'The Bride!' Review: A Beautiful, Bold Swing And A Miss
Writer/director Maggie Gyllenhaal takes aim at Mary Shelley’s Beloved Frankenstein, delivering her own inspired riff on the source material that while bold, audacious and singular, swings for the fences with an audible whiff.
‘The Bride!’ canters on Frankenstein’s monster (Christian Bale) in the 1930s where he is suffering from crippling loneliness, deeply yearning for a companion to share his life with and to love. He turns to Doctor Euphronius (Annette Bening) to help bring a bride to life and the two decide to “reinvigorate” a recently deceased young woman named Ida (Jessie Buckley), not only successfully brining her back to the land of the living, but spawning a wild, zany, and ferocious love story between the two creations.
Gyllenhaal’s sophomore effort comes across as a hybrid of ‘Frankenstein’, ‘Jekyll and Hyde’, ‘Bonnie and Clyde’ and even a dash of ‘Joker’ for good measure. On paper, there is boundless potential with such a lively concoction, but unfortunately this melting pot overflows with too many ingredients, resulting in a genre film that can’t seem to find its own voice. However, the two central performances not only keep the film afloat, but are without a doubt one of its sharpest tools. Bale and Buckley are absolutely fearless here, going for broke and truly letting their talents off the leash to make their whirlwind toxic romance feel lived in and wholly authentic. The former is able to imbue Frank with enough humanity and aching heart that helps ground Frankenstein’s creation while the latter is able to toe the line between delightfully deranged and vulnerable with deft precision as she delivers a truly astounding performance that continues to show her ceaseless versatility. Their performances may not click with all audiences, but their commitment and overall chemistry is a significant highlight of the film.
Aiding their performances is the film’s incredible visual aesthetic, fully immersing the audience with its sumptuous cinematography, production design, lighting and makeup. The time period and setting isn’t doubted for an instant and makes for a colorful, surreal and luscious backdrop for the central story to unfold against. Gyllenhaal’s unbridled visual swagger and panache also benefits the film tremendously, never making safe, conventional choices for this fiercely unconventional love story. Not all of her choices work, but her bold swings and inspired choices never make the film feel boring or predictable in any regard.
While Frank and The Bride are compelling and magnetic, the same cannot be said for the supporting characters in the film. The supporting cast is impressive here, sporting the likes of Bening, Jake Gyllenhaal, Peter Sarsgaard, and Penelope Cruz, but these talented performers are given thankless, underwritten roles that fail to capitalize on their considerable talents. The subplots involving their respective characters certainly had potential, especially Gyllenhaal’s involving his character Ronnie Reed, a film star, who has become an idol to Frank. Frank’s attachment to him and reverence for all of his films could’ve been a fascinating ‘Frankenstein’ film in and of itself, but only is allowed one scene to truly breathe. Sarsgaard is completely wasted as a police detective in pursuit of Frank and The Bride while Cruz is woefully miscast as his partner and aspiring detective. As a result, any scene not involving the central duo comes across as lifeless and dull.
While the film is extremely ambitious and bold, it’s never able to fully find its footing or embrace what it truly wants to be. This a genre film overstuffed with ideas that never coalesce into anything coherent enough to make an emotional impact. The film never seems sure of itself or where it wants to ultimately aim its spotlight, leading to scattershot storytelling that comes across far more cold and inaccessible than it does wonderfully surprising and engaging. The film’s tone is all over the place, vacillating between being a drama, dark comedy, crime thriller, and romance story, never going full tilt in any of them enough to keep the audience invested. There are glimmers of a far more powerful and focused genre romance and female empowerment story, but those are few and far between as it’s obscured by too many under-developed ideas and bizarre storytelling choices
‘The Bride’ is anything but ordinary, something that works to its benefit and its detriment. Gyllenhaal has so many fascinating and compelling ideas at play here, but is unable to flesh any of them out enough to give this love story its needed visceral bite. The atmosphere and dizzying central performances do a considerable amount of heavy lifting, but they aren’t enough to keep this genre film afloat as it sinks under the weight of its own ambitions. Gyllenhaal clearly has talent and palpable bravura behind the camera, but her storytelling and vision need more focus.