The Bride! | Film Review

 

In 1930s Chicago, The Bride (Jesse Buckley) is created as a companion to Frankenstein's monster (Christian Bale).

I'd heard mixed things about this film, most of it on the bad side, but I'm a fan of the Frankenstein story, and the actors involved were great, so this was always going to be on my watchlist.

I understand the mixed reviews because my thoughts on the film are also mixed.

The first word I wrote while reviewing this was 'weird'. That's not unusual for a Frankenstein movie, but this was weird even for Frankenstein!

I really loved the character of Frankenstein's monster, or Frank, played by Bale. He's such a well written, interesting, actually quite sweet character and I loved watching him. Weirdly, as this film is about The Bride, this is probably my favourite depiction of Frankenstein's monster to date.

And in contrast, I didn't feel much for the character of The Bride. She's not the one I remember when thinking about this film, and even while watching it she wasn't the one I really wanted to see.

I loved that the story was so rooted in music and performance. It makes everything feel so much more original and gives the audience something to connect to.

But then something I didn't love was the characterisation of Mary Shelley. It takes the film from fantastical to absurd, and I really don't think those scenes were needed to tell this story well.

The more the movie continues, the less interested I was in the characters - it almost feels impossible to really get to know them, and that's if you even want to. 

For the first half of the movie, I was waiting for the tone to change as the story settled into itself, but it just never did.

I saw a lot being said about female rage in this film, and I found the exploration a bit heavy-handed. It makes sense that this is what the film is about, in large part, but it's more of a hit over the head than a punch to the gut, in terms of impact.

And honestly, I feel like the impact is lessened slightly because the male main character is so sympathetic.

So overall, while I completely understand what the film was going for, I don't think it hit the mark as hard as it wanted or needed to. I had a good time, but it's not going to stand out among the other interpretations of this story.

5.5/10