Reuniting after their acclaimed collaboration on 2021's The Lost Daughter, Jessie Buckley brings an electrifying presence to Maggie Gyllenhaal's ambitious reimagining of a revered classic - a film that digs its own grave far too early.
Drawing on the fleeting appearance by The Bride in James Whale's 1935 Bride of Frankenstein, Gyllenhaal gives voice to a character who, in Mary Shelley's original version, was never allowed one.
Stretching to two hours, the gothic love story often feels as if it is carrying more mythology than it can sustain.
Gyllenhaal's latest forces the audience to sift through a muddle of ideas with little clarity. Here and there, humour and heartbreak peek through, but the story groans under its own weight, sagging beneath a tangle of subplots and a clash of competing themes.
Buckley wrestles heroically to stitch life into a script that is dead on arrival. Her presence is magnetic and unflinching, making the narrative's missteps feel momentarily irrelevant.
Christian Bale brings a quiet intensity to the role of Frank, Gyllenhaal's lonely version of Frankenstein's monster, serving as a steady foil to Buckley's fiery Bride. But, like his co-star his assured performance can't anchor the film’s jagged material.
The supporting cast is left stranded at the margins: Annette Bening's eccentric scientist Dr. Euphronious, Peter Sarsgaard's worldly detective, and Penélope Cruz as his perceptive aid are all frustratingly underwritten and casualties of the film's overreaching sprawl.
Lawrence Sher's cinematography is lush and expressive, capturing the neon glow of New York and staging an eye-popping ballroom shoot-out with gusto. Hildur Guðnadóttir’s score pulses with restless energy throughout. Stay through the end credits for a final wink: the most delightfully kitschy monster anthem of all, Monster Mash.
The Bride! is a wildly audacious film with a story of empowerment at its core, but it never quite coalesces into the masterpiece it aims to be.
