I first read Mary Shelly’s Frankenstein when I was in high school. Unsurprisingly, it was one of the few novels that I read in school that I greatly enjoyed. But what did surprise me was how different the novel was to how the story is viewed in pop culture. Prior to reading the novel, my knowledge of Frankenstein came from James Whale’s 1931 adaptation Frankenstein, which heavily shaped society’s view on Mary Shelly’s novel where the Creature is an abominable monster. This view has shaped how the public views Frankenstein and his creature. And well Guillermo del Toro has set out to remind us who the real monster in Frankenstein is as we have finally gotten the adaptation we deserve.
We follow Victor Frankenstein (Oscar Issac), a brilliant but egotistical scientist who becomes obsessed with resurrecting the dead after the death of his mother. After being declared a heretic, Victor continues his work in secret. He soon receives funding from Henrich Harlander (Christoph Waltz) , a wealthy arms manufacturer, who promises Victor that together they will achieve immortality by resurrecting the dead. However, when the dead is finally resurrected it is not what Victor expected it to be.
Guillermo del Toro’s Frankenstein mostly follows Mary Shelly’s novel beat per beat, with a few additional changes. The first half of the film follows the narrative from Victor’s perfection from his childhood, his years in school, the eventual creation of the creator and him cowering in the Arctic Circle. Victor, played perfectly mad by Oscar Issac, is a brilliant scientist who is blinded by his own ambition. Never asking the question just “because I can, doesn’t it mean I should.” We see him desecrate numerous bodies in the name of his science experiment. He is repeatedly told that he is playing God and bad things will come of it. He is so blinded by his ambition that he doesn’t even think about what to do after his experiment succeeds. And his experiment eventually succeeds and his true colors are revealed. At first Victor is curious and filled with wonder as his creation is alive. In those first few days of life, Victor shows his creature the wonders of life. However, his impatient quickly runs this and immediately becomes cruel to the creature as he is not learning and communicating at the pace Victor wishes him to. Tired, he quickly abandons the creature to his death.
The second half of the film follows the same narrative but from The Creature’s (Jacob Elordi) perspective. This is where Guillermo takes some liberties from Shelly’s novel. While it may infuriate some book purists, the changes keep true to Shelly’s core themes. The Creature, played by Jacob Elordi who is giving the performance of his career, was brought into this world against his will, was given the curse of immortality, and many call him a monster without a second thought. The world was immediately cruel to the Creature, yet the Creature never was. He was terrified after being brought into the world, yet in those first few days Victor gave him parental comfort, only for it to be robbed when he didn’t meet his creator’s standard. After his abandonment, he is left wandering the woods, alone and forsaken. Eventually, he finds a family and hides in their barn for warmth. He eventually bonds with the family’s aging and blind grandfather (David Bradley), and there the Creature learns to speak, to read, and the power of human comfort, as the old man takes him under his wing. One of the most beautiful sequences in the film as it reminds us that the Creature is smart, intelligent, and human, but Victor never gave him a chance. Reminding us that it was humanity that failed it. And eventually, the pair meet again with incredibly gruesome consequences.
As with any Guillermo del Toro production, the film brims with detail and sincerity. The production design pulls you into its world with a sense of scale and texture that feels alive. The costumes are both intricate and breathtaking as each piece tells its own story. Alexandre Desplat’s score lingers between beauty and gothic unease, haunting in the best way. And the makeup work on the creature is extraordinary, reminding us that he isn’t a monster at all, but achingly human. Once again, del Toro cements his place as the unrivaled master of modern gothic horror. Frankenstein is sweepingly beautiful, harrowingly tragic, and deeply human as it explores nature vs. nurture.
Overall, Frankenstein feels like the long-awaited adaptation that finally does justice to Mary Shelley’s vision, nearly 200 in the making. It leaves us with the stark reminder that the true monster was never the creature, but the humanity that failed him. Thank Guillermo for reminding us of this essential theme.
My Rating: A
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