Mary Shelley
Director: Haifaa al-Mansour
Talent: Elle Fanning, Douglas Booth, Bel Powley, Stephen Dilane and Tom Sturridge
Released: 6 July
Sandwiched somewhat uncomfortably between her stunning 2012 breakthrough Wadjda and next year’s Nappily Ever After comes Haifaa al-Mansour’s resolutely doom-laden slab of 19th Century romanticism.
Mary Shelley covers a three-year time span from 1813-1815, a tumultuous period for all involved, that not only saw the speedy development of Mary’s love affair with the married poet Percy Bysshe Shelley, but also the birth and death of her child, the trysts and sorrows of her stepsister with Lord Byron, and the sowing and reaping of Frankenstein’s monster. And yet, despite condensing the affairs and mischief of many into a hefty two hours – which is no mean feat – Mary Shelley somehow still manages to escape being entirely convincing and ends up bogged down by a resounding dullness.
Despite fine performances from both Fanning and Booth as the protagonists (the former really begins to enjoy her role in spectacular fashion throughout the later scenes) perhaps nothing could have elevated this story above the vacuous representation of such loathsome yet legendary figures.
They say never meet your heroes: well here you are, warts and all. And so, we’re placed between much spouting of angry verse about the vestiges of the world at large — to which I’m in no doubt they had very little first-hand knowledge ohttp://www.totallydublin.ie/wp-admin/post-new.phpf — and obnoxious rich kid antics, all of which immediately brought the empty vessels of Brett Easton Ellis’ works and TV show Gossip Girl to mind.
The young cast acquaints itself as best they can, but when the characters and plot are little more than irritating shitty people doing shitty things to each other, the two-hour playing time really begins to drag. With so much history involved and so many possibilities and angles to come from, this feels like a missed opportunity.
Words: Shane O’Reilly
