As I was exiting the press screening of Guillermo Del Toro’s Frankenstein, and my eyes were still adjusting to sunlight (just like the monster), someone loudly sharing his opinions to whomever was in listening distance used the compound word, “heavy handed,” and someone else called it “too literal.” While I can’t argue with those descriptions, I don’t see them as negative when it comes to a cinematic endeavor that has been literally done to death in every possible medium, including many-a bastardization (Andy Warhol’s camp version comes to mind). James Whale’s 1931 classic, Frankenstein, still stands as the best.
Del Toro has given us a decidedly more human look at the monster and his creator–one that asks key questions about what it means to be human (as Bugonia does), Sure, the film also tackles the inherent Mary Shelley themes of hubris, power-madness and empathy, but Del Toro is going after something a bit deeper that resonates so strong with our culture today—our impatience with each other, how we are quick to judge one another based on looks, geography, religious and/or political beliefs—and how we all have our own foibles, idiosycrasies, imperfections, uniqueness, all of which should be celebrated, not denigrated or destroyed.
So, if some of the dialogue is a bit lofty and obvious, maybe it’s because subtly and nuance are not qualities that we seem to seek out today. We love things black and white, hero and villain, Trump supporter and Trump hater.I think Del Toro is quite perspicacious in his decision to clearly tell us what the characters are thinking (although that isn’t aways the case) and it reflects on just how maddeningly unsophisticated we’ve become as a species.
Told in three parts, a prologue, Victor’s Story and the Monster’s Story, the film flashes back from the Arctic tundra where the Creature (Jacob Elordi) is hunting his Creator, Victor (Oscar Issac), on board a Danish ship where the captain (Lars Mikkelsen) and his crew are attempting to dig themselves out of ice.
Victor’s youth is spent with a cold, tyrannical father (Charles Dance) who showed him no love. His doting French mother, who he worshipped, dies during childbirth and Victor is convinced his father killed her to save the infant—a brother he describes as, “the breeze,” to his “storm cloud,” at least in the eyes of Papa.
When his father insists that, “no one can conquer death,” young Victor’s arrogant response is, “I will.”
The tale leaps to 1855 with Victor, now a prominent doctor, is trying to convince the bigwigs at the Royal College of Medicine that he can do more than reanimate the dead, he can create life. This is seen as heresy but one man, an arms dealer Heinrich Harlander (Christophe Waltz, doing his thing), agrees to provide Victor with all the money and necessities he needs. A pact is formed.
Harlander’s ethereal daughter Elizabeth (Mia Goth) soon arrives engaged to Victor’s younger brother William (Felix Kammerer). Victor is instantly taken with the young woman and, ever the egotist, isn’t shy about making his feelings known. Goth, who has made a name for herself in several slasher/horror films, is captivating as Elizabeth.
A Gothic castle is reconstructed to provide Victor with his necessary laboratory. Body parts, via the dead men on the Crimean War battlefields, are assembled and after an elaborate, “It’s alive,” moment (without that actual phrase), a new life form is born.
The first few scenes between Victor and Creature are sweet and lovely. Elordi’s creature is like a newborn, elated at discovering the simplest things and eager to learn. “Everything was new to him,” Victor offers in voiceover, “and I was there to mold him.” But he soon realizes, “I never considered what would come after creation.” His brother challenges Victor, asking if he ever considered, “which part holds the soul?”
Victor’s Story ends with the the Creature being plunged into a chaos of sorts. But then it’s time for him to tell his story, and this is where the film truly comes to electric life, beginning with the being basically trying to stay alive in a world that wishes to hunt him down and kill him for being different. Only a blind man can see him for what and who he is. And this so-called monster, gets to see humanity for what it is.
Photo Credit: Ken Woroner / Netflix
One can’t view this Frankenstein without musing on AI and how it’s quickly changing our lives, for better and worse—the recent suicide of a teen, allegedly because of AI,–proves the latter. But tragedy happens when you rush things and don’t bother to nurture and understand what you are creating. And that is exactly what happens in Del Toro’s epic. Once Victor has achieved his goal and his monster is born, he grows increasingly impatient that the only word he can speak is “Victor” —never caring to realize just how he is using his name—in a tender, loving manner that is desperate for guidance, for education, for tenderness—for love. It’s heartbreaking to watch him dismiss his creation with such callousness and contempt.
In his version, Del Toro leaves out the hordes of bloodthirsty villagers pursuing the Creature, with pitchforks, demanding his death, because it isn’t necessary. It’s a kind of given that the masses will turn on the monster. Instead, he shows us a couple of hunters, gun in tow—of course– who make instant assumptions about him, and then try to kill him. But, much to his growing misery, the monster cannot die.
Isaac has a tricky role as the genius Victor, who behaves in a selfish, sadistic, narcissistic manner, and it isn’t until later in the film, we can muster much sympathy for his character.
Goth is excellent, especially in her scenes with Elordi. There’s a Beauty and the Beast meet Bride of Frankenstein quality to their moments together.
But it’s Elordi who enchants, enraptures and beguiles, in a performance that begs revisiting and cherishing. Over the last few years, he’s done increasingly impressive work in Priscilla, Saltburn and On Swift Horses, but his achievement here, even under all the makeup and prosthetics, is an absolute marvel. And when it comes to the Oscars, whether he’s placed in lead or support–and an argument can be made for either–Elordi more than deserves consideration.
The tech credits are amazing across the boards and Frankenstein is sure to receive multiple Academy Award nominations for its fanciful score, sumptuous production designs, period-perfect costumes and extraordinary cinematography –and of course, it’s tremendous visual effect.
Yet, I am still haunted by this Creature, his mistreatment and, yet, his ability to…forgive.
Frankenstein is playing In Competition at the Venice Film Festival.
