I was prepared to hate this film in light of all the mixed reviews it has received, but leave it to me to love a singular vision that makes no apology for its excesses. And they really aren’t excesses, to speak of, more sly nods to predecessors. The narrative conceit is having the deceased Mary Shelley, author of Frankie’s tale, start off the program with a telling preamble and her occasional reappearance as a voice in The Bride’s! head, or perhaps her possession of her, urging her to act on her rage in this or that situation. And rage it is! She has a great deal, we learn. She’s also incredibly verbal! I blame Ms. Shelley for that. Her dialogue is great. Pay attention! There may be a slight disconnect in The Bride!’s backstory, but it’s easy to deduce the source of her wrath. And Frankie is a charmer, slow to anger, dapper, and gentlemanly, but lethal. Anyway, it’s funny, violent, musical, and hopeful in ways you wouldn’t expect. Buckley & Bale are marvelous together, Cruz & Sarsgaard are plucky as gumshoes, Jake Gyllenhaal is perfect as a matinee idol, but Jeanie Berlin as Dr. Euphornious’s (the studious Annette Bening) housemaid is adroit in her attendant freakishness: I was particularly impressed by her ability to portray an emaciated version of Anjelica Huston! I enjoyed it. And leave it to Maggie Gyllenhaal to bring Fever Ray (yay!) to the silver screen and end with a teasing possibility of …“I would prefer not to…”
The depravity on display, the things that make many in the audience **** with adolescent glee, are wildly romantic and caustic at the same time. I don’t think many appreciate the satire and subliminal currents here. It’s not as immediately pungent as Fennell’s ‘Promising Young Woman’ but by no means is it a lesser effort. I found it fascinating and intriguing and more, wildly entertaining. Keoghan & Pike are fantastic.
