Maggie Gyllenhaal's 'The Bride!' is a big, brash swing at a new 'The Bride of Frankenstein' that struggles to cohere its many parts. But it's alive. The film, a reimagining of 1935's 'The Bride of Frankenstein,' stars Jessie Buckley as the Bride, a victim of male control and a reanimated avenging angel.
Gyllenhaal, who also wrote the film, has placed the story in the 1930s, around when 'The Bride of Frankenstein' came out. The film follows Ida, a Chicago party girl who is reanimated by Dr. Euphronios and becomes Frank's bride. Buckley is joined by an all-star cast, including Bale as Frank, Maggie's brother Jake Gyllenhaal as a movie star, and a careening, foot-stomping performance from Bale in a song-and-dance routine to 'Puttin' on the Ritz.'
The film is a fever-dream feat, with tonal extremes and multilayered theatricality that makes it feel constantly like an act of plate-spinning that's about to collapse. But it's a feat that Gyllenhaal pulls off, making 'The Bride!' a movie-mad movie that's worth watching.
