★★★½ Watched 16 Jul 2019
What I can tell you about Mary Shelley is this:
The stepmother is a bitch, the sister is a liar, Percy is a cheating bastard, and Lord Byron is a dick. The only personal likable beside the Mary “Debby Downer” Shelley, is the doctor and that is just because he is a drummer in another life (Ben Hardy of Bohemian Rhapsody).
The story is about Mary Godwin (aka Mary Shelley) as a young aspiring Gothic writer. It follows her through the discovery of her romantic relationship with the struggling poet Percy Bysshe Shelley. As the film progresses, director Haifaa al-Mansour takes us on a journey where Mary leaves home to follow Percy and his exploits. We meet a lot of different characters along the way, each giving her fuel and inspiration for her writing, including poet Lord Byron. It is Byron that challenges the group to write a ghost story, which is where Mary begins the writing of Frankenstein.
Mary Shelley, the film, a very slow paced and takes quite a long time for her find herself. When the film does get interesting, it is toward the end of the film where she is trying to get her book published. During this time, women didn’t write horror. This is why the book was original published as anonymous in 1818. It wasn’t until two years later did the reprint credit her as the author.
There’s no feeling in the film. It felt forced and lacked a connection with anyone in the film, but biopics like this are always interesting.
