Take 59: The Bride!
The Bride! is a reimagining of the original Bride of Frankenstein. It’s told from the perspective of Mary Shelley from some dark limbo. Ol’ Frank(Christian Bale) realizing that he needs companionship, goes to Dr. Euphronious (Annette Benning) to create a mate for him. She reanimates Ida (Jessie Buckley), a recently murdered woman who isn’t exactly keen on the idea of blindly falling for Frank because she’s supposed to. In time, the two do find chemistry but an accident has them on the run, à la Bonnie & Clyde as Detective Jake Wiles and newcomer, Myrna Malloy (Penelope Cruz) are hot on their heels.
This one has a lot going for it. It’s set in large part in Chicago and New York— in the 1930s! It’s definitely speaking directly to me. The look of it is gorgeous, taking some daring risks and interesting approaches. It’s dark. It’s macabre. It’s weird (not Poor Things odd, but weird.) Opening with the darkly sinister Mary Shelley character set quite a tone. Writer/Director Maggie Gyllenhaal, you DID that!
The casting is great. Jessie Buckley is great as Ida, and just as I am typing this, I just learned that she also portrays Mary Shelley! She plays The Bride! in a way that is evocative of Lady Gaga as Harley Quinn perhaps- he is a light touched and there is an air of danger about her. Opposite her is Christian Bale, who, for what ever reason I usual REALLY just don’t like- but here, I’m all in. His Frank is as he should be, big, and lerchy, but for the most part harmless. Rounding out the cast are Annette Benning as Dr. Euphronius who I was kicking myself trying to place- I knew I knew her but wasn’t sure from where, I was almost thinking Sharon Stone or Michelle Pfeiffer. Penelope Cruz as Myrna, I could tell immediately. And you can walk anywhere without tripping over a Sarsgaard, in this case, Peter. All great and all character that I found myself rooting for a much as The Bride and Frank. Oh, and brother Jake also shows up in a fun role, so yeah, casting was definitely correct.
In an interview leading up to this, Maggie Gyllenhaal referenced the original film and how the character just grunted and a bit and didn’t really have many lines and is in about 5 minutes of the movie. She set out to right that wrong here, but even then, I wish we’d gotten a little more. We see her prior to her death and she is really interesting. She definitely does more than grunt here fortunately, but and I convinced the character says enough? Not sure. Ida does struggle with identity, connecting with who she was before her resurrection and it seems as though she never really gets there unfortunately in her current state.
The confusion of identity extends to the film. It’s unclear what it’s meant to be. Is it horror? Is it a Fugitive still “one-the-run”/road film? Is it satire? All of these things? It’s really heard to say so that would be my main gripe with it. Was I entertained? Yes? But did I get what Gyllenhaal was shooting for? Maybe…?
It definitely tries and I give it that. What is does well, it really does well. I think I just wanted a little MORE.
My score: 7.9
Does anyone object to my review? Speak now in the comments or forever hold your peace. And until next time…
