- Jessie Buckley delivers a breathtaking performance as the bold and uncontainable Bride.
- Director Maggie Gyllenhaal stitches together horror, romance, musical, and noir into one.
- Christian Bale brings unexpected vulnerability and warmth to Frankenstein’s lonely monster.
- The film is set in 1930s Chicago and packed with homages to classic Hollywood cinema.
Some films arrive fully formed, polished to perfection, and immediately beloved. And then there are films like The Bride!, Maggie Gyllenhaal’s gloriously unruly second feature, that arrive like a lightning bolt through a laboratory window, chaotic, electrifying, impossible to look away from, and slightly dangerous to touch. It could be described as Dick Tracy meets David Lynch meets Andy Warhol meets The Rocky Horror Picture Show with a Bonnie and Clyde spin, and that sentence is both completely accurate and still somehow undersells the sheer ambition of what Gyllenhaal has attempted here. The Bride! is currently in UAE cinemas and it is genuinely unlike anything else on the schedule right now.
Set in 1930s Chicago, the story follows a lonely Frankenstein who travels to ask groundbreaking scientist Dr. Euphronious to create a companion for him. Together they revive a murdered young woman, and The Bride is born. But what ensues is beyond what either of them imagined. Jessie Buckley plays The Bride, a woman resurrected without consent, carrying the memories and rage of multiple identities simultaneously, including the murdered Ida and the spirit of Mary Shelley herself. Buckley knows a thing or two about fierce women who refuse to fit into a mold, and in The Bride! she brings all of that hard-won skill to a role that demands everything she has, delivering a performance that is raw, funny, overwhelming, and genuinely unforgettable in equal measure. She is the undisputed centre of every scene she occupies.
Christian Bale, playing Frank closer to Boris Karloff’s iconic monster with a square forehead, kindly reluctant eyes, and a soft gentle presence, brings remarkable vulnerability to what could have been a thankless role, and his dynamic with Buckley gives the film an unexpected emotional warmth that sneaks up on you completely. The supporting cast, which includes Annette Bening as the brilliantly eccentric Dr. Euphronious, Penélope Cruz as a sharp detective who does all the work but gets none of the credit, and Jake Gyllenhaal as a scene-stealing song-and-dance man obsessed with by Frank, is one of the finest assembled ensembles of the year. There are so many nods to Hollywood classics, both from the Frankenstein universe and otherwise, while also remaining focused on a very contemporary story about agency, identity, and what happens when a woman who has been silenced for too long finally gets to speak.
Is it perfect? Not even close. The film is impossible to leave indifferent. It may be imperfect, but its boldness and performances ensure it will be remembered, and perhaps that is its greatest victory. Some of the musical numbers divide opinion sharply. The wordiness of certain scenes works against the film’s momentum. It’s a brave, vital, and risky work that is worth seeing on the big screen, and the operative phrase there is big screen. Hildur Gudnadóttir’s score is extraordinary. The production design is spectacular. And the film’s central argument, that a woman created to serve someone else’s needs might have rather a lot to say once she finds her voice, lands with real force and genuine wit throughout.
The Bride! is in UAE cinemas now. Go in with an open mind, embrace the organised chaos, and let Jessie Buckley do the rest. She is extraordinary.
Director: Maggie Gyllenhaal
Writer: Maggie Gyllenhaal
Starring: Jessie Buckley, Christian Bale, Annette Bening, Penélope Cruz, Peter Sarsgaard, Jake Gyllenhaal, John Magaro, Julianne Hough
Release Date: March 6, 2026
