"Gods and Monsters" is a well-acted, cleverly self-reflexive, mostly-fictional biopic. James Whale, the real director of the first two Frankenstein films, "The Invisible Man" (1933), "Show Boat" (1936), "Journey's End" (1930) and "The Road Back" (1937)--those being the ones mentioned in this film--becomes friends with his gardener, a fictional character. On the most basic level, this plays out as a movie about friends talking about Classic Hollywood, capped off by the blind man scene from "Bride of Frankenstein" (1935), sharing a smoke like Whale and Boone had. Rather obviously, as well, however, it mixes scenes of "Bride of Frankenstein," for which "Gods and Monsters" is quoted from, with the replaying between Whale and Boone of that film's two Frankenstein roles--both the doctor and the monster, who was also being referred to as "Frankenstein" by then.
At first, Whale is the monster. Suffering from strokes in his final years, Whale has an "electrical storm in his head." Lightning and storms form a motif that later sparks the film's climax--of course, referencing the function of lightning in creating Frankenstein's monsters in Whale's two films. Whale has a dream of himself as the monster, his brain being worked on by Boone as the doctor. Even in Mary Shelley's novel and the first, 1931 "Frankenstein," for that matter, where Dr. Frankenstein was clearly the protagonist and seemingly the one readers were expected to sympathize with, it's always been the creature who has most grabbed our affections. He's the unloved outcast, misunderstood and persecuted. It's a fitting analogy for a gay artist like Whale, spending his later years alone with only his maid, who as played by Lynn Redgrave, is but a character from his movies--a more subdued version of the types Una O'Connor played. His mind is otherwise filled with characters from his past and characters he created for the screen.
Yet, ever the creator and director, Whale seeks to create a second monster, à la his "Bride," which is where the gardener comes in. Unfortunately, however, the scientist once again misunderstands his creation. The film's last dream has Brendan Fraser, as Boone, leading Ian McKellan, as Whale; in silhouette, Fraser looks like the monster dragging along his creator, but, then, they emerge from the darkness. I wish Whale's war films, "Journey's End" and "The Road Back," which I haven't seen, were more accessible today, because as much as this film is about "Bride," it's also filled with imagery from Whale's Great War experiences.
Stylistically, a mirror motif reflects the self-reflexivity and doubles theme well. Fraser and McKellen examine their reflections in a couple shots, the last of which has Fraser more darkly reflected in water as he washes his face. The final strip is a doubled reflection of both men in a window. To find something potentially wanting here, it may've been interesting if the filmmakers of "Gods and Monsters" had done more to reflect the style of Whale's films, although not in the film it in black and white pastiche mode of Tim Burton's "Frankenweenie," but something more clever. I'm not talking about the canted angels in this one, either, which I could take or leave. At least, it may've benefited from Whale's tendency for a more streamlined and campy picture, as opposed to the wavering flow of conversations that "Gods and Monsters" has. Don't get me wrong--that's plenty when you have these layers of referentiality and fine acting from McKellen and Redgrave, as well as the best thing I've yet seen Fraser in. And there's plenty from Shelley's story and Whale's films to like here in the contest of wills, the master and pupil dynamics, the subject and object of creation, and male bonding.
At first, Whale is the monster. Suffering from strokes in his final years, Whale has an "electrical storm in his head." Lightning and storms form a motif that later sparks the film's climax--of course, referencing the function of lightning in creating Frankenstein's monsters in Whale's two films. Whale has a dream of himself as the monster, his brain being worked on by Boone as the doctor. Even in Mary Shelley's novel and the first, 1931 "Frankenstein," for that matter, where Dr. Frankenstein was clearly the protagonist and seemingly the one readers were expected to sympathize with, it's always been the creature who has most grabbed our affections. He's the unloved outcast, misunderstood and persecuted. It's a fitting analogy for a gay artist like Whale, spending his later years alone with only his maid, who as played by Lynn Redgrave, is but a character from his movies--a more subdued version of the types Una O'Connor played. His mind is otherwise filled with characters from his past and characters he created for the screen.
Yet, ever the creator and director, Whale seeks to create a second monster, à la his "Bride," which is where the gardener comes in. Unfortunately, however, the scientist once again misunderstands his creation. The film's last dream has Brendan Fraser, as Boone, leading Ian McKellan, as Whale; in silhouette, Fraser looks like the monster dragging along his creator, but, then, they emerge from the darkness. I wish Whale's war films, "Journey's End" and "The Road Back," which I haven't seen, were more accessible today, because as much as this film is about "Bride," it's also filled with imagery from Whale's Great War experiences.
Stylistically, a mirror motif reflects the self-reflexivity and doubles theme well. Fraser and McKellen examine their reflections in a couple shots, the last of which has Fraser more darkly reflected in water as he washes his face. The final strip is a doubled reflection of both men in a window. To find something potentially wanting here, it may've been interesting if the filmmakers of "Gods and Monsters" had done more to reflect the style of Whale's films, although not in the film it in black and white pastiche mode of Tim Burton's "Frankenweenie," but something more clever. I'm not talking about the canted angels in this one, either, which I could take or leave. At least, it may've benefited from Whale's tendency for a more streamlined and campy picture, as opposed to the wavering flow of conversations that "Gods and Monsters" has. Don't get me wrong--that's plenty when you have these layers of referentiality and fine acting from McKellen and Redgrave, as well as the best thing I've yet seen Fraser in. And there's plenty from Shelley's story and Whale's films to like here in the contest of wills, the master and pupil dynamics, the subject and object of creation, and male bonding.