‘The Bride!’ Review

Stars: Jessie Buckley, Christian Bale, Peter Sarsgaard, Penélope Cruz, Annette Bening, Jake Gyllenhaal, John Magaro, Jeannie Berlin, Matthew Maher, Linda Emond, Zlatko Buric | Written and Directed by Maggie Gyllenhaal

Maggie Gyllenhaal’s second film as writer-director (following The Lost Daughter) is this deliciously deranged mash-up of The Bride of Frankenstein (1935) and Bonnie and Clyde (1967). Riffing on the poster for the latter, the tag-line for The Bride! could be, “They’re young, they’re undead, and they kill people.”

The film opens with a complex framing device, in which the cackling spirit of Mary Shelley (Jessie Buckley) addresses the audience and then promptly possesses the body of a party girl named Ida (also Buckley) in 1930s Chicago. Unfortunately, Ida falls foul of gangster Lupino (Zlatko Buric) and is murdered by a couple of his henchmen (Matthew Maher and John Magaro).

That’s where Frank (Christian Bale), aka Frankenstein’s Monster, lumbers into the story. Seeking a mate, he contacts mad scientist Doctor Euphronius (Annette Bening), who reanimates Ida’s corpse, leaving her with a frizzy blonde hairdo and an inky-black bloodstain that spreads across her face like a tattoo.

The monstrous pair fall in love and soon find themselves on the run, after Frank kills a pair of thugs who tried to assault Ida. Hot on their heels are a pair of dogged detectives – Jake Wiles (Peter Sarsgaard) and Myrna Malloy (Penelope Cruz) – who figure out that Frank is obsessed with singing and dancing movie star Ronnie Reed (Jake Gyllenhaal) and start staking out cinemas playing musicals in order to catch them.

In fairness, this is what is commonly known as a hot mess, but it’s so fully committed to being wild and crazy that it sweeps you along in its madness. The apex of said madness is a deliriously enjoyable song and dance number set to “Putting on the Ritz”, which climaxes in a lovely nod to Mel Brooks’ Young Frankenstein (1974).

Gyllenhaal packs The Bride! with so much material that you can occasionally feel her getting carried away behind the camera – in addition to Bride of Frankenstein and Bonnie and Clyde, there are references to classic 1930s musicals and detective thrillers like The Third Man. On top of that, there are a multitude of feminist themes boiling away in the script, from issues of women being ignored in their professions (those ideas echo through Mary Shelley, Dr Euphronius and Myrna) to The Bride inspiring a Riot Grrl-like protest movement, and nods to the Me Too campaign.

However, at its heart, The Bride! is a twisted love story, and on that level, it’s a lot of subversive fun, with the monsters even indulging in multiple sex scenes. There are lots of good jokes too, such as Frank trying to pass on his monster-related experience by telling The Bride, “I’ve been here before, it’s terrible”, when a crowd starts gathering after they’ve committed a crime.

The two leads are both superb. Bale makes a terrific Monster (and his make-up is pleasingly close to the original Karloff design), full of doleful yearning, while Buckley makes The Bride a veritable whirlwind, saying whatever comes into her head and acting out every impulse as she comes to terms with her newly undead state.

There’s also strong support from Bening, who makes Euphronius surprisingly friendly and likeable, and Jake Gyllenhaal is good value as Reed, particularly in a scene where he meets Frank and his facial expressions reveal how badly the Monster clearly smells, a nice little touch. Similarly, Buric makes Lupino a suitably nasty piece of work, though Sarsgaard and Cruz are slightly underdeveloped as the two detectives, and should have had more of a screwball comedy-style rapport.

On a technical level, The Bride! is pretty impressive, with terrific costume designs by the legendary Sandy Powell, atmospheric cinematography from Lawrence Sher and a great score by Hildur Gudnadóttir. Similarly, Gyllenhaal invests the entire thing with a chaotic energy that feels appropriate.

In fairness, this isn’t going to be to everyone’s tastes, and there are plenty of flaws, not least the way the seemingly important framing device seems to get lost in the mix. However, if you’re prepared to let the madness of it sweep you along, there’s a lot to enjoy here, and, as with Wuthering Heights, it’s heartening to see a mainstream film take swings this big, even if they don’t all connect.

**** 4/5

The Bride! is in cinemas now.