The Bride! review: Maggie Gyllenhaal doubles down on Poor Things and Frankenstein

There’s a simpler version of Maggie Gyllenhaal’s Frankenstein spin-off that could play as a dark, spooky Bonnie and Clyde road movie: a lonely monster finds a companion and they try to survive an unfriendly world. Gyllenhaal, however, aims for something knotty and provocative.

Her film asks viewers to work for its pleasures, layering twists and interruptions that sometimes get in the way of straightforward emotional engagement. Jessie Buckley stars as Ida, first seen in 1936 Chicago and temporarily possessed by the spirit of Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley, who speaks directly to the audience.

Ida is killed and then exhumed and revived by Dr. Euphronius (Annette Bening) as a mate for Frank, Frankenstein’s creature (Christian Bale), and their flight across the country turns into a hedonistic, often violent love-on-the-run story. The film echoes Yorgos Lanthimos’ Poor Things in its premise of a revived woman seeking her own pleasures rather than becoming a made-to-order companion.

United States, Chicago

the bride, maggie gyllenhaal, frankenstein, jessie buckley, christian bale, annette bening, mary shelley, poor things, road movie, bonnie and