Let’s talk about the camera in Kenneth Branagh’s Frankenstein. It’s a film that erroneously calls itself Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein, as though it’s somehow representative of the original novel. This is the same mistake that happened with Francis Ford Coppola’s Bram Stoker’s Dracula. It’s not the only parallel mistake, as Branagh also abbreviates, eroticizes, and camps up his Gothic tale into a kaleidoscopic fever-dream. The only key difference between these two supremely stupid films is that Coppola’s a born filmmaker, while Branagh is not.
So let’s talk about the camera. More specifically, let’s talk about camera movement. Because, good Lord, every damned scene in Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein is packed with camera movement. The camera whips past actors and swings back around to them. It tracks from one edge of the set to the other, slides in between the actors. It does everything except use that movement towards a specific purpose. In short, it looks like Branagh gave the steadicam operator a pound of cocaine and shouted, “Make art!”
Here’s what I’m talking about. Late in the film, Victor (Kenneth Branagh) tries to convince Elizabeth (the eternally-period-piecey Helena Bonham Carter) to let him have another month to study.
I’ll ignore the fact that the scene immediately preceding had Elizabeth following Victor into the house, and now Victor’s suddenly following Elizabeth.
The shot begins with the two walking into Frankenstein’s Xanadu-like mansion, but we can’t take in too much, because the narrow focus stays on Elizabeth, who rants about Victor’s selfishness and broken promises. The camera holds back when she swings around, furious (pic 1, bottom left), then tracks around her 270 degrees, until they’re back to walking in the exact same direction they were going earlier. The only difference being that Elizabeth’s now on the right instead of the left (pic 2, top left).
Now, to be fair, the scene’s focus is Elizabeth’s fury, rather than Victor’s pleas for more time alone, so there’s some logic to Victor staying either out of focus or out of the frame altogether. Additionally, I kinda like how it ends with Elizabeth claiming moral superiority while standing above Victor literally, on a staircase. However, this entire scene could’ve been done with just one rotation of the camera (when they reach the staircase), or it could have followed them parallel, so that they could be in the same frame, in profile, allowing the focus to be on their argument. As with any scene in film, there are hundreds of ways to shoot, and each way carries its own implications.
If this method of filmmaking happened only during moments of huge dramatic tension, then it might have some logic to it (with the frenetic tracking shots mimicking the frenetic emotions). I wouldn’t love it, but I would at least understand the choice. But it happens all the damned time! It happens when Victor’s mother gives birth. It happens when Victor and Elizabeth dance. It happens when Victor meets Clerval. It happens when the Monster is assaulted in a town square. It happens when Victor and Elizabeth and Clerval talk in an attic, while movers take out boxes of equipment.
Which suggests that Branagh doesn’t have any ulterior motive or method or goal with such a technique. Maybe he thought it was “interesting” or “dynamic.” Maybe he wanted to purposefully heighten the camp factor of his adaptation by calling attention to the camerwork. Maybe he left the camera department and the director of photography to their own devices. Whatever the reason, this decision cripples Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein, the over-energetic camera ironically leaving it as lifeless and artificial as one of Victor’s experiments.
RATING: D
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