Today's entry is for me one of the great disappointments in cinematic history. In 1994 Francis Ford Coppola followed up his critically and commercially successful Dracula adaptation with a production of Frankenstein, directed by and starring Kenneth Branagh, with Robert Deniro as the creature. Like Dracula, Mary Shelley's Frankenstein was an operatic, gritty, almost pulpy screen version of the novel that featured fairly graphic blood and gore, and appealed to the mid-90s culture of excess. Unfortunately it wasn't nearly as well-received as its counterpart and flopped in the States, though it did pretty well overseas.
Being a huge fan of Coppola's Dracula, I was salivating at the prospect of a faithful Frankenstein adaptation, and for a solid five years I tried to convince myself that this film worked. But it doesn't.
So what went wrong? How did such a promising endeavor fail to connect with its audience? Let's take a look....
The Awesome
Robert Deniro
In an odd bit of casting against type, Robert Deniro was tapped to play the reviled, misshapen creature, and even stranger, his character/performance is the most understated and relatable. In a film where almost everyone has comically histrionic moments of distress and anguish, Deniro oddly provides an anchor, portraying the creature as a misunderstood brute who is pretty gentle by nature until pushed too far. Despite having to act through heavy makeup, Deniro, like Boris Karloff in the 30s, was able to convey a wide range of emotions and make us care about him.
Looks like Leatherface almost |
Helena Bonham Carter
She's asked to go a bit over-the-top occasionally (to go along with her absurdly large hairstyle), but overall Carter's performance as Victor's fiancee Elizabeth is tender and nuanced, making the romantic elements of the story ring true even as the rest veers into parody. She comes across as a strong 90s cinematic love interest while staying true to the period setting.
"The hair needs to be bigger on top! It's gotta be a wall, a wall!" |