THE BRIDE! Review: Love, Death, And Show Tunes In A Monster’s Heart

Introduction

Sitting down to watch The Bride! I was excited. The trailers that I had seen made it look like an interesting and unique take on the story. I was not disappointed. The Bride! is indeed unique and interesting, as well as funny and a little thought-provoking. As a filmmaker, Maggie Gyllenhaal clearly isn’t interested in making a traditional monster movie. In many ways, her version of The Bride! feels like a strange hybrid of gothic horror, musical fantasy, and dark comedy. Maggie Gyllenhaal breathes wild, strange life into the film.

Gyllenhaal writes and directs this version of the film, and it never lets you stop to catch your breath. It moves quickly from the opening breath of our narrator—whose name I won’t reveal, as it might spoil a surprise—to its brisk two-hour conclusion. In fact, it felt closer to ninety minutes because of the fact that The Bride! rarely slows down.

Synopsis

We meet Ida, played by Jessie Buckley, a woman murdered and buried in a potter’s field in 1930s Chicago. Soon after, we are introduced to Frankenstein, played with a great deal of fun by Christian Bale. Bale’s Frankenstein clearly harkens back to the appearance made famous by Boris Karloff, though with more than a century of wear and tear on him. He looks like what he truly is: a reanimated corpse. Yet despite the horror of his appearance, Bale manages to make Frank oddly sympathetic. Frank asks Dr. Euphronius to create a partner for him. Together, they dig up Ida and return her to life.

Discussion

The Bride! is a lot of fun. Gyllenhaal’s script is funny, meaningful, and tightly constructed, rarely giving the viewer much time to pause and digest everything happening in the story. One of the stylistic choices I particularly loved is how often the film is shot in shadow. We rarely see our characters standing in bright, clear light. Instead, they are almost always partially concealed by darkness, as if the world itself is unsure whether to fully reveal them.

The film also spends time reflecting on what it means to truly be alive. The Bride! is an independent woman of the 1930s who only wishes she could remember who she once was. Meanwhile, Frank is obsessed with musicals—specifically those starring his favorite performer, Ronnie Reed, played with obvious enthusiasm by Jake Gyllenhaal. Gyllenhaal clearly has a blast playing this Fred Astaire–style entertainer.

The Bride! includes several glimpses of his elaborate song-and-dance numbers, which provide a striking contrast to the darker world Frank inhabits. Frank dreams of a world that feels like a musical, full of whimsy, joy, and love. His reality, however, is far from that dream. Instead, he lives on the edges of humanity, routinely shunned because of his monstrous appearance. 

There is something almost tragic about a character who simply longs for beauty and romance, yet exists in a body that causes fear wherever he goes. This storyline eventually culminates in a delightful musical number that feels like a clear and affectionate nod to Mel Brooks’ classic, Young Frankenstein (1974). It is truly one of the film’s most joyful moments.

Further Analysis

Jessie Buckley carries a tremendous amount of the film on her shoulders, playing Ida, The Bride, and the mysterious narrator. She transitions effortlessly between these roles. Her Bride is a force to be reckoned with, someone who loves life and wants to experience it fully, even as she begins to understand that she may no longer truly be alive and may exist forever.

Running parallel to this story is an ongoing police investigation that follows the couple from Chicago to New York and back again. It attempts to answer questions about the people injured or killed whenever they appear somewhere new. Detectives Myrna Malloy and Jake Wiles are determined to track them down.

The more compelling detective is Malloy, played by Penelope Cruz. She is sharp, determined, and clearly the driving force behind the investigation. Wiles, played by Peter Sarsgaard, is burnt out and haunted by a recent case that cost Ida her life. Ida had been working undercover for Wiles and died while helping him investigate a gangster.

This subplot may be a little more than the film truly needs, but it never distracted me from the central story of The Bride and Frank, who have essentially embarked on a Bonnie and-Clyde-style road trip filled with musicals, romance, and the occasional sex-and blood-soaked escapade.

Conclusion

One of the most interesting aspects of the film is how strongly it empowers its female characters. The Bride, Dr. Euphronius, and Detective Malloy are all strong and independent women who refuse to let the men of their time dictate their desires. It also reinforces the choice of the film’s 1930s setting, a time when women were beginning to assert themselves more strongly in society.

I loved seeing so many powerful female characters guiding the story. In the end, I loved this movie because it delivers nearly everything I enjoy in a film: action, horror, humor, a little sex, intelligence, fun, and music. That combination makes for a wildly entertaining experience. How could you not enjoy such a lightning-fast tale? So get off the slab, step out of the lab, and enjoy this wonderfully strange cinematic creation.

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