The Bride! (2026)
Writer/director Maggie Gyllenhaal merges Bride of Frankenstein with Bonnie and Clyde in The Bride!, a film that deserves points for boldness, but it's also a total mess.
The movie starts with Mary Shelley (Jessie Buckley) in what appears to be limbo venting about how she never got to tell the story she really wanted to tell. The story then jumps into 1930s Chicago where Ida (also Buckley) seemingly becomes possessed by Shelley in fits and starts. Her erratic behavior terrifies the mobsters she's carousing with, and they kill her.
Meanwhile, Frankenstein's monster, "Frank" (Christian Bale), shows up at the laboratory of Dr. Euphronius (Annette Bening) and asks for her help in reanimating a bride for him. They end up using Ida's corpse. Ida comes back to life, and she is again intermittently given to shouting pronouncements from Shelley. Eventually, the couple is on the run from authorities, including a conflicted detective (Peter Sarsgaard) and his smarter assistant (Penelope Cruz).
There are moments where the audience can see where this take on an old tale may have worked. However, it's overstuffed. Aside from everything mentioned above, there's a scene devoted to women inspired by Ida rebelling against the patriarchy, but that plot thread is quickly abandoned. There's also a tap-dancing silent film star (Jake Gyllenhaal) who Frank idolizes, and a song and dance number in the middle of the film. Oh! and the mobsters are also in pursuit once they realize Ida is alive.
Using Shelley as a framing device was a bad idea. The story might have worked a bit better if it had just focused on Ida. Having Buckley (who will likely win a deserved Oscar for her performance in last year's Hamnet) interrupt her performance as Ida with shouts, curses, and more as Shelley is jarring and unfunny. There's no point in the film where that gimmick works.
Of the actors, Sarsgaard and Bening fare the best. Sarsgaard is an ace at portraying someone who's deeply flawed but also human, and the movie gives his character an actual arc. Bening brings a wry humor to her scenes with Bale, which are the best in the movie.
Filmmakers
should be encouraged to take big swings, and Gyllenhaal does that here. Sometimes
when you swing big, however, you strike out.
