Das Verhängnis des Doktor Frankenstein (2018)

Das Verhängnis des Doktor Frankenstein: Directed by Jean Froment. With Jean-Claude Carrière, Béatrice Chéramy, Christopher Frayling, Gwyneth Jones. In 1818, Mary Shelley wrote her masterpiece. Ever since, the Creature has become a cultural icon. Delve into Shelley’s novel and experience its raw, extraordinary energy spun around the central theme of man’s quest for the secret of Life.

“This was shown on Turner Classic Movies during October in celebration of the 200th anniversary of the novel. There were a series of weird avantgarde promos that TCM showed prior to the documentary with some guy who ultimately had nothing to do with the film droning on and on about painting his vision of Frankensteinu0026#39;s monster that made me wonder what I was getting into, but the documentary turned out to be quite enjoyable and thorough at just under an hour running time.u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eIt was a well put together piece on the novel, how it presaged some scientific developments and probably drew from others of the time, and ultimately how the novel might have been joined to the psyche of its author Mary Shelley. She was disowned by her father when she married, yet she dedicated the book to him, for example. Was she saying that Frankensteinu0026#39;s creature, abandoned by his creator when he didnu0026#39;t turn out as intended, was a metaphor for her relationship with her father? Maybe.u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eThere were bits and pieces of the Frankenstein films, particularly the first two from Universal, u0026quot;Frankensteinu0026quot; and u0026quot;Bride of Frankensteinu0026quot;, but mainly this was an examination of a literary work. I like how they worked in commentary from an expert in plastic surgery. I wasnu0026#39;t expecting that. There were also tales of other u0026quot;mad scientistsu0026quot; – one who actually got so caught up in the idea of salvaging body parts that he transplanted one monkeyu0026#39;s head to the body of another monkey. There were a bunch of protesters who did not share his enthusiasm.u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eI did have one u0026quot;what the??u0026quot; moment though. When the documentary is talking about Mary Shelley feeling like she had some kind of out of body experience the night that she conceived the idea behind u0026quot;Frankensteinu0026quot;, one of the images put up on the screen, though only for a few seconds, appeared to be that of 1930s MGM actress Karen Morley. Maybe because this was largely made in other countries, the filmmakers did not think anybody would notice, but I couldnu0026#39;t help wondering what Miss Morley had to do with the tale of Frankenstein.u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eI would recommend it as a detailed documentary on the literary work that manages to not overstay its welcome by being too long.”