The Bride! and What's Making Us Happy

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The bride goes way beyond a simple tale of literature's most famous reanimated corpses. Frankenstein's monster, the bride of Frankenstein's monster and Frankenstein's author Mary Shelley, are all characters in the film. The bride starts Jesse Buckley and Christian mail both of whom know a little something about committing themselves to juicy roles and was written and directed by Maggie Gillin Hall.

I'm Glenn Weldon and I'm Stephen Thompson joining us today on NPR's pop culture happy hour is very

hardy men. She's a senior editor for NPR's Investigations team. Hey Barry.

Hi. Also here with us is filmmaker pop culture critic and I heart radio producer Joelle Monique KJwell. Hi Stephen. It is a pleasure to have you all here. So if I say the title of the bride excitedly, that's because it includes an exclamation point, kind of both literally and figurative lecture. The film is a wild take on the bride of Frankenstein's monster, her origin story, her relationship with the big lug himself and her pursuit of her own distinct identity.

The film stars Jesse Buckley as the bride and Christian bail as the erudite monster. Her vibe is a little like the Joker and his is a little like zombie Tom Waiter. He's seeking a bride as monsters so often do. So he enlists the scientist Dr. Euphronius played by a net bending to reanimate a corpse. But it's not simple for monsters attempting to enter into an arranged marriage in the 1930s. They have to get to know each other. They have to

fend off an alternately hostile and indifferent world and they have to contend with not only her past but also the police the press and at least two different types of mobs. It's a gory, gothic horror romance with Jesse Buckley actually turning up in three roles. One as a young woman who dies, one as a corpse bride and one as Frankenstein author Mary Shelley whom we meet in a kind of

“purgatory. It's in theaters now. Joelle Monique, I'm going to start with you. What did you think of?”

The broad. Stephen, I'd be like racking my brand like I have to keep it tight. I love so much

about this movie. So I tried to pick three things. Okay, you have three incredible actors having

so much fun and it is such an exquisite joy to watch each of them just like go all out. I was having a blast too. I really really enjoy the fact that we can get such over the top over feminist tropes in our horror. I think horror is a great place for feminist filmmaking and this is not subtle. It's not trying to be and in that way it allows space for you to kind of like I was telling you guys earlier my audience was like moving and hollering like it was a Marvel movie

which is an exquisite experience at the movies and three I think this movie is doing a lot for Frankenstein lovers and I love seeing Frankenstein on film and they take a lot of opportunities to just celebrate the goofy weird fun exquisite like over the top performances of Frankenstein's past and I was key key with my friends as we were watching it. It was just such a joy to watch. I loved watching this movie. Awesome. How are you Barry? I also was absolutely delighted by it and I don't think I'm

its core audience. I'm not a horror person. I kind of wasn't aware of the discourse about it before.

“I think there's been a lot written about it and it's sort of maybe rocky path to where it is.”

So I went in with no expectations and I as a movie lover just a person who likes movies like to talk about movies like to I was in heaven. The visuals, the references, I came out of there just like wanting to turn Bonnie and Clyde back on wanting to see all my fun things and just gorgeous and I am just huge Jesse Buckley fan which she's doing with a really odd role and which is over the top as everyone has said is so sort of tender. There's so much pesos in her face in a way.

It's sort of like there's like a hint of like a clear Danzy Jennifer Jason Lee. I really really enjoyed it and the things that I found imperfect about it and I did find some things imperfect certainly did not warm me off of it and we're actually kind of silly and fun. So yeah no I'm a huge unexpected fan awesome how about you Glenn I was saying a folks before we started typing that this movie is a mess but call me Marie condo because I love mess I spent most of this movie

watching it like I was a judge on law and order like over and over again seen after seeing it here myself thinking all allow it but you're better be going somewhere with this counselor and then

so much goes somewhere as it goes everywhere and I put it on a short leash and I can't break

“in that leash and bolting it at traffic and yet I kept allowing it. There are so many”

Mulan rizzi riffs and other movies we mentioned Bonnie and Clyde. There's also King of Comedy in there and there's a couple young Frankenstein riffs what a which felt pretty cheap to me but I went with it all allow it. I don't think it this movie hangs together I don't think hanging together in a conventional sense is really the aim of the shaggyness is the point. There are so many ideas at the screen they're all kind of equally asserted that I came out of it thinking well

I know the stuff that I liked that I wish there was more of Jesse Buckley channeling Mary Shelley I didn't get enough of that wanted more of it and I know the stuff I didn't like and wish there was less of there's some business with Peter Sars guard that takes place entirely next position at the end of the film that could have lifted out easily but then everybody's gonna have a bespoke experience

because you can have like here's what I like and here's what other people like but who doesn't

love a big swing you know who's a sucker for something that feels like it came from like a living idiosyncratic individual human mind and not a boardroom this guy this is a studio film you don't get this many vintage cars and backlots if you don't you know have a studio this is kind of punctuation and it doesn't connect in a tight callback Sidfield Robert McKee manuscript screen play way this

“film is shaggy and organic I gotta be careful here but here's what I'm trying to say I think this”

film is a feminist fable obviously it doesn't feel like it's argument it's motivation is academic or intellectual it feels a lot more raw in emotional and fun I like this movie yeah I came down roughly the same way and I wasn't distracted by much watching this film I was definitely locked into this movie the few times I allowed a stray thought to enter my brain that wasn't trying to figure out what the hell was going on the thought that popped into my head was

Lady Gaga is gonna watch this and be so jealous yeah Glenn you're a Batman guy did you see I mean you were listing things that this film was referencing but one that I kept coming back to was the story of the Joker and how much the bride of Frankenstein in this film has kind of a Joker arc right up to an including copycat crimes yeah up to an including you know that the women of 1930s Chicago or whatever like painting their faces and going on crime sprees I found that sort of

interesting like I wasn't expecting a story about the bride of Frankenstein to so repeatedly conjure the Joker but man this thing is as you said it is all over the map and I do think among other things I really appreciated watching it kind of the way I did which was about a week after watching the Guillermo del Toro Frankenstein and kind of getting to see these extremely audacious kind of idiosyncratic visions of Frankenstein in the Frankenstein myth kind of in strange conversation

with each other yeah that's funny the Gaga that I saw it it was sort of the little monsters you know the the choreography is such as has so much reference to thriller oh yeah there's like a dance routine yeah there is so much choreography just period which felt like that was the bespoke experience for very argument as well as the gender references but there were so many different modes of expressing itself like in the movement in the color in the speech be it you know Mary Shelley's tone

versus you know the bride's tone you know there were so many just different modes which for me gave me a lot of stray thoughts and that was part of the experience you know just like being bombarded with hey I remember trying to do that video the film that I kept thinking back was a Lisa Frankenstein which was riffing on some of the same issues but was also riffing on the teen romance stuff and felt a lot more kind of calculated and I'm gonna say cynical then this film

“did I think this film is coming from a deeper kind of raw or emotional place so even though you could”

like this film is pastiche after pastiche after pastiche this felt truer in a strange way then that film did and it kind of connected with me in a more pure but still I mean I'm

team banana pants and I'm always gonna be team banana pants and so I don't think about things like

where they get torches in 1930s times square where they find torches and think about that although now I'm thinking about it no no don't think about it it's the third is of is what exactly movie so delicious you're just like what why are we suddenly on a police car cheat oh nothing makes sense like beat to beat you're just like what is happening but I think the emotional through line and it's can I also say it's very funny to me all of the disparate movie

selections because I was thinking of poor things the whole time it's like I did think of poor

and sort of discovering the whole world and coming into her womanhood she's understands that she's

a woman and her own mind but she's trying to understand it in connection to like the rest of the world she's like yeah I know who I am how do I fit in this space and then on top of that like they give Frankenstein a similar through line but he's lived in the world for a long time and he's trying to understand like who he wants to be in that world yes in the original film she's mostly a visual figure that women gravitated to they were like this woman is so striking she's so unique

there are hardly any women like at this time if you're looking at you know these black and white old films women are the girlfriends and you know we can get to be the monsters to this day we have a lot of monster loving stories out right now in our romance genre monster

make it academic efficient you thank you and but oftentimes it's like a very human woman with

“a male monster figure and I think there's being able to be inserted dynamically into this world”

and then Maggie does this other thing where she makes all of the main gyrals or into him so net-bending plays the mad doctor don't you fronious can that be cruise plays the detective who's trying to hunt down the bride and Frankenstein within that you get to experience your favorite classical horror film in a way that keeps you if you're a woman at the center of it I couldn't help to have so much fun I was just like I don't care that it's a personal care that it's weird

I love Frankenstein I've seen every iteration of Frankenstein on screen I think there are like 200 there are so many I've seen the ones in Spanish I've seen the British ones I've seen the

American ones there's probably something but I feel like I've intimately familiar with this character

and all of his forums and for Christian bail to seven-sided this role and do something completely new and different and fun and you can tell he's having such a good time it's just a delight to watch please go see this at the movies I'm ex of it all oh my god do we agree the Christian bail is kind of riffing on Herman Munster yeah I felt that yeah absolutely can I just say one other thing in praise of of this film in comparison to the Guillermo del Toro Vision that is currently nominated

for a bunch of Oscars that film spends at least a half an hour on the how of monster making and this film is like fine sure step into my giant cavernous electoral lab it's just like it's just a dear waiting for this moment this film is like sure find your monster and Joel knows the power of techno babble right we watched our drink we know that all you need is a couple lines of dialogue saying the flu full of a reverse the polarity of whatever the hell

and uh you're fine that's all you need you don't need you don't need these schematics if Maggie Gillen how I had included all of that stuff had tried to like stitch together all this connective tissue to maybe make this film make a tiny bit more sense it would have just dragged it to a halt and so I appreciate how much this film is just willing to kind of go all out in the things that it's best at instead of kind of boring us with all this connective tissue

did you have any other kind of because there is this is a pretty big cast and it's a in some ways a pretty surprising cast it's kind of constantly throwing fresh faces at you including hilariously Maggie Gillen Hall's brother Jake Gillen Hall turns up as kind of a star of stage and screen where they're supporting performances here that really stood out for any of you I thought it was interesting that Jake his character they don't have a take on him it doesn't seem to me he's

not a cad he's not a jerk he's kind of a cipher yes he's kind of a cipher yes that's right

“now that I think about it maybe that's the point he's been so much has been projected onto him”

by the monster that that when you actually make the guys just like a lot of actors you sometimes me to just kind of like the reason the actors is that they kind of play a role Jake is kind of fun in that role like he's the Jake to me is best on screen when he's either like super charming or total ass I think he plays both sides in a really interesting way and so I wanted to be like a really good role for him I thought anyway and I liked what Penelope Cruz was doing in the limited space she

was given yeah I don't think she had like a lot of space to try a bunch of different things but like she's kind of grounded but it's really a net bending to me who I just the whole time I was like this woman is up here doing it it's cookie it's fun again how often do you could see like a female mad scientist who isn't just like completely off her rocker like it's it's usually like such an extreme where you're like okay I can't it I thought this had like a level of like curiosity which

“it's often missing from science characters on tv and film I think what maybe we don't get in”

other Frankenstein stories of morality of like do I is it okay to do I not do it like and and what does

character in this movie in a way that felt so I was just like the other movie that's sort of

“inviting me of his um everybody very nice or wrinkle in time another film that's far from perfect but it's so”

emotionally resonant that I can't help but be like I love this movie I still made something like I don't know if it's like movie worthy and I was like I just please if you have it and you can spend your money and go see it because it's so big and so huge and so ridiculous and so funny that you kind of just get swept up in a way that I really feel like it's possibly it just feels very reminiscent of like your technical are days like you're very big over the top we sinners probably

gave you this feeling like yeah hope the Odyssey gives it to me I just feel like if we're trying to keep cinema alive this movie is doing a lot in favor of being like we should have movie theaters I'm I'm glad you mentioned sinners actually because I was thinking about how as a person who's really squeamish and like Steven pointed out last night that this is a really squelchy movie there's a lot of like I mean it's Frankenstein it's Frankenstein is a squelchy guy exactly I mean there's

definitely you know that aspect to it it's not lost on me that the movies that I have enjoyed the

“most recently are sinners and this movie which are different kinds of horror I think I'm gonna”

have to get tougher is what I learned because the people who are doing interesting things you know

the vehicle that I think right now like I always thought of science fiction is like the vehicle

that I prefer to talk about the world but I think I'm gonna have to get on board of the horror guys you know for me the sort of nihilism of saw and whatever and even scream and whatever like doesn't appeal to me I sure again I keep saying this but they're sort of tender and emotional and made me you know again like that emotional story really it felt like it was being presented to me in a newer way and this is I think we gotta look to the horror guys to the horror it is a kind of golden age of horror there's a lot of

bad stuff out there but the stuff that's good is phenomenal all right well we want to know what you think about the bride find us on facebook at facebook.com/pch and on letterbox at letterbox.com/nprpop culture we'll have a link in our episode description up next what's making us happy this week support for npr and the following message come from the william and flora hu lit foundation investing in creative thinkers and problem solvers who help people communities and the planet flourish

more information is available at hu lit.org now it's time for our favorite segment of this week and every week what's making us happy this week very hardyman I'm gonna start with you what's me can you happy this week so big news in the romanticy world Sarah jamas she's in the news she's on a rival podcast this week and call her daddy and she is talking about what's coming next and everybody is really excited about the latest installment of a court of thorns and roses but for my

money what I really want to recommend people is the throne of class series now people I know what you

“think about the first book in this series I think those things too you have to power through it you”

just do because a time will come in book three and four when you will stand up and roar because an event that is so seismic I am telling you I literally want to put the only tattoo I've ever really thought about getting is which killer it is such a fun and and really sort of emotional and again this is a particular kind of writing that is very plot-heavy and moves with a real you know a lacquerity you're you're definitely gonna fly through it which is why I say you know the writing

is not perfect in the first book but fly through it you can do it just get the characters and then

keep going because there's actually such a nice community of us on Reddit who are willing to talk with you and talk you through the first book and even talk you through the last two which you should read simultaneously download the joint project onto your Kindle I'm telling you it's great we are out here with open arms we can take you away from the news and anyway it's thrown a glass Sarah James. So you're saying slog through the pilot and I just say that's a piece of

a PCHH theme thank you Barry Hardiman Joelle Monique what's making you happy this week. I'm so glad that you brought this book because I also come to you with a book from T King Fisher. Yes, she's one of my favorite novelists she writes oh slow things really but under this pen name it's like romances dark fantasies like real adult books and what I really appreciate about them is a

lot of our characters are older than 30 what yourself and these romances amazing um I want to

recommend her book hemlock and silver which is a retelling of Snow White it doesn't come from so it's perspective which scares people off from the book but I promise you like trust her it's

what's going on with snow there's a talking cat there's a like sewing car this is really gentle

“beautiful romance it is such a lovely read if you're like deep in in the romance novels as I am”

and you're looking for something that's fresh and different um and delightful hemlock and silver really did it for me so check out and really all of her library hoesign hey I'm so glad all right thank you Joelle Monique Glen Weld and what's making you happy this week uh retirement plan is one

of the animated shorts up for an Oscar this year it's the first film by John Kelly and it's an

eroded by Donald Gleason and it's a minimalist in it's kind of narrative approach and also in its animation itself just a guy listing all the things he's finally going to do finally going to get around to once he retires and we see a version of him doing those things and we watch him age as he does those things and there's plenty of solid jokes I don't want to spoil but as it goes on you begin to suspect that what you're watching isn't actually him actually doing these things

it's what he hopes he will do and realistically probably won't so it sneaks up on you with

“not sadness but poignancy and not resignation but something like acceptance but then you remember”

that what you're watching hasn't actually happened yet and there's still a chance he could pull it out and actually do this you just run through an entire gamut of emotions in just seven minutes it's on the New Yorkers YouTube page because of course it is it's the one I'm going to be pulling for this year it's retirement plan nice thank you Glen Weld and so what is making me happy is a piece of lovely news for film historians the French filmmaker George Millies was a pioneer of

movie special effects and science fiction his film Attrib to the Moon from 1902 probably is best known work if you don't think you've seen it you've seen it you know the imagery Millies is a major character in the movie Hugo and the book on which it's based Millies made more than 500 short films

“most of which have been destroyed or lost and one of the most important films he made is a long”

lost short from 1897 called Guguce and the Atomitan it's about 45 seconds long and it features a

magician with what is believed to be the first ever screen depiction of a robot now a copy of the film

you can see where I'm going with this a copy this film was recently discovered in a stash donated to the library of Congress and now it's been rescued preserved and made available you can watch it online and see one of the earliest special effects ever captured on film and I am such a sucker for this kind of stuff seeing it archived and preserved getting a clearer picture of how film has evolved and just being reminded of how relatively recently this entire medium was invented so that is

Guguce and the Atomitan by George Millies you can find it online for about the outlay of time you would spend watching an Instagram reel and that is what is making me happy this week if you want links for what we recommended plus some more recommendations sign up for our newsletter at npr.org/popculture newsletter that brings us to the end of our show Joelle Monique Mary Hardyman Glenn Weldon thanks so much for being here. Thank you. Thanks for having me Steven. Thank you. This episode was produced by

Hafsafathema Liz Metzker Kayla Latamore and Mike Katzif an edited by our showrunner Jessica Reading. Hello come in provides our theme music. Thank you for listening to pop culture happy hour from npr. Steven Thompson and we will see you all next week. Support for npr and the following message come from the William and Flora Hewlett Foundation investing in creative thinkers and problem solvers who help people, communities and the planet

flourish. More information is available at Hewlett.org