Guillermo Del Toro has not hidden the fact that "Frankenstein" is one of his dream projects, embodying all the themes of monsters and the monstrosity of men that have appeared in all of his best work. So, it's no surprise that his "Frankenstein" film is one of his most lavishly beautiful, and the story it tells feels very personal to Del Toro. I'm pretty familiar with all the major film versions of "Frankenstein," and Del Toro's version is a welcome new addition. I've never seen one quite like it.
We begin in the frozen Arctic, where a dying Victor Frankenstein (Oscar Isaac) is rescued by a Danish ship on an expedition to the North Pole, led by Captain Anderson (Lars Mikkelson). After a thwarted attack by the Creature (Jacob Elordi), Frankenstein relays his history to the captain, starting with his tragic childhood and ending with the creation of The Creature. This takes up the first half of the film. The Creature has his say in the second half, covering events until the present day. In this version of the story, Victor's love interest Elizabeth (Mia Goth), is the daughter of the arms dealer Harlander (Christoph Waltz), who funds Victor's experiments. She's also not Victor's intended, but the fiancee of Victor's younger brother William (Felix Kammerer), and bonds with Victor over her love of the natural world.
There's an over-the-top theatricality to Victor Frankenstein's half of the film, where Oscar Isaac gives us an arrogant, feckless Frankenstein, who is single-minded in his pursuit of reanimating the dead. Del Toro makes him more complicit in the tragedies that befall him, especially his unwillingness to recognize the Creature as a person. Frankenstein has never been a very sympathetic character in any telling of this story, but here Del Toro seeks to humanize him more by framing his behavior as part of a legacy of generational trauma. Isaac makes him funny, charming, and a showman when he wants to be, and a petulant, cowardly, selfish wretch in his moments of weakness. Yet, this Frankenstein also displays the ability to learn from his mistakes, and the redemptive ending feels earned.
However, the best performance in the film is far and away Jacob Elordi as the Creature. He's totally unrecognizable under the elaborate makeup and prosthetics, and using a voice that has been deepened and modified to sound more inhuman. Initially the mostly mute, nearly naked newborn Creature seems almost human, and it's the actions of Frankenstein and the Creature's subsequent exposure to the world that create the destructive, rampaging monster who causes so much harm. Likewise, Elordi's performance becomes more and more compelling as the Creature gains awareness of and experience with the dark side of humanity. He comes into focus fairly late in the film, in the subdued, melancholic scenes with an old blind man played by David Bradley, as he draws parallels between Bible stories and his own sad history.
It's easy to lose sight of how deeply sad and macabre the story is, with Guillermo Del Toro indulging in sumptuous art direction and gloriously colorful cinematography every chance he gets. And there's never a moment that this doesn't feel like Del Toro's work. There's almost nothing that recalls James Whale and Boris Karloff - even a few campy moments in the laboratory are of an entirely different tenor. I don't begrudge him any of the excess and pageantry, as the amount of effort that went into every frame of this film is incredibly impressive. It often feels like Del Toro is throwing everything he has into "Frankenstein," as if he may never get a chance to make another movie. However, "Frankenstein" is at its most moving when it's at its simplest, and the visuals are at their bleakest.
And I found it very affecting that eventually we do get to the heart of the story, where Frankenstein has to confront the Creature and himself. And despite all the beautiful gore and dazzling costumes and magnificent set design, the best parts of the film come down to good, old fashioned storytelling through the carefully played conversations and a great monologue or two. Guillermo Del Toro's "Frankenstein" is a horror film and a creature feature, but it's also a tremendously touching piece about fatherhood and creation and taking responsibility for your actions. It's my favorite film of Del Toro's in over a decade, and it was worth the wait.
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