The Bride (1985 film)

The Bride

film poster for The Bride.
Directed by Franc Roddam
Produced by Keith Addis
Victor Drai
Lloyd Fonvielle
Chris Kenny
Written by Mary Shelley (novel Frankenstein)
Lloyd Fonvielle
Starring
Music by Maurice Jarre
Cinematography Stephen H. Burum
Edited by Michael Ellis
Distributed by Columbia Pictures
Release dates
 August 16, 1985
Running time
 118 minutes
Country United Kingdom
United States
Language English
Box office $3,558,669[1]

The Bride is an adaptation of Mary Shelley's Frankenstein, released in 1985 and directed by Franc Roddam. The film stars Sting as Baron Charles Frankenstein and Jennifer Beals as Eva, a woman he creates in the same fashion as his infamous monster.

Plot

The film begins with Baron Charles Frankenstein (Sting), his monster (Clancy Brown), Dr. Zalhus (Quentin Crisp), and his assistant Paulus (Timothy Spall) creating a female mate named Eva (Jennifer Beals) for the monster. Eva is physically identical to a human and lacking the deformities of the monster. As such, she is revolted by the monster and rejects him. This causes the monster to fly into a rage and destroy Frankenstein's laboratory. Frankenstein, believing himself and Eva to be the only survivors, flees with her back to Castle Frankenstein. He tells everyone, including Eva, that she was an amnesiac he found in the woods. There he decides to take Eva for himself and pursues the goal of making her a perfect human mate.

The monster, having survived, wanders into the countryside where he befriends a dwarf, Rinaldo (David Rappaport). During their travels, Rinaldo tries to teach and look out for the monster, something that the Baron has never done, by giving the monster care and more importantly a name, Viktor. Over the course of their travels, unknown to both Viktor and Eva, the two share a psychic link in which each will often feel what the other feels. Viktor and Rinaldo become involved with a circus owner's assistant who bullies Viktor and kills Rinaldo out of spite. When Viktor overhears that owner and the assistant arguing, he fights the assistant and kills him out of revenge and defense. But the circus owner gets the group to turn on him and calls him the murderer, causing him to flee.

While over time Eva does develop a mutual respect for her unknown creator, during this pursuit to make her civilized she becomes more independent. During her lessons, she becomes very attracted to a Captain Josef Schoden (Cary Elwes), much to the Baron's personal disdain. He becomes more obsessive of Eva, even watching her in her sleep, leaving her very unsettled. Josef then comes in secret to meet Eva, causing her to become very attracted. Unknown to Eva, Viktor returns and the two encounter one another, sharing a tender moment of friendship. Though Eva is curious to know him, Viktor decides to hide the truth from her.

The Baron becomes extremely possessive of Eva as she grows more independent. After their encounter Viktor goes to a peddler to offer Eva jewelry to win her affection. Out of empathy for Viktor for giving him a lot of gold, he returns some of the money. Viktor nearly makes his way to Eva's room to show her his gifts, but leaves after seeing Eva being lavished in riches the Baron gave her. That night Eva and the Baron attend a masquerade and she sneaks away to be with the Captain. The Baron finds them together and is shown silently enraged with jealousy.

Viktor, meanwhile, is captured by the circus group who want retribution. The Baron's obsession escalates as he discovers Eva had sneaked away to see the Captain at night. The Baron confronts them, but much to Eva's shock the Captain only toys with her. Back at the castle, the Baron announces she belongs to him and demands that she obeys him. As they argue, the truth is revealed about Eva's origins. She's distraught as she realizes the truth through his notes. During her moment of horror at the truth, Viktor feels her pain.

When the Baron tells her he believes that the monster is dead, he reveals that he intends to have her and she continues to reject him. He tries many times to force himself upon Eva, much to her disgust. Viktor senses Eva's distress and breaks free of his imprisonment and rushes back to the castle to save her. The Baron's obsession rises and he breaks into Eva's room to rape her. But Viktor comes in time and fights off his creator and during the struggle the Baron falls to his death.

The monster and Eva meet with each other, introducing himself to her with his name Viktor. Reunited, they head off to Venice; something that Rinaldo dreamed of seeing.

Cast

Production notes

Frankstein's full name in the film is Baron Charles Frankenstein, unlike Mary Shelley's Victor Frankenstein or the classic Universal Studios movie's Henry Frankenstein. The dwarf in the film is named Rinaldo, also the name of blacklisted Abbott and Costello Meet Frankenstein screenwriter Frederic I. Rinaldo, who also wrote the scripts for several Universal films, including Abbott and Costello Meet the Invisible Man (1951); Hold That Ghost (1941); The Black Cat (1941) and The Invisible Woman (1940).

Some scenes were shot amidst the statuary at the Gardens of Bomarzo in Lazio, Italy.

Reception

The film earned negative reviews from critics and holds a 22% rating on Rotten Tomatoes. Jennifer Beals's performance in the film earned her a Razzie Award nomination for Worst Actress.

Release

Columbia Pictures released the film theatrically on August 16, 1985 and it grossed $3,558,669 at the domestic box office.[1]

The film was released on DVD by Sony Pictures Home Entertainment in 2001.[2]

See also

References

  1. 1 2 The Bride at Box Office Mojo
  2. ↑ "The Bride (DVD)". dvdempire.com. Retrieved 2011-04-18.

External links

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