Mary Shelley
Directed by Haifaa al-Mansour
- romance
- drama
The story
The love affair between poet Percy Shelley and Mary Wollstonecraft Godwin resulted in the creation of an immortal novel, “Frankenstein; or, The Modern Prometheus.”
What it’s like
Candlelit interiors and overcast English summers give this period biopic a soft, moody texture, with long, carefully composed frames of rooms crowded with books, lamplight pooling on worn wood, and damp greenery washing in through tall windows. Haifaa al-Mansour's camera lingers on faces and quiet domestic detail rather than spectacle, and the score is largely restrained strings and piano that swell at emotional turns. The mood is romantic and melancholy, a slow-burning, intellectual unease that suits a rainy afternoon or a late evening with a glass of wine. Pacing is measured and conversational, following a young woman's struggle to be taken seriously as a writer while she falls for a charismatic, reckless poet and grows into the author of a famous novel. Its arcs are about artistic ambition, bruising disillusionment, and a woman refusing to be defined by the men around her. Intensity is low: some sexual content, emotional cruelty and infidelity, and a few dark, dreamlike flashes tied to the gothic novel, but no graphic violence. It is for viewers who enjoy literary period drama, romance with an ache to it, and stories about creative women finding their voice.
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