Movie of the Week: Frankenstein

[jacey]

Not quite a movie, this is the filmed-as-live National Theatre production of Frankenstein starring Johnny Lee Miller and Benedict Cumberbatch. The two actors swop roles on a turn and turn about basis and though the advertising said the version we were going to see was Johnny Lee Miller as the Monster and Benedict Cumberbatch as Frankenstein we actually got it the other way round. And what a brilliant Monster Cumberbatch makes. First of all the makeup is excellent both from a distance and close-up, and Cumberbatch's physicallity is jaw dropping.

The stage opens on the birth of the Monster. He falls from his artificial womb, ill-formed, (mostly) naked and unable to do even the most basic things, such as control his limbs. He is, in effect, a full grown newborn baby and must learn to stand and then to walk. This first sequence seems to last forever, the audience thoroughly entranced by the Monster's rolling and jerking as he tries to control his own motor functions. It's an endurance feat of physical acting beautifully realised... and then all of a sufdden it's over. Rejected by his creator the Monster runs into the forest and  finds refuge with a blind professor. Thus begins his education. This Monster has a voice and intellect, a quick mind and insight into his own state. And that's the key to his own tragedy and the tragedy he brings on the house of his creator.

You're probably familiar with the story so I won't go into detail. The Monster and Frankenstein are locked in a cycle of mutual destruction and the story plays out excellently.

Watching a stage play on the big screen I was struck by the difference between cinema and theatre - even theatre which has been filmed. The stage setting is minimal, but hugely effective, with a revolving stage and a swathe of lighting created with hundreds of individual light bulbs dangling like the arm of the Milky Way. I'd love to see this at the theatre, but I do feel as though I've seen the next best thing, bearing in mind I'm unlikely to travel to London. I'll certainly be looking to see other National Theatre cinematic productions.

There's a short clip here:
http://www.nationaltheatre.org.uk/ntlive

Comments

[charlieallery.livejournal.com]

Yup, I saw this version in Yeovil at Cineworld last year as a live performance and it was stunning. I'd booked for two more of the National Theatre screenings this year with a friend but she's had to go and see them by herself. Unfortunately evenings are harder to arrange than daytime. But the feeling of watching the actual performance live, even through the multiple camera angles comes across very well - including the piped through audience noise before the play started.

[birdsedge.livejournal.com]

Yes, getting the genuine audience noise (rather than canned laughter) was one of the factors which made you feel as though you were 'there'. I'll be very happy to try out more NT Live productions. At £8 a ticket it's a bargain.