The first time I watched Guillermo del Toro’s artistic interpretation of Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein was in my first weeks of university. I was alone and anxious about my new surroundings. However, del Toro’s fantastical masterpiece took away my anxieties and brought me to tears, which films rarely do. I studied Shelley’s gothic novel at school, yet I found it hard to understand. But now, as a university student who studies media and has an interest in film, I have grown to love the novel, and the film has become my favourite; I’ve easily watched it over 15 times.
I really enjoyed Jacob Elordi’s performance as the Creature; it was effective how he was presented as an innocent being traversing a cruel world. However, Victor states, ‘In seeking life, I created death.’ Admitting all his work is the main reason for death and anguish in the film. Del Toro’s film goes into heavy detail on generational pain, fathers being disappointed in their abnormal sons. Victor’s father neglected him as soon as he killed his mother, and this is a pain that he carries through the entire film. He constantly wears his mother’s red gloves to symbolise his grief and the guilty blood on his hands from the death he has brought upon others. Victor was a failed son, and he then becomes an indifferent father to the Creature, who becomes the failed creation. Family bonds are enhanced through the Chinese box narrative of the film: we see Victor’s side of events, but we eventually see the Creature's story, which portrays the truth. Victor is an unreliable narrator, and he blames the Creature for his misdeeds and chaos. As he starts his story, he states, ‘some of what I will tell you is fact, some is not, but it is all true’. Audiences are left to wonder if there really is a monster and if Victor's story is true.
To this day, I believe that Jacob Elordi should have won the Oscar for Best Supporting Actor for the 2026 Academy Awards. He portrays the Creature with an innocent mind as he traverses through a cruel world. The Creature is an alchemical jigsaw who can regenerate health and carries the curse of immortality. This could be a reference to the Christian curse because all Christians are cursed from Adam and Eve as Eve ate the forbidden fruit in Eden. The Creature lacks this curse because he was born without a mother, making him a pure being, God’s ideal image. Without a mother, the Creature was missing a maternal figure and lived with the torment from Victor without reassurance. The innuendo from this historical context is why del Toro’s film is so incredible. The implications in this movie all relate to greater topics such as religion and science. All creative depictions were thoroughly thought out for audiences to recognise through multiple rewatches.
As the Creature tells his story, he acts gently first, showing that he does have human tendencies, proving he is capable of being loved. The Creature’s character arc is widely considered the better part of the film, as it goes into detail on him learning about the natural world as he learns of human culture. He learns how to overcome his broken past, whereas Victor chooses to dwell and stay in it. I found it remarkably interesting to see how the Creature and Victor mirror each other. The two characters shift roles from the hero to the anti-hero when the full story is told. They may look different, but they both have similar wants and needs, as they desire to be loved and to have connections. At the end of their journey, they can ‘both be human’ (The Creature), no matter what.
The ending is uniquely beautiful, and it is the part that draws me to tears. As both parts of the story have been told, Victor comes to understand how he’s caused all the destruction while the Creature has developed. In his ultimate moments, Victor asks for his son’s forgiveness; he feels regret for his crude nature. The Creature accepts his father's apologies, and the two embrace each other just like when the Creature was born. After Victor dies, the Creature walks off into the sunset alone; he is broken but is willing to live on and accept life. The last time he watched the sun was while it was rising with his creator as he learnt what light was. Now, being free from rage and hate, he can live however he wants to. He sheds a tear of hope and embraces life as a human being. After all, ‘the heart will break. Yet brokenly live on.’ (Lord Byron).
