Dying Life: The Dark and Light of ‘Frankenstein’
The film explores the nature of values through terrible situations.
Grade: A
Guillermo del Toro’s masterful depiction of Mary Shelley’s groundbreaking work, Frankenstein, delivers on a promise of science fiction and flickers of romantic realism.
Without all the bloody and gory scenes, this film stands as a throwback to all the films of the 1930’s, 40’s, and 50’s. It tells a compelling story with verve and excellent diction. Comparable to the Dark Knight series, it shows a more natural (but not naturalistic) viewpoint. The “monster” is not green or inept or nonintellectual. Quite the contrary. This creation or the idea of “the modern day Prometheus” is because Victor Frankenstein(Oscar Issac) made a sentient being capable of emotion. Frankenstein crafts in his steam punk lab a force that has trouble breaking his chains but possesses the power to move entire ships. Without these minor slips, the cinematography is majestic and the makeup department divine. Alexandre Desplat’s music enriches the scenes and adds both levity and heft to a horror story turned into a journey of discovery.
The film hits on so many levels of grandeur. Even the lighting elevates the picture and ushers in a sense of dying life. Where other adaptations have provided cartoonish depictions, this film portrays an eerie but somehow welcome beauty. Mia Goth as Elizabeth Harlander is delicious in her role. She brings a thoughtful and straightforward presence to the picture.
As she aids the Creature through his adventures to find himself, she offers to him the power of yearning for love. The Creature even seeks out Victor to innovate a companion for him. In a turn of events, it seems as if there will be a sequel on the way where the Creature will enjoy the company of a woman in a condition like his.
By taking all of this seriously, he has shown that he is a learned man of substance if he is not altogether living. Throughout the film, depictions of ballrooms and laboratories receive precise treatment and absolute vision of thought in every detail.
To consider this just popcorn filmmaking would be a grave dishonor. This is excellent cinema that enlivens the soul and seeks to engender in the audience a sense that life is worth living. There are of course snares and troubled times but to persevere in spirit like the creature with immense physical strength and regenerative powers and an intelligence to match, this strikes chords of harmony.
There is a certain depth and intensity to this movie. Del Toro’s expert eye for detail is present here and his writing unfolds like the best Victorian novels. Epistemology, or the nature of knowledge, is on full display as well. With the skillset of one of today’s best storytellers, the invention and curiosity intermix and produce superb scenes of reason, action, drama, and romanticism.
The idea of free will is so ingrained here that it becomes a hook for del Toro to hang his hat on in every scene. Volition is at the cornerstone of this work and functions as the means for understanding the Creature's drives as well as Victor’s own thoughts of going through life and leading in life.
When the two clash, it is a separation of ideas not just the bloody battles that arise. This picture is more about demonstrating that even creatures strewn together have ideas, as well. In making a film that speaks to the mind, del Toro has succeeded once again at striking at the intellect while portraying real bouts of emotion.
For the Creature, he constructs a being similar to the ape/man in Charlie Kaufman and Michel Gondry’s brainchild Human Nature (2001). He starts out boorish and brutal. In time he matures and gains consciousness and a character. Because there exists in him a drive to be alive, it is wonderful to see the Creature grow through literature and interactions.
In all, Guillermo del Toro’s Frankenstein is worth watching if you ever wondered about death and decided that the value of life only mattered.
Objective Observations:
- The crucifix is reminiscent of the scene from The Silence of the Lambs.
- When Victor buys the dynamite, it dates the movie to at least 1867, the year when Alfred Nobel invented the explosive.
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