“Baron, don’t pretend to be reasonable now. It would be such a shame.”
Throughout his career, Guillermo del Toro has undeniably flirted with a great many of the Universal monsters of old. Whether it’s putting his spin on vampires in Cronos and Blade II, or creatures from various colored lagoons in The Shape of Water, del Toro has a deep abiding love for these creatures, none more so than Mary Shelley’s mad doctor Frankenstein and his creation.
The themes of Shelley’s work have made their way into so many of del Toro’s films at this point that actually going ahead and adapting the book proper seemed redundant. However, del Toro has once again shown us the necessity of sometimes going back to the source to discover a new way through the text.
Don’t go in thinking that this is going to be the most faithful adaptation of Shelley’s work to date—for that, see (or rather, don’t) Kenneth Branagh’s Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein from 1994. Here, del Toro bends Shelley’s story to suit the film he wants to make, rather than presenting a slavish recreation of the book. And thank goodness, Branagh’s stodgy film laid bare the folly and redundancy of direct adaptation, and del Toro and his film—thankfully—aren’t hamstrung by such fidelity.
The basics are the same, Dr. Victor Frankenstein (Oscar Isaac) never truly gets over the death of his mother (Mia Goth), devoting the scientific life forced on him by his cold father (Charles Dance) to discovering a way to resurrect dead tissue and bring people back to life. Now grown, Frankenstein’s methods are scoffed at by the mid-19th century medical community, but they capture the attention of the wealthy Heinrich Harlander (Christoph Waltz), who agrees to be his benefactor, concealing his own motives for Victor’s success in this arena.
Harlander’s niece Elizabeth is also played by Mia Goth in a brilliantly twisted bit of dual casting, and she is betrothed to Victor’s younger brother William (Felix Kammerer), who never knew their mother as she died giving birth to him. Victor is immediately taken with her, though, pursuing her romantically in a way that almost entirely removes the audience’s sympathies for him.
The tightrope that del Toro and Isaac walk together of having Victor be the simultaneous protagonist and antagonist of his own story is likely to be the biggest turn-off for most people. Isaac allows Victor to be thoroughly unlikable well before the established turn the character takes after giving life to his creation. Which brings us to that moment in the story, when Victor finally brings to life a massive hulking brute, stitched together from bits and pieces of soldiers mortally wounded on a nearby battlefield.
Based on their past collaborations, I assumed that Doug Jones would be playing this role, which is why I was initially disappointed to learn that Jacob Elordi would be playing the character known simply as The Creature. Could this 28 year old actually mine the depths of feeling required for this role? I’m happy to report that I was wrong, and this might just be the most fascinating and heartbreaking portrayal of The Creature put on film.
The film retains Shelley’s framing device involving Victor and The Creature being discovered by the crew of a Royal Danish Navy ship that has run into ice attempting to reach the North Pole. It seems, however, that del Toro keeps this because it allows him his most inventive take on the material, switching the story to The Creature’s perspective for the final hour. This is where Elordi’s performance really comes to life, filling in the gaps in Victor’s story.
There is a fresh take on the Creature’s first encounter with humans after he escapes Victor’s attempt to destroy him along with the laboratory, in particular his time spent with an old blind man (David Bradley). I honestly didn’t think I could ever sit and watch the encounter between the creature and the old blind man with a straight face after Young Frankenstein. No matter how good the scene is, like in one of its first instances in James Whale’s Bride of Frankenstein, I can’t help but hear Gene Hackman’s sincere, “I was gonna make espresso” in my head. Guillermo, that mad genius, bucked the trend and made this sequence touching again.
Look, I’m in the tank for Guillermo del Toro, and I find Oscar Isaac to be an endlessly fascinating actor who always makes interesting choices. I may have been predisposed to like this film, but I think it continually surprised me with its depth. Any new adaptation of a book with countless prior adaptations should always be greeted with healthy skepticism, but del Toro, his cast, and particularly his design team have provided significant reasoning for the existence of this film.
If nothing else, the film is gorgeous to look at. The production design by Tamara Deverell, the costume design by Kate Hawley, and the dozens of people in the makeup and hairstyling department have made this a gorgeous gothic production. It can comfortably stand alongside the old Universal productions, as well as Coppola’s Bram Stoker’s Dracula as one of the best looking classic horror films.
Much like this summer’s Superman, it seems like a big ask and leap of faith to ask you to trust me. The film is a touch bloated and really feels its length in the final twenty minutes or so, but it’s just so well done, so gorgeous, and features enough of a fresh take on the material to make it essential. If you like genre films, you don’t need me to sell you on a Guillermo del Toro movie, he makes the best ones. You just have to give yourself over to the melodramatic tone and you’ll have a great time.
Header image via IMDb