‘The Bride!’: Jessie Buckley and Christian Bale Have Monstrous Chemistry in Maggie Gyllenhaal’s Message-Heavy ‘Frankenstein’ Reimagining

Alci Rengifo

The classics can be interpreted in so many different ways. You can keep them set in their original eras or update the story for the present. Maggie Gyllenhaal’s sophomore directorial effort, “The Bride!,” wants to take Mary Shelley’s “Frankenstein” and pull off multiple things at the same time, some quite alluring. Gyllenhaal wants to make a feminist manifesto, monster movie and pseudo-punk gangster film set in the 1930s. The result is a film with some parts full of wonderful potential, and like Frankenstein’s monster, other parts that just don’t function as well. By focusing on the idea of the bride of the monster, she has room to play with since the character is actually nonexistent in the original 1818 novel.

The first character to appear in the film is Mary Shelley (Jessie Buckley), though the author has now apparently been reduced to some kind of ghost or other otherworldly entity. In black and white she informs us she is possessing her creation, meaning Ida (also Buckley), a wisecracking free spirit in 1936 Chicago. While partying with some local gangsters, Ida starts getting loud in detailing the crimes of crime lord Lupino (Zlatko Burić) before her voice switches to the English accent of Shelley. After the mobsters try to shut her up, Ida finds herself tumbling down some stairs. Cut to Frank (Christian Bale), as in Frankenstein’s monster, arriving at the home of Dr. Cornelia Euphronious (Annette Bening). She’s read “Frankenstein” and so isn’t surprised but fascinated when Frank arrives with his stitches and stapled scalp. He in turn has been searching for Cornelia because of her research, which has convinced him she could now create a mate or companion for his lonely, monstrous self. The perfect candidate is found in the corpse of Ida.

Gyllenhaal could have gone any number of ways after her wonderful 2021 directorial debut, “The Lost Daughter.” That was a controlled, intimate portrait of a professor (Olivia Colman) on holiday in Greece dealing with unspoken wounds from the past. It had the air of a European indie. “The Bride!” can feel like the plot of some straight to video B movie, despite the efforts of cinematographer Lawrence Sher, who shoots in the warm tones familiar to period films. The screenplay by Gyllenhaal throws ideas without the layers. Why do we need Mary Shelley to travel to 1936 via Ida’s body? If Baz Luhrmann could turn “Romeo and Juliet” into a ‘90s gangster epic, surely “Frankenstein” can be adjusted for a contemporary version. Dr. Cornelia apparently doesn’t even need to do much to bring Ida back, just slap her on a table and turn the knobs on some well-designed voltage equipment in a lab. It remains hard to top James Whale’s 1935 gothic horror masterpiece “The Bride of Frankenstein.” 

There are fun moments amid everything going on. When Ida emerges as “the Bride,” she rightfully wonders why she’s supposed to marry Frank when she has no memory of this stitched-up guy. The director wants to give the story a progressive tinge wherever possible, so Frank doesn’t get angry at the Bride but is turned on by her fiery, scrappy independence. A feminist take on the Bride of Frankenstein is certainly warranted, but instead of evoking ideas through a strong narrative, Gyllenhaal seems to stop to literally preach or have characters walk around as symbols as opposed to flesh and blood personalities. After Frank stomps on two would-be rapists who attack the Bride while going out to party, detective Jake Wiles (Peter Sarsgaard) and his assistant, Myrna Mallow (Penélope Cruz) start to investigate. The two lack grit because their dialogue and actions feel so calculated. Jake is like an extra nice “woke” guy transplanted to 1936, even speaking in ultra-soft tones while Myrna does all the “manly” things he won’t, like smoke. It’s not that the idea is bad, but the execution. None of it feels organic. The same goes for scenes like Frank and the Bride going to a 3D movie and the Bride yelling at a man making out with a date that no means no. Again, the idea is correct, but such moments feel like Gyllenhaal doesn’t trust us to understand what she wants the story to convey.

“The Bride!” eventually stops feeling like a monster movie but like a weepy melodrama where the actors happen to wear complex makeup. It could have been quite the horror romp, instead Gyllenhaal opts for other odd choices. The Bride has a dark splatter mark on her face from the chemicals used to bring her to life. After her attackers are killed, a “rebellion” erupts of other women who read about the killings and also splatter their faces like refugees from “Joker.” It lacks impact because there’s no build-up and the rioters are composed of about five actors running around a street screaming at the camera. And how can Frank and the Bride suddenly control everyone’s bodies during a quirky dance number at a party? Then there’s the annoying use of Mary Shelley’s personality fighting with the Bride’s 1930s voice. The score by Hildur Guðnadóttir, famous for her atmospheric scores for films such as “Joker,” does add some dark romanticism the images can lack. 

There are still some good elements that peak through the rest of the material. Bale and Buckley have chemistry when the material tones down. We can believe them as one of those couples composed of the more sheltered, reserved partner (Frank) being coaxed out of his shell by the free spirited Bride. It would be unfair to make comparisons to Guillermo del Toro’s recent, Oscar-nominated “Frankenstein,” but at times these two find some of the wounded tenderness Jacob Elordi evoked to such a high degree in the del Toro film. Even as the third act becomes a mess, the performances shine through. Gyllenhaal also finds a fun role for her sibling, Jake Gyllenhaal, as Ronnie Reed, a ‘30s movie star Frank worships. Some of the truly funny moments are the black and white movies the monstrous couple goes to see starring Reed, featuring Gyllenhaal pulling off a perfect old Hollywood accent. “The Bride!” has the marks here and there of a good director we surely want to see more from. It is an experiment that eventually cannot sustain itself, despite presenting some truly enticing possibilities.

“The Bride!” releases March 6 in theaters nationwide.