Mary Shelley's Frankenstein (film)

Mary Shelley's Frankenstein is a 1994 science fiction horror film directed by Kenneth Branagh who also stars as Victor Frankenstein, with Robert De Niro portraying Frankenstein's monster (called The Creation in the film), and co-stars Tom Hulce, Helena Bonham Carter, Ian Holm, John Cleese, Richard Briers and Aidan Quinn. Considered the most faithful film adaptation of Mary Shelley's 1818 novel in some respects, Frankenstein; or, The Modern Prometheus, despite several differences and additions in plot from the novel, the film follows a medical student named Victor Frankenstein who creates new life in the form of a monster composed of various corpses' body parts.

Mary Shelley's Frankenstein
Theatrical release poster
Directed by	Kenneth Branagh
Screenplay by	Steph Lady Frank Darabont
Based on	Frankenstein 1818 novel by Mary Shelley
Produced by	Francis Ford Coppola James V. Hart John Veitch
Starring	Robert De Niro Kenneth Branagh Tom Hulce Helena Bonham Carter Aidan Quinn Ian Holm John Cleese
Cinematography	Roger Pratt
Edited by	Andrew Marcus
Music by	Patrick Doyle
Production companies	TriStar Pictures Japan Satellite Broadcasting, Inc. IndieProd Company Productions American Zoetrope
Distributed by	TriStar Pictures (through Sony Pictures Releasing)
Release dates	November 3, 1994 (1994-11-03) (London Film Festival) November 4, 1994 (1994-11-04) (United States)
Running time	123 minutes
Countries	United States Japan
Language	English
Budget	$45 million
Box office	$112 million

Mary Shelley's Frankenstein premiered at the London Film Festival, and was released theatrically on November 4, 1994, by TriStar Pictures. The film received mixed reviews from critics and grossed $112 million worldwide on a budget of $45 million, making it less successful than the previous Francis Ford Coppola-produced horror adaptation, Bram Stoker's Dracula (1992).

Plot

In 1794, Captain Walton leads a troubled expedition to reach the North Pole. While their ship is trapped in the ice of the Arctic Sea, the crew hears a frightening noise and witnesses a mysterious figure advancing upon them. Upon inquiry after hearing a mysterious noise, the man, Victor Frankenstein tells the men to grab their weapons and follow him. When the dogs are released, they run into the distance, where the noise maker ends up killing their sled dogs. When Walton tells Victor of his determination to continue the expedition, Victor replies, "Do you share my madness?" He proceeds to tell Walton and the crew his life story, presented in flashback.

Victor grows up in Geneva with his adopted sister, Elizabeth Lavenza, who ends up being the love of his life. Years before he leaves for the University of Ingolstadt to study medicine, Victor's mother dies giving birth to his brother William. Devastated by the loss, Victor vows on his mother's grave that he will find a way to conquer death. Victor and his friend Henry Clerval study under Shmael Augustus Waldman, a professor whose notes contain information on how to create life; Waldman warns Victor not to use them, lest he create an "abomination".

While performing vaccinations, Waldman is murdered by a patient, who is later hanged in the village square. Using the killer's body, a leg from a fellow student who died of cholera, and Waldman's brain, Victor builds a creature based on the professor's notes. He is so obsessed with his work that he drives Elizabeth away when she comes to take him away from Ingolstadt, which is being quarantined amid a cholera epidemic. Victor finally gives his creation life, but he is horrified by the creature's hideous appearance and tries to kill him. Frightened and confused, the creature steals Victor's coat and flees the laboratory, and is later driven away by the townspeople when he tries to steal food.

The creature finds shelter in a family's barn and stays there for months without their knowledge, gradually learning to read and speak by watching them. He attempts to earn their trust by anonymously bringing them food, and eventually converses with the elderly, blind patriarch after murdering an abusive debt collector. When the blind man's family returns, however, they are terrified of the creature and chase him away. The creature finds Victor's journal in his coat and learns of the circumstances of his creation. Upon returning to the farmhouse, he discovers the family has abandoned it, leaving him all alone once again. He burns down the farm and vows revenge on Victor for bringing him into a world that hates him.

Victor returns to Geneva to marry Elizabeth, only to find that his younger brother William has been murdered. The Frankensteins' servant Justine is blamed for the crime and hanged, but Victor knows the creature is responsible. The creature abducts Victor and demands that he make a female companion for him, promising to leave his creator in peace in return. Victor begins gathering the tools he used to create life, but when the creature insists that he use Justine's body to make the companion, a disgusted Victor breaks his promise. The creature exacts his revenge on Victor's wedding night by breaking into Elizabeth's bridal suite and ripping her heart out.

Desperate with grief, Victor races home to bring Elizabeth back to life. He stitches Elizabeth's head onto Justine's body and reanimates her as a disfigured, mindless shadow of her former self. The creature appears, demanding Elizabeth as his bride. Victor and the creature fight for Elizabeth's affections, but Elizabeth, horrified by her own reflection, commits suicide by setting herself on fire. Both Victor and the creature escape as the mansion burns down.

The story returns to the Arctic. Victor tells Walton that he has been pursuing his creation for months to kill him. Soon after recalling his story, Victor dies of pneumonia. Walton discovers the creature weeping over Victor's body, having lost the only family he has ever known. The crew prepares a funeral pyre, but the ceremony is interrupted when the ice around the ship cracks. Walton invites the creature to stay with the ship, but the creature insists on remaining with the pyre. He takes the torch and burns himself alive with Victor's body. Walton, having seen the consequences of Victor's obsession, orders the ship to return home.

Cast

• Robert De Niro as The Creation, a reanimated corpse who is rejected by all of humanity and swears revenge on the entire world as a result.
  • De Niro also portrays Professor Waldman's killer, whose body was used for the creature.
• Kenneth Branagh as Victor Frankenstein, a scientist obsessed with conquering death, an obsession that ultimately destroys his life.
  • Rory Jennings as young Victor Frankenstein.
• Tom Hulce as Henry Clerval, Frankenstein's best friend and fellow medical student, and later, his trusted partner when he inherits his father's practice.
• Helena Bonham Carter as Elizabeth Lavenza Frankenstein, Frankenstein's fiancée and adoptive sister.
  • Hannah Taylor Gordon as young Elizabeth Lavenza.
• Ian Holm as Baron Alphonse Frankenstein, Victor Frankenstein's elderly father.
• John Cleese as Professor Waldman, Frankenstein's tutor and colleague who shares his interest in creating life but fears the consequences of doing so.
• Aidan Quinn as Captain Robert Walton, the commander of the ship which picks up Frankenstein in the Arctic Circle.
• Richard Briers as Grandfather, an elderly blind man who is kind to the Creation.
• Robert Hardy as Professor Krempe, a university tutor of medical sciences who condemns Frankenstein's theories of life beyond death.
• Trevyn McDowell as Justine Moritz, Mrs. Moritz's daughter, a nursemaid in the Frankenstein household who is close friends with Elizabeth and harbors an unrequited love for Victor.
  • Christina Cuttall as young Justine Moritz.
• Celia Imrie as Mrs. Moritz, the head of the household staff at Frankenstein Manor who often fights with her daughter, Justine.
• Cherie Lunghi as Caroline Frankenstein, Victor's mother.
• Ryan Smith as William Frankenstein, Victor's younger brother.
  • Charles Wyn-Davies as young William Frankenstein.
• Hugh Bonneville as Schiller.
• Jenny Galloway as Vendor's wife.
• Alex Lowe as Crewman.
• George Asprey as Policeman.
• Patrick Doyle (uncredited) as Ballroom orchestra conductor.
• Stuart Hazeldine (uncredited) as Man in crowd scene.
• Fay Ripley (deleted scenes) as Whore.

Production

Steph Lady wrote the original script to the film that was sold to Francis Ford Coppola's American Zoetrope. Coppola originally intended to direct the film (having already directed Bram Stoker's Dracula (1992) but instead elected to just serve as executive producer. Coppola wanted Robert De Niro cast as the Creature above all else, which resulted in his casting over considerations of casting Gérard Depardieu and Andy García for the title role. He chose Branagh to direct the film; Branagh brought in Frank Darabont to do a second draft of the screenplay, insisting on including elements from the novel that had not been present in the script, complete with having as many "explicitly sexual birth images" to go along with elements inspired from Mary Shelley's life in terms of her being "surrounded by images of death". As opposed to the novel, the film includes a re-created bride due to Branagh believing that it seemed to "make psychological sense" while reflecting on his difference from James Whale in his staging for both of his Frankenstein films that he stated as having "high camp".

Branagh stated in an interview that the film was "a family tragedy, like Shakespeare. There are lots of echoes of 'Hamlet' in it, I think. Victor Frankenstein is the opposite side of the same coin as Hamlet. Instead of forming a philosophy of death and our journey toward it, he resists it. He says, 'Let's stop them dying and see if we can do it better.' He replaces Hamlet's intellectual pursuit with physical action. And still isn't happy." De Niro studied stroke victims in preparation for the voice of the Creature.

Release

The film had its world premiere on November 3, 1994, at the London Film Festival before opening in the United Kingdom and United States on November 4.

Reception

Frank Darabont

Original screenwriter Steph Lady, who sold the script to Francis Ford Coppola's American Zoetrope, said "the film was a shocking disappointment; a misshapen monster born of Kenneth Branagh's runaway ego. He took a poignant, thought-provoking tragedy and turned it into a heavy metal monster movie. The casting of Robert De Niro as the monster was beyond inexplicable." Frank Darabont, who did a second draft, later called the film "the best script I ever wrote and the worst movie I've ever seen". He elaborated:

There's a weird doppelgänger effect when I watch the movie. It's kind of like the movie I wrote, but not at all like the movie I wrote. It has no patience for subtlety. It has no patience for quiet moments. It has no patience period. It's big and loud and blunt and rephrased by the director at every possible turn. Cumulatively, the effect was a totally different movie. I don't know why Branagh needed to make this big, loud film ... the material was subtle. Shelley's book was way out there in a lot of ways, but it's also very subtle. I don't know why it had to be this operatic attempt at filmmaking. Shelley's book is not operatic, it whispers at you a lot. The movie was a bad one. That was my Waterloo. That's where I really got my ass kicked most as a screenwriter ... [Branagh] really took the brunt of the blame for that film, which was appropriate. That movie was his vision entirely. If you love that movie you can throw all your roses at Ken Branagh's feet. If you hated it, throw your spears there too, because that was his movie.

Critical response

On the review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, 42% of 53 critics' reviews are positive, with an average rating of 5.5/10. The website's consensus reads: "Mary Shelley's Frankenstein is ambitious and visually striking, but the overwrought tone and lack of scares make for a tonally inconsistent experience"

Roger Ebert gave the film two and a half stars out of four, writing: "I admired the scenes with De Niro [as the Creature] so much I'm tempted to give Mary Shelley's Frankenstein a favorable verdict. But it's a near miss. The Creature is on target, but the rest of the film is so frantic, so manic, it doesn't pause to be sure its effects are registered".

Janet Maslin wrote: "Branagh is in over his head. He displays neither the technical finesse to handle a big, visually ambitious film nor the insight to develop a stirring new version of this story. Instead, this is a bland, no-fault Frankenstein for the '90s, short on villainy but loaded with the tragically misunderstood. Even the Creature (Robert De Niro), an aesthetically challenged loner with a father who rejected him, would make a dandy guest on any daytime television talk show".

Conversely, James Berardinelli of Reelviews.net gave the film three out of four stars: "Mary Shelley's Frankenstein may not be the definitive version of the 1818 novel, and the director likely attempted more than is practical for a two-hour film, but overambition is preferable to the alternative, especially if it results—as in this case—in something more substantial than Hollywood's typical, fitfully entertaining fluff".

Audiences polled by CinemaScore gave the film an average grade of "B−" on an A+ to F scale.

Box office

Mary Shelley's Frankenstein collected $11,212,889 during its opening weekend, ranking in second place at the box office below Stargate. In the U.S. and Canada, the film grossed $22,006,296, with the opening weekend making up more than half of its total. The film opened the same day in the United Kingdom and Ireland and grossed £2 million in its opening week from 320 screens. Outside the U.S., it grossed $90 million, bringing the worldwide gross to $112 million.

Year-end lists

• 3rd worst – Peter Travers, Rolling Stone
• 9th worst – Janet Maslin, The New York Times

Accolades

Award	Category	Recipients	Result
Academy Awards	Best Makeup	Daniel Parker, Paul Engelen, Carol Hemming	Nominated
British Academy Film Awards	Best Production Design	Tim Harvey	Nominated
Saturn Awards	Best Horror/Thriller Film		Nominated
	Best Actor	Kenneth Branagh	Nominated
	Best Actress	Helena Bonham Carter	Nominated
	Best Make-up	Daniel Parker, Paul Engelen	Nominated
	Best Music	Patrick Doyle	Nominated
	Best Supporting Actor	Robert De Niro	Nominated
	Best Writing	Steph Lady, Frank Darabont	Nominated

Video game

Main articles: Mary Shelley's Frankenstein (video game) and Mary Shelley's Frankenstein (pinball)

A video game adaptation based on the film was released on numerous home video game consoles in 1994. A themed pinball machine was released in early 1995 by Sega Pinball; it is one of the machines included in the video pinball simulator The Pinball Arcade.

See also

• Frankenstein in popular culture
• List of films featuring Frankenstein's monster
• Bram Stoker's Dracula (1992), a similar adaptation from Coppola

External links

• Mary Shelley's Frankenstein at IMDb
• Mary Shelley's Frankenstein at AllMovie
• Mary Shelley's Frankenstein at the TCM Movie Database
• Mary Shelley's Frankenstein at the AFI Catalog of Feature Films
• Mary Shelley's Frankenstein at Box Office Mojo
• Mary Shelley's Frankenstein at Rotten Tomatoes