If you are anything like me, then you’ve also been obsessed with Mia Goth and Jacob Elordi’s performances in Guillermo del Toro’s new Frankenstein. Not only were the costumes for this film absolutely perfect, but the casting was incredible. I honestly could not have thought of a better person to play Elizabeth than Mia Goth; she just embodies the role so well and it’s hard to see anyone else in her place. It is the same with Jacob Elordi; no one else has the looks and height that he has — they were perfectly cast.Â
Now, whenever I watch a book to movie adaptation, I find myself always comparing the two — I simply cannot help it! There are differences in the film and I have to say that these differences really did not bother me. What is the most noticeable change from the classic Mary Shelly version to the Guillermo del Toro version is the relationship between Elizabeth and the Creature. In the novel, Elizabeth does not have a relationship with the Creature in any capacity. In the novel, she actually dies by his hands, literally. He strangles her on the day of her and Victor Frankenstein’s wedding to hurt Victor — she becomes a pawn in their game.
In the film, however, they have a completely different relationship. A “sad beautiful tragic love affair,” to quote Taylor Swift. Their first meeting is so pure and innocent. Elizabeth is the second person that the Creature has ever seen and he admires her with this childlike sense of wonder. He is drawn to her because of her goodness and she is drawn to him because she sees understanding in him. She does not shy away from him even if his looks are disarming like the others do. We know that at the beginning that the Creature only learns words said kindly, and he learns to say Elizabeth’s name because she said it calmly and that means everything to him. One of my personal favorite parts of the film is when he gives Elizabeth a leaf; it is so simple yet holds so much meaning. The Creature only had a leaf and in giving it to her, he gave her everything he had. She holds on to it too, keeping it in a book, which is just so heartbreakingly beautiful.Â
When the Creature shows up at Elizabeth’s wedding, she runs to him, and hugs him. An act so full of love that the only way to make the moment hurt more was for Victor to try and shoot the Creature. But he ended up shooting her, because she threw herself in front of the bullet to protect him. After she is shot, the Creature lashes out because he is hurt, because the woman he loves is in pain. Elizabeth asking the Creature to take her with him when he leaves the house shows just how much she wishes to be with someone who understands her. And if the end of their tale could not be any more devastating, as Elizabeth lays dying under the Creatures gaze she whispers,
“My place was never in this world. I sought and longed for something I could not quite name. But in you I found it. To be lost and to be found. That is the lifespan of love and in its brevity, its tragedy.”
I was in tears.