The Bride! Movie Review:

Which would be worse, to live as a monster? Or to die as a good man? This line is asked by Leonardo DiCaprio's Teddy Daniels in Shutter Island, (although in completely different context), as he ponders on the ramifications of choices. But in a deeply flawed world can you objectively identify the monster from the good man, or do perspectives change the image that is created in your eyes. In Maggie Gyllenhaal's The Bride!, a monster, who is deeply humane, seeks to fulfill his most basic need, a companion. But in a world that is restrictive to women and monsters, how will they react to a woman monster?

Director: Maggie Gyllenhaal

Cast: Jessie Buckley, Christian Bale, Annette Bening, Peter Sarsgard, Penelope Cruz, and Jake Gyllenhaal

Director Gyllenhaal moves away from the dramatic origins of the story of Frankenstein's monster, in this case Frank (Christian Bale), and his bride (Jessie Buckley), from their dramatic origins to an action thriller that explores feministic values. Giving more focus to The Bride's story and giving her a bigger space to shout out the atrocities committed against women in the early 1900s, resulted in a thoughtful experience. But The Bride! loses the balance with a lack of coherence in its story. Frank asks Dr Euphronious (Annette Bening) to "reinvigorate" a dead woman back to life, to combat lonlieness. But beyond that his lonliness doesn't play a role, and Frank's motivation in the story is sidelined, sometimes forgotten. Meanwhile, The Bride, who has been wronged again and again, finds some good support with Frank, but even as Frank lies to her about her own background for his own gain, their seperation and eventual reunion is completed with so much haste, that leads to confusion.

But beyond such haste in writing, Buckley and Bale are able to add life, no pun intended, into their characters, that instantly gains the audience's concentration. The Bride is anything but a graceful person. In some instances The Bride's emotions leads to her expressing that with her whole body, as she contorts and straightens through the film. Buckley is able to portray every emotion convincingly. Even in certain scenes as the devil-on-the-ear like alter ego, Mary Shelley, Buckley defty differentiates her craft from that of portraying The Bride. On the opposite end, Bale ticks off another iconic character with a body transformation, from his list. The tragedy of Frank's life is in finding a space to fit in among humans who are ruthless about the "different". As Frank's appearance, his awkwardness and his diction are continuously scrutinised, mocked, and even targeted, Bale is able to convince the audience of his tragic cirucumstances.

The Bride! also benefits from the skills of the team behind the camera. Hildur Gudnadottir's score for the film supercharges the punk rock element of the film. In its madcap ride, The Bride!, sometime's shifts from reality to fantasy, as the mood of the character changes. But Hildur's score is able to keep up and elevate the emotions in the scenes. Cinematographer Lawrence Sher converts the neon filled, vaudville Chicago of the 1930s into a much more colourful one. While Karen Murphy's production design for the steampunk elements almost bleeds into the dystopian, Sher usage of light keeps the levity intact. The three of them including editor Dylan Tichenor, work harmoniously like a pit band, as the players tell the story. It is the players that are let down by the writing.

Gyllenhaal uses The Bride! as a zeotrope that flashes the abuse that women have experienced throughout the ages. Clever references to the Me Too movements, the continuing conversations around consent, and the ignorance against including women in serious occupations have been showcased deftly. You feel a tinch of empathy when these are shown, but that is all you feel as you never root for its character much more. While the exploration of the real monsters of the world eventually ends with men as the answer, the real monsters in the lives of Frank and The Bride is left unanswered in an inept manner.