Frankenstein 2025: A Deep Dive into Themes of Creation and Responsibility
The salient point of today's discourse centers upon the exploration of Guillermo del Toro's 2025 cinematic adaptation of Mary Shelley's "Frankenstein," a film that has garnered significant acclaim and multiple Oscar nominations. We shall delve into the intricate narrative that breathes new life into the timeless legend, illuminating the profound themes of familial bonds and the quest for acceptance that permeate the story. Through an analysis of the film's artistic merits, including its striking cinematography and evocative score, we aim to elucidate the elements that render this adaptation a noteworthy contribution to the realm of psychological thrillers and cult classics. Furthermore, we shall examine the transformative journey of the creature, as portrayed by Jacob Elordi, whose powerful performance embodies the struggle for identity and belonging. Join us as we navigate the complexities of this cinematic masterpiece that lingers in the mind long after the credits have rolled. The cinematic exploration within the realm of Guillermo del Toro's 2025 adaptation of Frankenstein is profound and multifaceted, offering audiences a fresh perspective on the timeless narrative originally conceived by Mary Shelley. Del Toro’s rendition is not merely a retelling; it endeavors to infuse the story with contemporary relevance while paying homage to its roots. The episode delves into the intricate layers of the film, examining its psychological depth, thematic nuances, and the emotional resonance that lingers long after the credits have rolled. Central to this discussion is the portrayal of the creature, depicted by Jacob Elordi, whose transformative journey encapsulates the struggles of existence, acceptance, and the quest for identity in a world that often renders its inhabitants as mere monsters rather than individuals deserving empathy. Del Toro’s vision, shaped by his personal experiences and artistic evolution, weaves a narrative that transcends traditional horror elements, positioning Frankenstein as a poignant exploration of familial bonds, loss, and the human condition itself. The episode further investigates the technical brilliance behind the film, highlighting the meticulous craftsmanship that has resulted in multiple Oscar nominations. The conversation navigates through the contributions of the film's talented crew, including Dan Laustsen's cinematography and Alexandre Desplat's evocative score, both of which significantly enhance the storytelling. The deliberate choice to utilize practical effects and authentic sets over digital manipulation adds a tangible quality to the viewing experience, inviting audiences to immerse themselves in a visually stunning landscape that reflects the gothic themes integral to the original tale. Del Toro’s attention to detail is evident in every frame, as he strives to create a symphony of visual and auditory experiences that not only entertain but also provoke critical thought about the moral implications of creation and the responsibilities that accompany it. Ultimately, this podcast episode serves as a comprehensive analysis of Guillermo del Toro’s Frankenstein, celebrating its artistic merits while scrutinizing the societal implications it presents. The discussion encapsulates the essence of the film—a meditation on the duality of creation and destruction, the essence of humanity, and the profound need for understanding and love in a world rife with fear and prejudice. As we dissect the film, we are reminded that beneath the surface of what we perceive as monstrous lies the potential for greatness, urging us to reflect on our own humanity and the connections we forge with one another.
Takeaways:
- The podcast delves into Guillermo del Toro's 2025 adaptation of Frankenstein, exploring its profound themes and artistry.
- Del Toro's lifelong passion for the Frankenstein narrative has culminated in a film that challenges traditional notions of monstrosity.
- Jacob Elordi's transformation into the creature involved extensive makeup processes, highlighting the dedication of the cast and crew.
- The film emphasizes the significance of familial bonds and the emotional struggles inherent in the creation of life.
- A noteworthy aspect of Del Toro's adaptation is its emphasis on empathy and connection, transcending traditional horror tropes.
- The podcast discusses the film's multiple Oscar nominations, underscoring its critical acclaim and artistic merit.
Transcript
What the fuck did I just Watch?
Speaker A:Your home for psychological thrillers, Oscar gardens, retro and cult classics movies.
Speaker A:But stay with you long after the credits roll.
Speaker B:Welcome to what the Fuck Did I just Watch?
Speaker B:Amanda I'm Amanda Blossom and I'll be your guide through the beautiful chaos of cinema.
Speaker B:I am so excited to have you here, whether you've been here before or this is your first time listening.
Speaker B:This is a podcast about movies that refuse to leave your brain.
Speaker B:Psychological thrillers, Oscar favorites, retro and cult classics.
Speaker B:Today we're diving into Guillermo del Toro's Frankenstein.
Speaker B:And just because I don't know how to talk about a movie without spoiling it, consider yourself warned.
Speaker B:Intense spoilers ahead.
Speaker B: Today I will talk about this: Speaker B:We'll unpack its Oscar nominations, walk through the story that breathes new life into the legend, and I'll drop my take on what makes this version worth your attention.
Speaker B:When Guillermo del Toro was 7, he saw the original Frankenstein movie and by 11 he'd read the book.
Speaker B:That monster basically became, as he said, his messiah, inspiring him to make movies.
Speaker B:For del Toro, the creature carries bigger spiritual vibes than religion itself, even showing up as a Christ like figure in this Netflix take of Frankenstein.
Speaker B:This movie isn't just about monsters, it's about family.
Speaker B:Del Toro has been imagining Frankenstein in his head for over 50 years and his real life experience shaped it too.
Speaker B:His dad sadly was kidnapped in the late 90s and his relationship with his own kids gave the story its heart.
Speaker B:On his dad's kidnapping, weirdly enough, James Cameron gave up the ransom money to return his father.
Speaker B:So interesting his dedication paid off.
Speaker B: nd emotion is part of why the: Speaker B:Jacob Elordi went through a grueling, transformative process to become the creature in Guillermo del Toro's Frankenstein.
Speaker B:He spent 10 to 11 hours in the makeup chair every day applying 42 silicone prosthetics and frequently worked 20 hour days, sometimes starting at 10pm Just to prep for the next shoot.
Speaker B:His dedication paid off.
Speaker B:Elordi's performance earned him a Best Actor nomination, bringing him even more recognition to this already Oscar nominated film.
Speaker B:Guillermo del Toro scored a Best Adapted Screenplay nomination, proving he can stitch together monsters and human drama on the page just as well as on screen.
Speaker B:Who knew a half century of dreaming in your head could turn into Oscar gold?
Speaker B:Dan Laustsen has been nominated for Best Cinematography for his work on the film.
Speaker B:There was 1 16th scale miniatures that were created and blown up to create practical effects.
Speaker B:36 frames per second.
Speaker B:Shots were played back at 18 and 24 frames per second in certain scenes, creating the movie's dreamlike kind of surreal feeling.
Speaker B:Frankenstein was also nominated for best Original Score by Alexandre Desplat.
Speaker B:Desplat said while making the music, if it got too French, AKA too artsy, fartsy, Guillermo would tell him to make it more Mexican, which he said he understood.
Speaker B:Del Toro wanted the music to be moving and said, if it doesn't make you cry, then what is the point?
Speaker B:Frankenstein was nominated for best sound as well.
Speaker B:The Oscar nominated production design favored practical sets rather than relying on green screen with heavy circle motifs and gothic architecture.
Speaker B:The amazing Oscar nominated hair and makeup team, Mike Hill for prosthetics and Cleona Fury for hair did an amazing job bringing the period and the creature to life.
Speaker B:Kate Hawley did the costume design, adhering to Del Toro's idea of who wears what color palette and creating some really iconic dresses for the main character, Elizabeth.
Speaker B:The dress patterns include stitching up the back to represent a spine mirroring the creature, as well as designs influenced by insects and nature.
Speaker B:Del Toro has said he wanted this film to play like an opera with a prelude and two acts.
Speaker B: The story begins in: Speaker B:The ship used was actually built from scratch and Del Toro has referred to it as its own character in the movie.
Speaker B:The ship is stuck in the ice and the men are hungry and working to chip away the ice to continue their journey.
Speaker B:The crew is questioning the captain's obsession with continuing on what feels like a doomed journey.
Speaker B:At nightfall, Victor Frankenstein is discovered in the snow by the crew in sad shape, clearly having survived something crazy.
Speaker B:A beastly roar is heard and we're introduced to the creature who approaches the ship.
Speaker B:In spite of being hit by multiple bullets, the creature tosses bodies around like they're a bag of feathers and boards the ship, demanding Victor be brought to him, breaking the limbs of any who get in his way.
Speaker B:This creature is superhuman, which has been a controversial choice by Del Toro, and easily rocks the actual boat before the ice cracks and he falls into the freezing water.
Speaker B:This would be death for any human, but the creature is not quite human.
Speaker B:He is slowed down, but not stopped.
Speaker B:Victor warns the captain and crew that the creature will return and kill Moore if he is not delivered.
Speaker B:Now we flash Back to Act 1, Victor's Tale and Victor as a young boy.
Speaker B:Victor's mother, Mia Goth, plays two roles in this film.
Speaker B:Now as his mother, she is dressed in red, which is a color that symbolizes the mother.
Speaker B:Throughout the story, Victor remembers his absent but domineering father, while Victor worships his nurturing and doting mother.
Speaker B:Mia Goth is unrecognizable with her prosthetic forehead and nose in this part.
Speaker B:Victor is seen drinking milk throughout the movie, which symbolizes his relationship with his mother.
Speaker B:His father is training Victor to be a doctor from a very young age, and he beats Victor when he is displeased with his learning process.
Speaker B:When Victor's mother dies giving birth to Victor's baby brother, William, this has a deep, lasting impact on Victor.
Speaker B:He says, my mother, whom I have come to consider part of my very self, she who I thought would never leave, she who was life, was now death, her eyes extinguished, her smile feeding the cold earth.
Speaker B:And so begins the seeds of Victor's obsession to conquer death.
Speaker B:As baby William grows, Daddy Frankenstein dotes on him the way Victor's mother used to dote on Victor, and Victor watches from the outside, cast out of his father's love.
Speaker B:Still a child, Victor has a vision of a dark angel, which he interprets to be a promise that he would command the forces of life and death.
Speaker B:Victor's family loses their money and his father dies, leaving Victor to make his way in the world.
Speaker B:Following his obsession to outsmart Death, now a grown man, Victor gives a presentation to his school.
Speaker B:I think it was his school of his partially reanimated corpse that can catch a ball, breathe and gasp, while Victor shouts about learning to stop death entirely.
Speaker B:The crowd strongly opposes Victor's passionate and unholy attempt to play God.
Speaker B:Not a surprise for the time period, but this does catch the attention of Henrique Harlander, uncle to Elizabeth Harlander, who we will talk about shortly and who will become a benefactor of Victor's fixation.
Speaker B:After the demonstration, Harlander asks Victor, can you contain your fire, Prometheus, or are you going to burn your hands before delivering it?
Speaker B:It is dialogue like this that knocks a star off for me.
Speaker B:The original book is called Frankenstein or the Modern Prometheus.
Speaker B:And I get that Del Toro wants to reference the book in this, but show me a Prometheus.
Speaker B:Don't explicitly state it in the dialogue.
Speaker B:A few days later, Harlander welcomes Victor into his home, where they peruse Victor's work and talk about the mechanics of reanimating corpses.
Speaker B:They look at Harlander's Evelyn table, a wooden slab that holds a lymphatic system which Harlander describes as the secret circulatory system, pointing out that if he can access this system, he can create life eternal and promises to fund Victor's experiments for really no reason at all that we know of at this point.
Speaker B:He just wants to see if it can be done.
Speaker B:Supposedly.
Speaker B:The brother William, with Elizabeth, played by Mia Goth, again who are to be married, enters Harlander's home.
Speaker B:Elizabeth picks up a stray skull and admires it.
Speaker B:Kind of reminds me of Hamlet, symbolizing the full circle of life and death.
Speaker B:And we see the first of many glorious Elizabeth dresses.
Speaker B:Costume designer Kate Holly said Guillermo wanted her to feel very ethereal.
Speaker B:While Elizabeth may perceive herself as a flying insect, the men of Frankenstein view her as their spiritual salvation.
Speaker B:Over dinner, expositional dialogue reveals Victor's expulsion from school, which Victor insists he earned.
Speaker B:Elizabeth in this scene, challenges Victor, indicating that while his ideas may be worthwhile, he has not considered the reality of the consequences of such ideas.
Speaker B:She implies he is a fool.
Speaker B:Victor makes a home and laboratory in a grand but dilapidated tower, courtesy of Harlander's money, which he promises will be an unlimited budget.
Speaker B:Victor sets about preparing the lab and gathering body parts from the hangings in town and battlefields in town.
Speaker B:Victor sees and follows Elizabeth to confession, where he pretends to be the priest.
Speaker B:In this really funny moment on the other side of the confession booth, which does not fool Elizabeth, she toys with Victor, saying she hates him.
Speaker B:A montage of Victor and Elizabeth spending time together, bonding over science, dancing together, her green dress symbolizing new life and catching butterflies.
Speaker B:Fun fact, these are the exact same butterflies del Toro used in Crimson Peak, or which he has called the dress rehearsal for Frankenstein.
Speaker B:These scenes with Elizabeth are cut in with scenes of Victor working in his lab to create life from death.
Speaker B:Great care, which I appreciate in this movie, is taken in precisely how Victor will reanimate the corpse using electricity and the lymphatic system earlier discussed as Harlander's patience wears thin, insisting the experiment be completed within a week.
Speaker B:When Elizabeth visits the laboratory, she is not disgusted by the corpse, but she does resist Victor's advances towards her.
Speaker B:She has chosen William.
Speaker B:Cue the montage of bodies being cut and stitched together to create the creature.
Speaker B:Del Toro wanted a creature of beauty.
Speaker B:Note the color of the giant batteries in the lab are green like spring as Victor works, but will glow red when in use, symbolizing the mother energy, AKA the creation of life.
Speaker B:Victor raises the creature up like Jesus on a cross as the storm comes, which is the opportunity to bring his work to fruition.
Speaker B:As the storm rages outside, Harlander confesses to being ill and expresses his desire for his own brain to be used in the creature in hopes of eternal life.
Speaker B:He says in exchange for his generous investments, he wants to be placed in the body.
Speaker B:Victor refuses, as Harlander's organs are polluted from illness.
Speaker B:Harlander says, I will be the eagle that feasts on your liver.
Speaker B:Which is another on the nose.
Speaker B:Prometheus reference.
Speaker B:A little too on the nose.
Speaker B:When Harlander falls to his death by accident, Victor is consumed by his madness to take advantage of the storm.
Speaker B:Instead of dealing with Harlander's death.
Speaker B:Moment of truth.
Speaker B:When lightning strikes, will his experiment work?
Speaker B:When the creature doesn't respond right away, Victor thinks his experiment a failure and goes to bed angry.
Speaker B:In the morning light, a living creature hovers over Victor's bed.
Speaker B:Del Toro mentioned he had the creature dressed in tiny shorts as an homage to Rocky from the Rocky Horror Picture Show.
Speaker B:Victor and the creature bask in the sun together.
Speaker B:Victor saying, the sun is life.
Speaker B:Instead of putting the creature in a room with a bed, he is chained up in the basement.
Speaker B:Even in his triumph, Victor's cruelty towards the creature begins to mirror the abuse he endured under his own father.
Speaker B:Victor complains that his achievement felt void of meaning.
Speaker B:The creature is like a curious child.
Speaker B:He's taking in all around him, to the annoyance of Victor, when he hurts himself playing with a razor.
Speaker B:That's what kids do.
Speaker B:They play with things.
Speaker B:They get hurt.
Speaker B:The creature isn't learning fast enough for Victor, but as an audience, we can see the creature is learning.
Speaker B:He's like a baby, curious about the world around him.
Speaker B:William and Elizabeth arrive in search of Harlander.
Speaker B:Victor lies about Harlander's death, excited to share his findings with his company.
Speaker B:Elizabeth wanders into the basement where the creature is chained and her empathy is written all over her face.
Speaker B:She allows the creature to lift her veil and remove her gloves, which is a very intimate thing for the time period.
Speaker B:She touches him with the kindness of a mother.
Speaker B:We see a bleeding wound in the creature's side, another homage to Jesus.
Speaker B:Elizabeth is horrified at the conditions Victor keeps the creature in and isn't afraid to express this to Victor.
Speaker B:When showing off his creature, William asks if it is intelligent and of all the parts that make the man, which one contains the soul?
Speaker B:Victor admits he did not consider this.
Speaker B:When making the creature, Elizabeth spends more time alone with the creature, showing him the tender mercy he craves.
Speaker B:The love Elizabeth has for the creature to me is not necessarily romantic or maternal, but pure.
Speaker B:Transcending such labels, she teaches the creature to say her name, indicating his intelligence to learn and grow.
Speaker B:She later chastises Victor for referring to the creature as an it and not having patience with his growth.
Speaker B:In the next scene, Victor brutally beats the creature in an attempt to teach him, but fully becoming his abusive father, which causes the creature to bend the rod he was beaten with and shout Victor's name.
Speaker B:Victor indicates to William he feels he made a mistake and reveals Harlander's death to William.
Speaker B:As William and Elizabeth leave the tower, William asks Victor about the creature's lifespan, which Victor says will be very brief.
Speaker B:We see in the next scene he intends to make sure of that as he pours gasoline all over the tower and intending to burn the creature alive, Victor demands one more word from the creature to save himself.
Speaker B:But when the creature says Elizabeth, it only enrages Victor as he sets fire to the tower.
Speaker B:Leaving the tower, Victor hears the creature's cries, has a moment and returns to save him in the zero hour.
Speaker B:But he is blasted by an explosion causing him to break off his leg.
Speaker B:Elizabeth demands to return to the tower, afraid that Victor means to kill the creature, which he does.
Speaker B:And William and Elizabeth witness the tower burning.
Speaker B:Fun fact, the tower was made from a 25 foot miniature that was really blown up to get this shot for the film.
Speaker B:So ends part one, Victor's tale.
Speaker B:And we are back on the ship that the creature has now boarded.
Speaker B:In his hunt for Victor, he's prepared to kill anyone who gets in his way.
Speaker B:The creature says, my maker told his tale, now I will tell you mine.
Speaker B:And so begins part two, the creature's tale.
Speaker B:Back to the burning tower, where the creature has been chained and left to die.
Speaker B:He breaks his chains and escapes through a tunnel that leads him out of the tower into the ocean, which mirrors a baptism of sorts of yes, another religious reference from Del Toro.
Speaker B:The creature is in the woods and picks up a skull mirroring Elizabeth earlier in the film.
Speaker B:He takes a coat from a fallen soldier and befriends a deer, eats berries off a branch and we see him smile for the first time.
Speaker B:His joy is short lived when hunters kill the deer and shoot at the creature, who runs away and finds refuge in the storage room of a local farming family.
Speaker B:His bullet wounds heal instantly and the creature discovers a family on the other side of the wall where he hides.
Speaker B:Peeking through cracks in the wall, he discovers what family looks an old man, children and the hunters who had shot him earlier.
Speaker B:He is moved by the wisdom in the blind old man's eyes.
Speaker B:He learns to speak and read by watching the old man teach the children as he peers through the wall.
Speaker B:He longs to be part of this family, to help them and be accepted and loved by them.
Speaker B:He does favors for the family, like bringing firewood to their door and working the farm.
Speaker B:The family attributes these gifts to the spirit of the forest, leaving him gifts like clothes and food.
Speaker B:The creature is at peace for a short time when wolves attack the farmer's sheep.
Speaker B:The men of the family kill the wolves and the creature realizes the nature of things.
Speaker B:He says the hunter did not hate the wolf.
Speaker B:The wolf did not hate the sheep.
Speaker B:But violence was inevitable between them.
Speaker B:Perhaps I thought this was the way of the world.
Speaker B:It would hunt you and kill you just for being the way that you are.
Speaker B:When the family leaves the old man alone in search of supplies or something, the creature presents himself to the old man, who shows him kindness.
Speaker B:He asks if the creature has been hurt in battle and recognizes him as the spirit of the forest.
Speaker B:In this moment, we see what the creature would be in a world that accepts and loves him.
Speaker B:A benefactor.
Speaker B:A friend.
Speaker B:The creature is held for the first time by the old man.
Speaker B:He reads from the Bible and Paradise Lost.
Speaker B:Time passes as the creature and the old man spend fall and winter together, bonding.
Speaker B:As the creature learns to use his newly acquired language, the creature expresses an idea to know who he is.
Speaker B:His memories of the pieces of men of which he was made.
Speaker B:Memories of fire and water.
Speaker B:The single word Victor.
Speaker B:But his making is a mystery to him.
Speaker B:The creature returns to the tower and discovers pieces of Victor's diary.
Speaker B:The truth about his nature.
Speaker B:The discovery is painful for the creature and incredibly isolating as he realizes there are none like him in the world.
Speaker B:He discovers Victor's name and address on a letter which will come into play later.
Speaker B:When the creature returns to the house, he finds wolves have attacked and killed the old man.
Speaker B:Victor shows his strength by fighting off the wolves.
Speaker B:But in one tender final scene before the old man dies, the creature says he knows what he is assembled from the dead.
Speaker B:And the old man says as he dies, I know what you are a good man.
Speaker B:And you are my friend.
Speaker B:The family returns at this moment, assuming the creature caused the old man's death.
Speaker B:And they shoot at him.
Speaker B:So stab him, breaking the creature's heart and spirit and flesh.
Speaker B:As he runs away, he mourns his inability to die and sets his intention to find his creator and demand a companion.
Speaker B:As we shift perspective back to Victor, we see his angelic vision again.
Speaker B:Yet now the angel removes its mask to reveal death.
Speaker B:His dreams have been a lie.
Speaker B:As he did not consider the consequences of his actions.
Speaker B:Victor has lost a leg and must wear a fake leg.
Speaker B:It is William and Elizabeth's wedding day.
Speaker B:Elizabeth's dress was made to reference the creature's bandages as well as the O.G.
Speaker B:bride of Frankenstein with its banded sleeves.
Speaker B:When Victor makes one last attempt to get into Elizabeth's good graces again, she slaps him and demands no more lies.
Speaker B:Insisting he leave her alone in Victor's room, the creature approaches him.
Speaker B:Victor assumes that the creature had come to thank him for having survived and having the intelligence to find him.
Speaker B:The creature demands a companion, which Victor refuses.
Speaker B:This differs slightly from the book, where Victor had begun to create a companion, but abandoned the idea out of fear the creatures would procreate.
Speaker B:Victor says, in you, I have created something truly horrible.
Speaker B:And the creature reminds him, not something, but someone.
Speaker B:And I think, couldn't Victor have just made a woman with her tubes tied if he was so worried about the creature's procreating?
Speaker B:The creature says, the miracle is not that I would speak, but that you would ever listen, and throws Victor, breaking the bedpost in the process, continuing to say, if you are not to award me love, then I will indulge in rage.
Speaker B:Elizabeth enters the room, the single violin playing that is Elizabeth and Victor's score.
Speaker B:She tenderly holds him.
Speaker B:But when Victor shoots at the creature, the bullet lands on Elizabeth instead.
Speaker B:Her white dress becomes stained red again, the color of the mother.
Speaker B:Victor blames Elizabeth's death on the creature, who has scooped up her dying body and carries her to a dark cave mirroring the basement where they bonded in the creature's early life.
Speaker B:William has been injured.
Speaker B:I think he might be dying in the kerfuffle.
Speaker B:He delivers one more line that's a little too on the nose for me.
Speaker B:You are the monster.
Speaker B:Well, duh.
Speaker B:We know Victor's the monster the whole time.
Speaker B:We don't need it spelled out for us.
Speaker B:Guillermo.
Speaker B:In their final moments together, Elizabeth expresses her eternal love for the creature, which many have interpreted as just another Guillermo del Toro human monster love story Creature feature.
Speaker B:I see Elizabeth's love as transcending romance.
Speaker B:I don't see it as a romantic love.
Speaker B:When Victor comes to the cave, the creature breaks his nose and says, you gave me life unwanted.
Speaker B:I give that back to you.
Speaker B:You thought me a monster.
Speaker B:Now I return the favor.
Speaker B:I will make you bleed.
Speaker B:I will make you humble.
Speaker B:You may be my creator, but from this day forward, I will be your master.
Speaker B:And then leaves Victor in his own misery.
Speaker B:Victor spends his life hunting the creature north into the ice of the Arctic with an intent to destroy him.
Speaker B:Circle back to the beginning, the final conflict between Victor and his creature.
Speaker B:The explosion from the beginning of the movie is explained as this was a stick of dynamite.
Speaker B:The creature embraces, hoping to die, promising if he doesn't, he will return.
Speaker B:For Victor, he does not die, his singed flesh regenerating, of course.
Speaker B:And we know he doesn't die because we just went through two hours of Victor and the creature telling their tales on the ship to the captain.
Speaker B:Now here we are, Victor and the creature, having heard each other's stories.
Speaker B:Victor apologizes to the creature, asking for forgiveness.
Speaker B:And in a final father, son redemption moment, this is one part I truly appreciated.
Speaker B:It departs greatly from the book and other adaptations, but it's one I really enjoyed.
Speaker B:I appreciate the creature finding peace in forgiveness.
Speaker B:Victor asks the creature to forgive himself into existence, that if he is to live, what recourse does he have but to truly live?
Speaker B:He asks the creature to say his name one last time.
Speaker B:Victor, I forgive you.
Speaker B:Rest now, Father.
Speaker B:Perhaps we can both now be free.
Speaker B:The ship's captain, moved by what he has just seen and heard, has a change of heart and decides to turn the ship around and head home to safer waters so the crew may return to their families.
Speaker B:He has abandoned his madness as he learns from Victor's cautionary tale about madness and obsession.
Speaker B:In one final feat of strength, the creature frees the ship from the ice, showing off that superhero strength that I'm not sure if I love or hate.
Speaker B:In this movie, the creature basks in the setting sun one final time, taking his maker's advice to truly live.
Speaker B:The final on screen quote says, and thus the heart will break, yet brokenly Live on by Lord Byron.
Speaker B:And that's where Del Toro leaves us.
Speaker B:Not with a jump scare, not with a flaming pitchfork mob, but with a broken heart that somehow keeps beating.
Speaker B:A monster who is never really the monster.
Speaker B:A father who created life without understanding responsibility.
Speaker B:A ship's captain who learns that obsession can freeze you just as surely as arctic ice.
Speaker B:In creating life, Victor recreated the dynamics of his own childhood, his abusive father, and in Elizabeth, the creature finds love.
Speaker B:For all my quibbles about on the nose dialogue and superhero strength, this film did move me.
Speaker B:It's grand, operatic, sometimes heavy handed, but it believes in feeling, it believes in forgiveness.
Speaker B:And honestly, that sincerity is kind of radical.
Speaker B:If Frankenstein's stories are about the danger of playing God, Del Toro's version is about something even scarier.
Speaker B:The danger of refusing to love what you've made, whether that's a child, a creation, or the parts of yourself you'd rather disown.
Speaker B:So if you watch this and find yourself unexpectedly emotional over a stitched together man staring at the sun, welcome.
Speaker B:You're in the right place.
Speaker B:So where do I land?
Speaker B:I'm giving Frankenstein four out of five WTFs.
Speaker B:The ambition, the craftsmanship, the performances, especially that physically and emotionally raw turn from Jacob Elordi, are undeniable.
Speaker B:But I can't ignore the clunky, overly explicit dialogue that sometimes undercuts the intelligence of the themes, or the choice to make the creature borderline superhero level strong.
Speaker B:He didn't need to toss men like feathers to be powerful.
Speaker B:His vulnerability, his longing, his heartbreak, that's what made him extraordinary.
Speaker B:Strip back the speeches and the superhuman spectacle just a little and this could have been a perfect vibe.
Speaker B:And that's a wrap for today's film.
Speaker B:Thank you so much for joining me.
Speaker B:I really love having you here.
Speaker B:If you like this episode, please share it.
Speaker B:Like leave a comment review and consider listening to my other episodes.
Speaker B:See you next time on WTF did I just Watch?
Speaker B:I'm Amanda Blossom and remember this, some movies stick with you, so let's stick together.
Speaker A:That's a wrap for today's film.
Speaker A:If you like the episode, follow rate and subscribe.
Speaker A:Thank you for listening to what the Did I just watch.
