I haven’t read the original novel by Mary Shelley. I recently saw Kenneth Branagh’s Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein and I was surprised to see several elements, such as the incest-or-not? element and the monster’s ability to communicate (and the yech! heart-ripping scene)
Can anyone who is familiar with both the novel and the Branagh movie compare the two and highlight major ways in which Branagh stuck to or deviated from Mary Shelley?
It’s been a while since I read the book or saw that movie, but I do remember that he incorporated a lot more of the backstory than previous versions (the age discrepancy of Frankenstein’s parents, Frankenstein’s tutelage under Dr. Waldemar, etc.). It also kept the Arctic Circle plotline of the book. There was a completely apocryphal (and ludicrous) sideplot more than halfway through concerning
Frankenstein’s making his fiancee into a monster
DeNiro was woefully miscast as the monster (the role actually needed less starpower, among other things), but they did make it more like the book monster than the movie creature (he had language skills, could learn, was not horribly ugly from the moment of his creation but began deteriorating almost instantly, etc.).
I remember the soundtrack and the “dragging capes makes for good drama” touches being over the top and most annoying.
The “incest” aspect of Victor & Elizabeth’s relationship was actually edited out between the 1818 & the 1831 editions of the novel by Mary herself. In the original, they were cousins; in the latter, she was a foundling. The movie followed the latter course.
I found it to be the closest movie to the book up to that time (a TNT production almost a year earlier starring Patrick Bergin & Randy Quaid as Victor & Creature came close). Last year, however, Hallmark TV did a production with Alec Newman & Luke Goss as V&C, with Donald Sutherland as Captain Walton which was essentially THE book in movie form.
I liked the fate of Elizabeth in Branaugh’s version- I think Mary S would have approved.
The only other major differences between Branaugh’s version & the book- in the book, Henry Clerval is killed by the Creature after Victor refuses to make the bride & Victor is temporarily jailed for the murder (in Scotland btw), Victor’s father’s name is Alphonse & he is a local aristocrat, there is actually a middle brother named Ernest who does nothing in the book. And the book itself gives no details as to the Creation, tho Mary’s 1831 preface refers to a machine inducing the spark of life.