Haifaa al-Mansour impressed with Wadjda back in 2012, the first full-length feature from Saudi Arabia made by a female director. Now with Mary Shelley she is far afield from her novice effort but must be commended for expanding her horizons.
Mary Shelley of course is best known for her first novel, Frankenstein, published in 1818, which she began writing--amazingly--when she was 19 years old! She was also the wife of the famed poet Percy Bysshe Shelley. Al-Mansour's biopic stars Elle Fanning as Mary, with a decided modern feminist slant. It's a sumptuous period piece, replete with beautiful costumes and impressive recreation of the time period.
The film manages to touch all the bases of Mary Shelley's fascinating but troubled biography including her estrangement from her free thinking publisher and political philosopher father William Godwin, her elopement with Percy accompanied by her step-sister Claire, Percy's financial troubles and their escape to Geneva where they visit Lord Byron, Mary's interest in "galvanism" and the inspiration for Frankenstein, Claire's failed fling with Byron and the eventual anonymous publication of Frankenstein back in London.
Unfortunately, despite its seeming verisimilitude, the core of screenwriter Emma Jensen's narrative is false. In Jensen's view, Frankenstein was written in response to Percy Shelley's emotionally abusive, narcissistic behavior toward Mary.
There's quite a bit of ample documentation covering Mary Shelley's life including journals that she kept. She made it clear that her relationship with Percy was collaborative and that they were intellectual equals. This included interest in the scientific topics of the time which inspired the premise of Frankenstein, in which a scientist creates a creature out of dead body parts, animated by an electric current.
Here Percy becomes comparable to Frankenstein's embittered monster. He's falsely held responsible for the death of Mary's daughter Clara by fleeing from creditors during one stormy night, exposing the child to the elements; and later he abandons Mary for months (but in real life, remained with her until his death). There's additional sensational and gossipy speculation: he's a drunk, steals credit for her novel, allegedly has an affair with Claire and a possible bisexual relationship with Byron.
Mary is presented as some kind of feminist superwoman, knocking out Frankenstein in one sitting and then finding the publisher herself without any assistance from anyone (in reality, Percy found the publisher for the novel and it took Mary months to write it, with a multitude of literary influences!). Just taking a look at the original Frankenstein manuscript, you can see Mary was assisted by Percy, whose editing and suggestions appear in the blank side of the left column on each page.
At film's end, in his "confession" at the bookshop, al-Monsour and Jensen have Percy ludicrously state he was responsible for Mary's "loneliness." Of course the apology never occurred. In reality, Mary was devastated by Percy's early death at the age of 29 in a boating accident and ended up holding him in the highest regard until the end of her days.
As a basic primer, al-Monsour presents an elementary school introduction to the life of Mary Shelley. In her zeal to present an anachronistic feminist portrait, the true history is lost. Her film impresses as a beautiful visual recreation coupled with good acting, but ultimately proves to represent a betrayal of and disservice to history.
Mary Shelley of course is best known for her first novel, Frankenstein, published in 1818, which she began writing--amazingly--when she was 19 years old! She was also the wife of the famed poet Percy Bysshe Shelley. Al-Mansour's biopic stars Elle Fanning as Mary, with a decided modern feminist slant. It's a sumptuous period piece, replete with beautiful costumes and impressive recreation of the time period.
The film manages to touch all the bases of Mary Shelley's fascinating but troubled biography including her estrangement from her free thinking publisher and political philosopher father William Godwin, her elopement with Percy accompanied by her step-sister Claire, Percy's financial troubles and their escape to Geneva where they visit Lord Byron, Mary's interest in "galvanism" and the inspiration for Frankenstein, Claire's failed fling with Byron and the eventual anonymous publication of Frankenstein back in London.
Unfortunately, despite its seeming verisimilitude, the core of screenwriter Emma Jensen's narrative is false. In Jensen's view, Frankenstein was written in response to Percy Shelley's emotionally abusive, narcissistic behavior toward Mary.
There's quite a bit of ample documentation covering Mary Shelley's life including journals that she kept. She made it clear that her relationship with Percy was collaborative and that they were intellectual equals. This included interest in the scientific topics of the time which inspired the premise of Frankenstein, in which a scientist creates a creature out of dead body parts, animated by an electric current.
Here Percy becomes comparable to Frankenstein's embittered monster. He's falsely held responsible for the death of Mary's daughter Clara by fleeing from creditors during one stormy night, exposing the child to the elements; and later he abandons Mary for months (but in real life, remained with her until his death). There's additional sensational and gossipy speculation: he's a drunk, steals credit for her novel, allegedly has an affair with Claire and a possible bisexual relationship with Byron.
Mary is presented as some kind of feminist superwoman, knocking out Frankenstein in one sitting and then finding the publisher herself without any assistance from anyone (in reality, Percy found the publisher for the novel and it took Mary months to write it, with a multitude of literary influences!). Just taking a look at the original Frankenstein manuscript, you can see Mary was assisted by Percy, whose editing and suggestions appear in the blank side of the left column on each page.
At film's end, in his "confession" at the bookshop, al-Monsour and Jensen have Percy ludicrously state he was responsible for Mary's "loneliness." Of course the apology never occurred. In reality, Mary was devastated by Percy's early death at the age of 29 in a boating accident and ended up holding him in the highest regard until the end of her days.
As a basic primer, al-Monsour presents an elementary school introduction to the life of Mary Shelley. In her zeal to present an anachronistic feminist portrait, the true history is lost. Her film impresses as a beautiful visual recreation coupled with good acting, but ultimately proves to represent a betrayal of and disservice to history.