A visual feast at the very least: Guillermo del Toro’s Frankenstein might be unmemorable in terms of its plotting, but there’s no denying its striking look. At the Oscars on Sunday, the departments that ensured that del Toro’s version of the Mary Shelley novel didn’t go unnoticed were richly rewarded.
Among the Oscars won by the Netflix release was for Kate Hawley’s costume design. Hawley’s magnificent costumes reflect the story’s period setting as well as project the screenplay’s themes. She received her award from Vogue editor Anna Wintour and Anne Hathaway, a not-so-subtle plug for the upcoming The Devil Wears Prada 2.
The finest costumes are worn by Mia Goth, who plays (with the aid of prosthetics) Claire, the mother of the inventor Victor Frankenstein (Oscar Isaac). The heavily pregnant Claire’s blood-red gown with a veil that flows like water is a forewarning of her death during childbirth.
Victor is devoted to his mother. Her untimely death drives his interest in playing God. Red and its associated shades dominate the film’s visual palette, showing up in Victor’s gloves, cape and bedsheets.
Mia Goth also plays Elizabeth, who is engaged to Victor’s brother. Elizabeth rebuffs Victor’s advances but develops a strange interest in the corpse that Victor is going to reanimate. Elizabeth’s otherworldliness is communicated through her vivid costumes – in this dark tale of rogue science, she is like an iridescent beetle, a sign of light and enlightenment.
Del Toro’s monster movies peddle the idea of beautiful, intelligent women falling for ugly, misshapen beasts. In Frankenstein too, Elizabeth isn’t repelled by the Creature (Jacob Elordi), instead showing empathy and tenderness.
She opposes Victor’s harsh treatment of the Creature and teaches the result of a forbidden experiment to say her name. If Victor is associated with red, Elizabeth is mostly represented by shades associated with green, the colour of nature, newness and calm.
There is further foreshadowing in Elisabeth’s ivory-coloured wedding gown. The sleeves are like bandages, resembling the ones that bound the Creature when he came into the world.
As Victor’s personality changes, his costumes change too. He’s initially quite the dandy, especially when he’s around Elizabeth. He starts neglecting his appearance around the time he creates his monster, never to recover. His dishevelled appearance reveals his obsessiveness and paranoia.
The Creature is clad in whatever is handy. Just as he has been cobbled together from various body parts, his clothes too are borrowed from here and there. The fur cloak he wears by the end of the film is touched with shades of blood, but it also catches the colour of the sun that will take him towards a new dawn.
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