Maggie Gyllenhaal’s The Bride! promised to be a fun, feminist thriller highlighting the less-explored character of The Bride of Frankenstein’s Monster, but what we get is a poorly-constructed film focused solely on its not-so-subtle rage toward men. It truly feels as if the whole film exists to justify the title. I mean, she is The Bride (period), not ‘the bride of Frankenstein’ or anyone else for that matter. But in what world is the title of “Bride” more humanizing than using a name? The Bride! seems very sure of itself and confident in its message, but it’s hard to say what that message is.
The film starts with Mary Shelley herself (Jessie Buckley) discussing her infamous novel Frankenstein and her desire to write the story she couldn’t in 1818, stating she, “has a lot more to say.” So, naturally, Shelley decides to possess Ida (also played by Buckley), a promiscuous partier in the 1930s. Ida and Shelley seem to have near equal control over Ida’s body, causing her to literally flop between an old-timey British accent (complete with an obsession with rhyming and synonyms because how else would a writer communicate?) and Ida’s midwestern gun moll accent.
Meanwhile, we meet Frankenstein’s 100-year-old creature, now going by Frank (played by Christian Bale in one of the best creature designs for Frankenstein’s Monster I’ve seen), as he seeks out Dr. Euphronious (Annette Bening), a famous mad scientist, in hopes of finding a suitable mate. Despite her better judgment (and the largest mammal she’s reanimated to date being just a cat), Euphronious agrees to assist Frank in robbing a grave, bringing a dead body to her lab and reinvigorating her. As luck would have it, the body they dig up is that of a recently deceased Ida who, when reinvigorated, is still somehow possessed by Mary Shelley — really quite incredible for both Shelley and Frank (who shouldn’t exist in the same universe but somehow do?).
Once reinvigorated, Ida has no recollection of her previous life, relying solely on Frank to tell her who she is, what she likes, and who he is to her. As she discovers her identity, we get the best part of the film: a montage of the adventures of Frankenstein and his bride as they dance, have fun, brutally murder sexist men, and evade the cops. It’s here that we also get to meet Myrna Malloy (Penélope Cruz), quite possibly the best character in the film, and her boss, Detective Jake Wiles (Peter Sarsgaard), as they follow the two monsters across the country in hopes of putting an end to their killing spree. Myrna is the real feminist icon in the film, using her status and near-invisibility as a secretary and a woman to solve cases better than her boss.
It’s hard to separate The Bride! from its source material. Frankenstein, ultimately, is a story about the dangers of playing God and controlling humanity. It makes you wonder why the next logical step for Gyllenhaal’s The Bride! wasn’t to create a story about the dangers of forcing love, especially when the object of the monster’s affection is a headstrong woman who isn’t looking for a man.
