The original tale of Frankenstein or, “Frankenstein, or The Modern Prometheus” which was written by Mary Shelley when she was 19 in 1816 and published in 1931. The short story was written on a summer trip on holiday with friends and formed into one of the most telling tales of the human experience, from experiencing love, abuse, the loss of the ones you care deeply for and most of all, forgiveness.
Tellings of this story have been warped for Hollywood and its agenda, as some of Universal’s first monster films included Frankenstein, directed by James Whale, which was released in 1931. Then audiences have a more humorous version of the story with “Young Frankenstein” in 1974, starring the beloved Gene Wilder.
There haven’t been many films of this story similar to Del Toro’s, who has cemented himself in the list of creatives to take his retellings of iconic fairytales. His version of Pinocchio that was released in winter of 2022, was applauded for the stopmotion animation and its fresh perspective.
Its story is almost similar to Frankenstein. The creator has made its creature. They’ve gotten what they wanted? Now what.
The Underlining Story
Del Toro sought out for this film to give a different look at the monster within, rather than the creature being the monster. He achieved that well.
Especially with how Victor Frankenstein’s relationship with this creature is purely scientific, and he upmost fails at being a father figure.
The creature on the other hand, is innocence personified. He is formed up of the body parts of different men that lived their own separate lives, yet he himself has to learn how to live all over again. A line from Victor’s brother, William, when discussing the creature’s inception is, “Victor, did you ever ask yourself, of all the parts of that man, who holds the soul?”
This isn’t taken into account with how Victor treats him, which is aggressive and impatient, similar to his own father.
It should also be considered the fascination Victor has with the creation of life using a reanimated corpse stems from his father being a doctor and teaching him about every miniscule part of the human body. Every muscle and tendon from the head to toes, memorized at a young age. With that knowledge, he has all the assets to create what it is he’s set out for.
Though, it’s almost inevitable that the creation will gain a mind of its own and realize that there is more to its life and the possibilities of the human experience.
The Film Itself
The film as a whole, and taking into account the more visual and acting notes in this movie, there are close to none that are critical in my vantage. It’s suspenseful, gory, humorous and most of all, emotional. The sets are magnificent and it’s a sight for sore eyes that Del Toro was able to capture the theme within sets and the true-to-time dialogue
As mentioned prior, the original tellings of this folklore have turned the tables, making the creature look brazen and mad. Del Toro’s vision about the monster within the creator and not the creature, is a magnificent take.
In Mary Shelley’s original novel, a character named Elizabeth, who is played by Mia Goth in the film and is Victor’s sister-in-law, has a different way of death than most of the retellings, which don’t include her character. In the film, Del Toro expresses Victor’s infatuation and the Creature’s curiosity with Elizabeth as a classic love triangle and it adds more to her manner of death in the film.
Elizabeth gains a fondness for the creature, Victor attests – due to his infatuation – and to which he tries to get rid of the creature, and his controlling nature ends up being her demise. In the Creature’s search for Victor in revenge, he finds Elizabeth and is reminded of his love he holds for her, but is just too late as the day he arrives to defeat Victor is her wedding day to William, Victor’s brother. When Elizabeth finds the Creature and embraces him, Victor takes a gun and takes no time shooting it, and hitting the wrong person.
Elizabeth’s death scene is another that sticks with the audience. It’s not over-sexual, or underwhelming, it’s emotional and raw. The Creature takes her to a hidden cave in the mountains, and they bear it all. Audiences can see their inner-turmoil, of finally finding the person you truly love, and having to say goodbye for eternity. It’s truly a captivating performance with Mia Goth and Jacob Elordi.
Jacob Elordi, who plays the Creature, is six-feet of undeniable talent. The prosthetics and special effects makeup make him almost unrecognizable, but his facial expressions and physical acting are what really captivates audiences while he’s on screen.
Again, his character is the personification of innocence and Elordi hits it nail-on-the-head. He’s amazing, if not perfect. When we first meet the creature, he is essentially learning how to live again. He learns his creator could care less about his growth and development, gains curiosity for human nature, falls in love and learns how to forgive.
We see a lot of this gentleness and curiosity within the scenes with Elizabeth. Elizabeth has a likeness for insects, which leads to her being more curious when she first meets the Creature.
The scenes the Creature has with Elizabeth are beautiful displays of trust, love, and understanding for each other and all things living, no matter how they came to be in this world.
A line from Elizabeth, says “Only monsters play God.”
That line sticks as a true mantra for the theme of the movie.
Oscar Isaac, who plays Victor Frankenstein, was the perfect choice for the mad scientist. He captures his knowledgeable but ignorant energy beautifully.
Because, it’s true. Once you create it, what now? He, himself, wasn’t equipped with the knowledge of morality and empathy, so how could he give the same to the creature?
This story is portrayed perfectly with the film being split between the two main characters in the two parts. The first half being the brazen discovery and creation by Victor, and the second being the Creature’s story of feeling and seeing all that a human can in the first moments of his new life. He falls in love, learns empathy, dies, revives, and realizes that his own life is more than being trapped in a cycle of life and death.
That alone is a lesson for everyone, and Victor ends the film with a simple mantra to follow.
“Live.”
