Movie Monday: Frankenstein by Mary Shelley

Well let’s just start by saying there is no movie adaptation of Frankenstein that even comes close to getting anything right. There are bits and pieces in the different movies that touch the book, but then they leave in a completely new direction. If you are hoping you can watch a movie to get out of reading this book you will be sadly disappointed. However, that doesn’t mean that the movies aren’t good. My favorite movie adaptation of Frankenstein is the 1994 movie Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein. The movie has Kenneth Branagh playing a brilliant Victor Frankenstein, Robert De Niro as The Creature, Tom Hulce as Victor’s friend Henry Clerval (whose role in the movie and the book are completely different), and Helena Bonham Carter as Victor’s adopted sister/betrothed Elizabeth.

Look at that scary guy
Robert De Niro as The Creature

The biggest problem with creating a Frankenstein movie is that in a visual medium like a movie you need to show the audience what is happening. In order to make the movie interesting the audience should see how a character gets from one point to another. This is a problem for filmmakers in making Frankenstein because Mary Shelley does not provide an explanation of how Victor goes from inspiration to animation of the creature. Shelley did this on purpose so as not to invite critics to say “That is not possible!” “You couldn’t accomplish it that way!” It is a brilliant thing to do when you think about it. By not providing an explanation Shelley kept people from turning her work into a joke. However, this lack of explanation means that each filmmaker must create a process to show on screen. This leads to every process being a little bit different. In Branagh’s movie, one of the most interesting—and disturbing—creation sequences is shown as Victor gathers the amniotic fluid from women going into labor. Victor uses this to create a makeshift womb for his creature. It really is a plausible way to portray the creation of the monster. There are many other problems that arise when creating a movie adaptation of Frankenstein. Too many to go into all of them so I will move on to some things that I just loved about the 1994 movie, whether they related to the book or not.

One of the biggest themes of the book is the danger of obsession. Kenneth Branagh plays the obsession of Victor Frankenstein brilliantly. He cannot let go. He obsesses with his research, he obsesses with finding the creature, he obsesses with killing the creature, he obsesses with  getting away from the creature. This obsession leads to Victor’s downfall. Branagh’s portrayal really gives an insight to the dangers of obsession. I loved every minute he was on screen.

My favorite part of the book and movie: Elizabeth’s death.

Helena Bonham Carter
as Elizabeth

I don’t know why I liked it in the book so much. Maybe I am secretly a sadistic sociopath. Who knows? I do know why I liked the death in the movie. SPOILER ALERT! Skip to the next paragraph if you haven’t seen the movie, but you want to. If not read ahead. The creature (played by a deformed, lumbering Robert De Niro)comes into Elizabeth and Victor’s room on the night of their wedding. Victor has left to find and kill the creature, not knowing the creature is already inside with Elizabeth. After some creepy hovering over Elizabeth and talking at her the creature punches through her chest and pulls out her heart! It is amazing! Coolest death/murder scene ever.

Ok birds, that is all for Movie Monday. I hope you enjoyed my thoughts on this book/movie. Leave a comment with your favorite parts in the book or movie and let me know which book turned movie we should discuss next week.

Have a lovely day!

If you want to buy the book go here. 

If you want to watch the trailer for the 1994 movie go here. If you want to watch my vlog based on this post go here.