Mary Shelley (2017)

Life and facts of Mary Wollstonecraft Godwin, who at 16 met 21 year old poet Percy Shelley, resulting in the writing of Frankenstein.

Director:

Haifaa Al-Mansour

Writers:

Emma Jensen, Haifaa Al-Mansour (additional writing by)

Stars:

Elle Fanning, Bel Powley, Owen Richards

1 win & 7 nominations.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Elle Fanning	...	Mary Shelley
Bel Powley	...	Claire Clairmont
Owen Richards	...	William Godwin
Joanne Froggatt	...	Mrs. Godwin
Stephen Dillane	...	Mr. Godwin
Andy McKell	...	Man #1
Maisie Williams	...	Isabel Baxter
Derek Riddell	...	William Baxter
Hugh O'Conor	...	Samuel Coleridge
Bill O'Brien	...	Scottish Guest
Douglas Booth	...	Shelley
Martin Phillips	...	Deacon
Ciara Charteris	...	Harriet Shelley
Chloe Vos	...	Ianthe
Pat Hickey	...	Hunched Backed Man

Storyline

In 1814, Regency-era London, Mary Wollstonecraft-Godwin is a 16 years old aspiring writer who works in the bookshop of her renowned father writer William Godwin, married in second terms after the passing of his first wife, philosopher Mary Wollstonecraft, with the too married by second time Mary Jane Clairmont, where Mary Jane's daughter of her first marriage Claire turns in a close and lovely stepsister for Mary. When Mary and Claire travel at the house of one of William's friends in Scotland, Mary meets the 21 years old poet Percy Bysshe Shelley, rising instantly a love interest between them. Returning to London little time later, Mary unexpectedly meets Percy again when he appears at her house in order to ask William to take him on as an apprentice. Fascinated by Percy, Mary begins a bohemian and torrid relationship with him despite the opposition of her father and her stepmother, especially after they discover that Percy is married with a little daughter whom he supports but he ...

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Plot Keywords:

thunderstorm | stormy night | debt | death of daughter | death of baby | 

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Taglines:

Her Greatest Love Inspired Her Darkest Creation

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Genres:

Biography | Drama | History | Romance

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Motion Picture Rating (MPAA)

Rated PG-13 for sexuality and thematic elements including substance abuse

Did You Know?

Trivia

Maisie Williams and Stephen Dillane have also acted in Game of Thrones (2011). They never shared any scenes.

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Goofs

When Mary hands her manuscript over to Shelley, she puts it on his desk with the back of the folder to the right side. Yet when he picks it up, the back of the folder is facing left.

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Quotes

Claire Clairmont: I wonder, how many souls will sympathize with your creature's torments?
Claire Clairmont: More than should, I expect.

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Crazy Credits

Even though the movie is clearly based on real people, including of course Mary Shelley, Percy Bysshe Shelley, Lord Byron, Claire Clairmont and many others, the end titles include the ridiculous disclaimer that "The characters depicted in this motion picture are fictitious, and any similarity to the history of any person is entirely coincidental."

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Connections

Referenced in Late Night with Seth Meyers: Tom Hiddleston/Maisie Williams/Rooney (2016)

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Soundtracks

Over the Hills and Far Away
(uncredited)
Traditional English ballad
Sung as a lullaby by Elle Fanning

User Reviews

Conjecture and taking of liberties

Frankenstein is one of the greatest novels ever written. It was brilliantly conceived and executed and significantly ahead of its time. The Hollywood-ization of this novel is usually lacking all merit of the work, missing the novel's primary question: who was the greater monster-- the creature or the doctor?

This movie takes great liberties in dramatizing the life of the author prior to her writing the book. It does so fairly well-- to the point of discomfort in how women were viewed and treated in those intellectually stimulating but socially dark times. The climate of England and surrounding areas was one of bigotry, inequality and extreme prejudice. This film presents the despair of such times quite well, drawing the viewer into the potential feelings of the author when writing the book.

That is the weakness of the film: it is largely conjecture. As a work of fiction it does reasonably well. Lovers of gothic romance may be entranced (if unsettled) by the presentation and emotional darkness of the film. For what the writers and directors were attempting, they achieved to an extent. However the storytelling is somewhat interrupted and set back by unwarranted flashbacks and other film gimmicks that detracted from the reality of the story. One such gimmick is nowhere more obvious than at the very end of the film where they present a spoken line quite important to the movie-- AFTER text blurbs discussing the lives of the main characters. Such was poorly done and interrupted the flow of the movie right at the end-- in my opinion an unforgivable sin in movie making. (I might have given this another star were it not for that significant flaw in directing.)

As to the accuracy, that is likely irrelevant. This is a dramatization, and that's the simple truth of it. Whether the story is accurate or not is secondary to achieving its purpose. It tells the intended story decently-- just not well enough to draw in the viewer and make itself believable. It focused too greatly on inconsequential things of no matter to the story, and too little on issues of potential greatness. As such it was worth watching, but viewers might not expect storytelling anywhere near the expertise of the original novel.

To the viewer who wrote of hating the novel and enjoying the Hollywood monster movies much more-- everyone has personal opinions, but it is a sad situation when a novel the quality and impact of Frankenstein is not understood and appreciated, more so when publicly boasted.

Details

Official Sites:

Official Facebook [UK] Official Instagram [UK]

Country:

UK Luxembourg USA Ireland Australia

Language:

English

Release Date:

5 July 2018 (Australia)

Also Known As:

Mary Shelley

Filming Locations:

Ireland

Box Office

Opening Weekend USA:

$12,570, 27 May 2018

Gross USA:

$108,900

Cumulative Worldwide Gross:

$2,096,600

Company Credits

Production Co:

BFI Film Fund, Film Fund Luxembourg, Gidden Media

Technical Specs

Runtime:

120 min

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1