Shadows on the Wall | The Bride!

The Bride!

dir-scr Maggie Gyllenhaal
prd Maggie Gyllenhaal, Emma Tillinger Koskoff, Talia Kleinhendler, Osnat Handelsman-Keren
with Jessie Buckley, Christian Bale, Annette Bening, Penelope Cruz, Peter Sarsgaard, Jake Gyllenhaal, John Magaro, Matthew Maher, Jeannie Berlin, Zlatko Buric, Louis Cancelmi , Julianne Hough
release US/UK 6.Mar.26
26/US Warners 2h06

Is it streaming?

Visually fascinating, this audacious spin on The Bride of Frankenstein centres around another fully immersed performance by Jessie Buckley. Writer-director Maggie Gyllenhaal takes an unflinching approach, throwing in action, crime drama, romance, thrills and lots of references to monster movies. But this scattershot approach blurs the film's plot and themes, which stubbornly refuse to coalesce. So we're wowed, but never as moved as we should be.

In 1936 Chicago, mob moll Ida (Buckley) is possessed by the spirit of Mary Shelley just before she's murdered. Meanwhile, Frankenstein's monster (Bale), who calls himself Frank, approaches Dr Euphronius (Bening) for help creating a bride, and they use Ida's body. Soon, Frank and his feisty new bride are on a crime spree, running to New York and then Niagara Falls for a series of wild encounters. In the process, the bride whips the female public into an activist frenzy. And both a goon (Magaro) and two detectives (Sarsgaard and Cruz) are on their trail.

Framing the story with Mary Shelley is a very odd choice, especially as it strains to insist that this story is more true to her vision than her groundbreaking novel. There are echoes of the book's emotional undercurrents here that hold the attention, largely in this duo's yearning to find happiness, despite continually making mistakes that jeopardise them. And while the ideas are provocative, they are just as meandering as the narrative, badly in need of a clear gut punch.

Buckley goes so deep into this role that it's difficult to sympathise with the bride. The physicality and raw emotions are impressive, often moving as they explode into another passionate outburst. But the bride's super-intense energy is rather exhausting, only balanced by Bale's soothing warmth as Frank, a century-old creature who still hasn't found himself. Of the side roles, Cruz's is the most focussed, and by far the most engaging person on-screen, as a sidelined woman who gets on with the job.

All of this is so stylised that it's fairly impossible to lose ourselves in the story. We are always aware that we're watching a movie that is referencing the likes of Bonnie and Clyde or Young Frankenstein with knowing wit and sparkling intelligence. And the central message about female empowerment is strongly felt, even if it's somewhat watered down by such a wide variety of ideas. Still, a crazy movie like this well worth a look just for the conversations it will spark.

themes, language, violence, sexuality 6.Mar.26

R E A D E R R E V I E W S

Still waiting for your comments ... don't be shy.