Dir: Maggie Gyllenhaal, US, 2026, 126 mins
Cast: Jessie Buckley, Christian Bale, Annette Bening
Review by Carol Allen
Gyllenhaal’s starting conceit is of Mary Shelley in the afterlife, still fed up about the fact that the guys in her group got more attention for their poetry than she did for her novel – though these days I’d argue that Frankenstein is a lot better known than the poems of Byron and Shelley. Be that as it may, she determines to beat James Whale at his game and create a story about a bride for poor lonely Frankenstein which has some real action in it this time for the title character. Her choice is Ida (Jessie Buckley, who also plays Mary) Ida is a gangster’s moll in 1930s Chicago, forced to be compliant to her boss. When she rebels, she gets bumped off for her pains, making her the ideal candidate for the title role.
After so many years of loneliness, Frankenstein’s monster, who has now adopted his creator’s name, shortened to Frank, turns up at the office of scientist Dr Euphronious (Annette Bening), begging her to do what his creator failed to do and create a companion lover for him. After some shallying around, the kindly doc agrees and of course the corpse they happen upon is Ida’s.
As Frank, Christian Bale is not really monstrous. His good looks masked with a few pounds of make up, he looks more like a man who’s been in a very nasty accident. He’s also kinda cute and very endearing. Frank is a great fan of the movies and he tries to model the courting of his bride on his favourite film star, matinee idol song and dance man Ronnie Reed (Jake Gyllenhaal.). One of the first things he does when his bride is up and doing is take her on their first date to the movies. There are times when he almost steals the film from Buckley – but not quite.
She is a force of unnature to be reckoned with. A shock of blonde frizzy hair, blackened blood staining her tongue, lips and cheek like a tattoo and a sexy satin dress from her moll days, now she’s here she’s looking for some fun. After Frank saves her from a would be rapist however, killing her attacker in the process, they are on the run for the rest of the movie, pursued by a rather gentle and not very effective detective (Peter Saarsgaard) and his much tougher assistant (Penelope Cruz), whose make up is never less than perfect.
It’s a chase which is reminiscent of Bonnie and Clyde, while a sequence where the couple gatecrash a posh party and get the guests joining in a hectic dance sequence is pure Hollywood musical. Apart from anything else, this is a movie for old movie buffs.
It’s also a film which puts fun into the Frankenstein tale. Wide ranging and female led – there’s even a nod to Women’s Lib thirties style – but above all thoroughly entertaining.
The leads are terrific but so are the supporting actors, particularly Bening as the female version of dear old Dr F and Jeannie Berlin as her more than somewhat ghoulish maid.
And the colourful 30s settings are garish visual jazz. .
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