Last weekend I went to watch Mary Shelley, the film that tells her story with Percy Bysshe Shelley and how this relationship inspired her to write Frankenstein or the modern Prometheus.
The original title was A storm in the stars, but it was changed in January 2017. The film, directed by Haifaa al-Mansour, is based on an original screenplay written by Emma Jensen. The filming locations were settled first in Ireland and then in Luxembourg.
It’s important to say that the director, Haifaa al-Mansour, is the first female Saudi filmmaker.
The Cast
- Elle Fanning as Mary Shelley
- Douglas Booth as Percy Bysshe Shelley
- Tom Sturridge as Lord Byron
- Bel Powley as Claire Clairmont
- Stephen Dillane as William Godwin
- Ben Hardy as John William Polidori
- Maisie Williams as Isabel Baxter
- Joanne Froggatt as Mary Jane Clairmont
The Film and Frankenstein
Even if at first sight it seems that the focus of the film is the relationship between Mary and Shelley (how they met and fell in love), the real focus is in the creation of her most important/famous book: Frankenstein.
This relationship was very important to Mary, not only because Shelley was her first love, but because all the problems and lost this relationship brought to her life were what inspired her to write Frankenstein.
Many people talk about Frankenstein as a book of terror/horror story, but to me it never was. Actually, is a book about loneliness and abandon, in which we empathised with the “monster” in instead of feel afraid of him. It’s great book and I love how in the film they highlighted this side of the story.
But what I liked the most in the film is that it shows us the problems a young woman writer had to face to see her work published and be recognised as the true creator. I highly recommend it!
Here it is the official trailer of the film:
References:
- Film: Mary Shelley.
- Book: Shelley, M. Frankestein or the modern Prometheus.
Women'n Art 
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