls.
Alex Morf plays an Indiana train cop. Michael Cullen plays an Indiana sheriff.
Performances and Character Developments
Although not Buckley’s best role to date, the actor still performs her damnedest as a woman born unnaturally. She juggles multiple personalities, which is no easy feat. Buckley delivers line-readings that I feel only she could tackle, e.g., “You know what they say: silence is golden. Well, I’m singing for my supper.” To reiterate, this is good rhetorical style on the screenwriter’s end. The Bride! is the actor’s for the taking, especially considering scenes that would not be as feasible without her presence in them. After naming herself Penelope “Pretty Penny” Rogers in the second act, the character’s helplessness is the next test in resolving her identity struggles. I’m not a big fan of the way in which it was handled. Then again, I can see that Gyllenhaal has nothing aside from good intentions.
Seeing Frank find solace in the black-and-white films of the time is captivating. I’m not totally convinced, but for him to at least fantasize about recognition is vital to his well-being. The character has some rather irksome qualities that deviate from the source material, such as his proclivity to speak. This isn’t negative at all, given his interest in conversing with other people. With that in mind, when he disrupts others from watching a movie, it becomes a pet peeve. Frank’s scene wherein he fanboys in the presence of his favorite actor, Ronnie Reed (Jake Gyllenhaal), is short-lived. Honestly, I would have liked for that interaction to be way more meaningful, so as to make matters more compelling.
Final Thoughts on Maggie Gyllenhaal’s The Bride!
The Bride!‘s whole thesis challenges the world to react to women taking on fields and professions they haven’t before. Mind you, this comes shortly after the American women’s suffrage movement, with them receiving the right to vote. The film is intended to radicalize women into breaking from their chains and using their liberty to actually participate in the world instead of be cogs in the social machine. Otherwise, I’m quite ambivalent at how Gyllenhaal aims to reach conclusions.
The final act ends with Frank and Rogers evading the law, with the former mortally wounded, only for the law to catch up to them in Euphronious’s laboratory. Rogers also dies in a rain of gunfire, and with authority out of the building, the scientist reanimates both creatures again because it is understood that Frank and The Bride need one another. Those final shots should further illustrate purpose to deserve a better cut to black. Overall, two hours feel like one hour in a film that paces excellently but could have risked putting on an extended runtime to come off more as an epic.
Maggie Gyllenhaal’s The Bride! is now playing in theaters!
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