Mary Shelley

 

Mary Shelley 2017

• Director: Haifaa Al-Mansour
• Wadja (The Green Bicycle)
• Based on book: no
• Cast: Elle Fanning, Bel Powley, Joanne Froggatt, Stephen Dillane, Maisie Williams, Derek Riddell, Hugh O’Connor, Douglas Booth
• Personal “oh yeah him/her” reaction, i.e. have seen this actor in:
• Elle Fanning – Maleficent, Ginger & Rosa, The Curious Case of Benjamin Button, Reservation Road, Babel, Taken
• Joanne Froggatt – Downton Abbey, A Street Cat Named Bob, Filth, Still Life
• Stephen Dillane – The Hours, Hamlet
• Maisie Williams – Doctor Who
• Derek Riddell – Terminator the Sarah Connor Chronicles, Doctor Who, Much Ado about Nothing Re-Told
• Hugh O’Connor – The Fall, Chocolat, Hotel Splendide, My Left Foot
• Douglas Booth - Jupiter Ascending, The Pillars of the Earth, From Time to Time
• Why? Mary Shelley
• Seen: 16 September 2022      

       Frankenstein is one of the best novels ever written. The life of Mary Shelley was filled with loss and hardship. The story of how Frankenstein came about is one of the most fascinating in literature history. This film is as dull as dishwater. Fanning is absolutely wrong for the part. Anyone would have been better, Felicity Jones. Billie Piper, Jodie Whittaker, Keira Knightly, Saoirse Ronan, Jenna Coleman…. Booth is a pretty poetry-spouting boy band boy. The film just goes on and on. I keep thinking, ‘Come on, come on, get to that stormy night!’ And then it just zips past it.

       How can this be by the same director as Wadja, which was brilliant?

       Because it is sometimes pretty to look at and because it’s about one of the most important authors in the 19th century it gets 

2 * of 5, but I am bitterly disappointed.