The Bride! Review - An unapologetic, beautiful mess & Buckley is the magnetic heart at the center of it.

Chase Gifford
2 hours ago
6 min read

“There is something at work in my soul, which I do not understand.” – Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley

Christopher Booker theorized that nearly all narratives are variations of seven core archetypes: Overcoming the Monster, Rags to Riches, The Quest, Voyage and Return, Rebirth, Comedy, and Tragedy.

Overcoming the Monster: Jaws, Star Wars

Rags to Riches: Cinderella, Aladdin

The Quest: The Lord of the Rings, Raiders of the Lost Ark

Voyage and Return: Alice in Wonderland, The Hobbit

Rebirth: A Christmas Carol, Beauty and the Beast

Comedy: A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Bridget Jones’s Diary

Tragedy: Macbeth, The Great Gatsby

As you could probably tell based on these examples of each archetype, that some or most stories fall into more than one single category. The Lord of the Rings is absolutely a Quest story but undeniably it is also Overcoming the Monster as they seek to destroy Sauron as well as Voyage and Return as the Hobbits leave their familiar world, survive a hostile land and return home changed forever. In fact Booker suggests that LOTR is uniquely complex because it incorporates almost all of the seven archetypes. The entire Harry Potter saga falls into nearly every category as well. Christopher Nolan’s upcoming epic, The Odyssey, will also fall under multiple categories.

I bring this up because of stories, focusing on films, like A Star is Born, that has been adapted into four separate movies from 1937 to 2018. While not all of them are equally praised they each had a rather significant amount of success. So it begs the question: How can a story retold this many times remain relevant with each iteration? In the case of A Star is Born, it’s remade about every 20 to 40 years, with enough time in between to allow a reflection of contemporary fame, industry culture, and changing societal views on romance and addiction.

When a story is retold many times over the years it becomes about one thing above all else – perspective. It is the single underlying element that gives justification for retelling stories over and over again. The original Bride of Frankenstein, made in 1935, primarily follows the Tragedy archetype while also functioning as a subversion of Overcoming the Monster.

“Booker defines a Tragedy as a story where the protagonist is tempted by a forbidden goal, experiences a period of success (the "Dream Stage"), but is eventually led to destruction by a fatal flaw—often hubris.”

The Hubris: “Dr. Frankenstein and Dr. Pretorius attempt to "play God" by creating life from the dead to satisfy the Monster's demand for companionship.”

The Dream Stage: “The successful reanimation of the Bride represents a moment of scientific triumph where the doctors believe they have "fixed" their original mistake.”

The Final Destruction: “The "nightmare stage" occurs when the Bride rejects the Monster. This rejection leads the Monster to realize they are both "dead" in spirit, causing him to destroy the laboratory, himself, and the Bride in a final act of despair ("We belong dead").”

Now, in 2026, The Bride!, reinterprets this story as Rebirth. In the original film, the Bride is thrust into an untenable, ill-conceived plan of madness. Stemming from the monster’s unbearable loneliness, the two doctors bring life to the once dead bride-to-be only to discover the fatal flaw that life does not guarantee adoration. She rejects the monster and since it is from the perspective of the monster, it is an incredible tragedy from which he cannot survive. The Final Destruction begins. In this new version, a new perspective, written and directed by Maggie Gyllenhaal, it is about the Bride’s rebirth as she pries herself from passive victim to becoming quest driven to find her own identity and agency after reanimation.

In the modern era, the idea of a female heroine, or rather free thinking woman isn’t a shocking revelation like it once may have been. So it makes sense that in a modern reinterpretation the Bride is conflicted certainly, dangerously complex and untameable absolutely, but she is also motivated by her own thoughts and desires, even if those thoughts are plagued by the dead. They are her own. But the battle remains for her autonomy so she must fight.

The perspective is no longer that of Frankenstein’s monster who still suffers from immortality and unyielding loneliness. His burdens remain ever-present but he must brace for the whirlwind that is the dead woman he awakened. From the moment she returns from the darkness of the afterlife she is burdened by the life she can no longer remember but remains at the cusp of recall and forgetting and this new existence where more than just voices occupy her mind. Most prominent is the writer of Frankenstein, Mary Shelley who both guides and conflicts with The Bride’s thoughts and actions as she navigates 1930s Chicago. And this new life, much like her previous one, is plagued by awful men making decisions without her consent or her well-being in mind whatsoever.

Frank (Frankenstein) raises the formerly named Ida (The Bride) from the dead because he was lonely and demanded companionship. The people who killed her in the first place simply didn’t appreciate her outbursts calling out a prominent gangster and his crimes against women. So much of her life, both iterations of it, have been at the behest of men with ulterior motives that even if well-intentioned bring about irreversible consequences that can only cause great chaos and harm. She must tread her own path now and if Frank wants to come along, he better understand she is on a tear of her own making which will be anything but quiet and uneventful.

There is a lot to digest here and much of it is very interesting and gothic in style and tone but often it becomes more preoccupied with chaos that its focus loses sight of what it wants. She is trying to discover who she is now without the baggage of who she used to be. It’s not always clear where she is going and why, oftentimes leaving the story sidelined as her erratic behavior takes over and forces her to act out. There is a purpose but it can leave you feeling a bit lost at times.

What she learns is that her behavior becomes an inspiration for marginalized people, mainly women, who have grown tired of the status quo that views them as subhuman and without value. Her acts of violence have an effect on society that gains the attention of police who are in pursuit as if Bonnie and Clyde were resurrected to inflict mayhem upon the criminal and innocent alike.

To the surprise of no one, Jessie Buckley is fantastically frantic and tragically poetic as The Bride slipping effortlessly between tattered victim and savage avenger. Her intentions can mean well but her efforts are callous and careless. Buckley once again shows why she is destined to be one of the greats of her generation. She is incredible in every role and as The Bride she is vivacious and dangerous. I am in awe of her. Before the month is out, she will be Academy Award Winner, Jessie Buckley. Mark my words.

At her side or in the background with mouth agape is Christian Bale as Frank. He is both culprit and caretaker of his newly acquainted bride and Bale embodies the very skin of the monster becoming something else entirely as he tends to do. If anything can be said about Bale beyond his tremendous talent as an actor is that every role is given his absolute everything blurring the line between Bale and the character he’s bringing to life. I believe every actor is only as good as their counterparts and if Buckley is as good as she is, that must mean Bale is electric. It’s clear they were given carte blanche to embody and embolden who these characters were ultimately destined to become.

The Bride! is messy, incoherent at times, ridiculous in spurts but overall this is a bold, fascinating new perspective born from a story in 1818 near Lake Geneva, Switzerland. It’s a mixed bag but I can’t deny I was hooked for most of the runtime. The cast is brilliant, the set design is gorgeous, and the cinematography feels purposely turbulent mirroring the turmoil left in the wake of Frankenstein and his beautiful, burgeoning Bride!