A fresh take on the age-old tale of Frankenstein, “The Bride!” hit American theaters on March 6 to poor reviews. The second feature film directed by Oscar-nominated actress Maggie Gyllenhaal, “The Bride!” follows a woman named Ida, played by Jessie Buckley, brought back from the dead to be the bride of a lonely Frankenstein’s monster, played by Christian Bale.
Hunted by detective Myrna, played by Penelope Cruz, and Jake, played by Gyllenhaal’s husband Peter Sarsgaard, Ida and Frank travel across the country, causing havoc and death everywhere they go.
Both characters are fueled by death, but also rebellion, as Ida’s murder spree is celebrated by women who paint their faces to mimic Ida’s black splatter on her cheek.
Even though the feminist nod was somewhat half-hearted, the messaging was a nice touch.
A key aspect of the story was the possession of Ida, starting before she was brought back to life by Dr. Cornelia Euphronious, played by Annette Bening. Reminding me somewhat of uncontrollable tics brought on by Tourette’s syndrome, Ida would burst into British speech throughout the movie, possessed by author Mary Shelley.
This choice, while interesting, was confusing. The film is supposed to be a story Shelley wanted to tell before her death, but the Shelley possession scenes seem somewhat abandoned in the last half of the movie as the plot takes stronger shape.
A black-and-white scene of Ida speaking to Mary Shelley in her head, also played by Buckley, about how she couldn’t breathe reminded me of the David Lynch dreamscape in “Eraserhead,” representative of a fantasy world Ida’s alter ego lived in. Although it was a visually cool concept, it felt very out of place and wasn’t explored well whatsoever.
Some of the dialogue and scenes were boring and both main subplots were extremely dull. There was also very little chemistry between Frank and Ida, emphasized by a couple of awkward sexual encounters.
The lone bright spot of this movie was, unsurprisingly, Jessie Buckley. Even if her role as Mary Shelley didn’t contribute much to the film as a whole, her portrayal of Ida was incredible.
For an actress nominated for an Oscar this year for her serious, melancholic role in “Hamnet,” she pulls off her role as an unhinged amnesiac so well. As someone introduced to Buckley this year, I’m so excited to see her work in the future, hopefully in movies I enjoy more than “The Bride!”
Going into the movie, I was expecting a fun take on a classic and that’s exactly what was delivered. After watching Guillermo Del Toro’s Oscar-nominated “Frankenstein” last year — a far superior movie — I was thrilled to see a much different take on a story with the same source material. Ultimately, though, it felt like Gyllenhaal wanted to plop Frankenstein characters into a completely different story — and it didn’t have a great outcome.
The best way to summarize “The Bride!” is to compare it to Frankenstein’s monster himself: a large product poorly sewn together. From the pointless mob scenes to the even cringier script, there were a lot of moving parts that didn’t align well. I wish Gyllenhaal had perfected just one aspect or leaned into one subplot a little more, but a shrug was all I could muster after the credits rolled.