The Bride!

by Mike McGranaghan

The Bride! is a case where a bunch of very talented people got together and mutually agreed that they were going to go for it - that they would go as big and wild as they wanted. At a time when a fair percentage of movies have their edges softened as much as possible to appeal to a wide audience, that’s refreshing. Writer/director Maggie Gyllenhaal’s take on Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein mixes a historical time period with a modern sensibility, leading to a horror-romance that’s unlike anything else we’ve ever seen.

Set during the 1930s Chicago, the film stars Jessie Buckley as Ida, a woman murdered by a misogynist mobster’s goons. Her dead body is revived by scientist Dr. Euphronius (Annette Bening) at the request of Frankenstein’s mate-seeking monster, Frank (Christian Bale). The newly christened Bride awakens with big black splotches on her skin and a fierce personality. When Frank kills two men who try to sexually assault her, the couple is forced to go on the run, Bonnie and Clyde-style. Meanwhile, detective Jake Wiles (Peter Sarsgaard) and his assistant Myrna Malloy (Penelope Cruz) attempt to track them down.

In an amusing choice, Gyllenhaal casts her brother Jake as Ronnie Reed, a shallow Hollywood actor whose work Frank looks to in his efforts to become more romantic.

The Bride! melds together a lot of different genres. Horror is represented by the fact that the two main characters are monsters, but the movie also has comedic moments, action sequences, and a tender love story. There’s even an elaborate song-and-dance number wherein the Bride and Frank cut a rug in a big ballroom. All this is in service of a plot that deals with society’s tendency to put women in a box. The Bride rages against such tendencies, proudly making her own choices regardless of what men in her life want. (Frank is pleasingly supportive.) In the process, she becomes a folk heroine to other women. One of the most satisfying things about the picture is its feminist perspective, which gives the tale a sense of drive.

Jessie Buckley is perfect for bringing the Bride to life. She gives a fearless performance, playing the character with reckless abandon. The actress turns this woman into a force of nature - raw, feral, and yet somehow still soulful. Buckley injects so much passion into the role that you can feel the Bride’s lust for life in your bones. Christian Bale is a great match. His Frank may be the product of stitched-together parts, but he’s got real heart. Working under prosthetics can make it easy for actors to coast. Bale never does that, instead bringing unexpected dimensions to Frank.

On every technical level, the movie impresses. Stylish production design brings the alternate Chicago to life. Evocative cinematography serves to draw you into the madness. Makeup and costuming help to define the characters in ways both subtle and overt. In shot after shot, the care that went into the filmmaking comes across strongly.

From a story perspective, The Bride! is fairly untamed, veering abruptly from one thing to another. That’s likely intentional on Gyllenhaal’s part, although there are a few individual moments where control of the tone seems to get away from her. A little messiness is not necessarily bad, though. You can’t watch this film passively. The bold, in-your-face nature of it earns forgiveness for any minor flaws because what’s on the screen is thrillingly alive.

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