--- title: "The Bride!" year: 2026 kind: "film" canonical: "https://film.one/film/the-bride" fi1m_id: "the-bride" imdb_id: "tt30851137" tmdb_id: 1159831 wikidata_id: "Q124735657" fi1m_score: 57 critics_score: 59 critics_reviews: 18 published: "2026-09-09" updated: "2026-09-18T08:37:44.566948+00:00" region: "IT" licence: "© Fi1m Ltd. Written by AI under a human editor; checked against sources before publication. Quote with attribution and a link to the canonical URL." --- # The Bride! (2026) Directed by Maggie Gyllenhaal · 2h 07m · MiC 10+ · Science Fiction, Horror, Fantasy ## Identity The Bride! - **Canonical:** https://film.one/film/the-bride - **Type:** Film - **Fi1m ID:** the-bride - **IMDb ID:** tt30851137 - **TMDB ID:** 1159831 - **Wikidata ID:** Q124735657 - **Same entity:** https://www.imdb.com/title/tt30851137/, https://www.themoviedb.org/movie/1159831, https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q124735657 **Fi1m score: 57** · Critics 59 from 18 reviews *In a sentence:* Two hours of Jessie Buckley giving everything to a script that keeps changing its mind about what it wants from her > Maggie Gyllenhaal’s Frankenstein riff has a fearless lead performance from Jessie Buckley and no settled idea what to do with her. It is loud, handsome, thrilling in bursts, and rarely the same film for ten minutes together. ## Synopsis Maggie Gyllenhaal frames her retelling of the Frankenstein story with Mary Shelley herself (Jessie Buckley), then hands Buckley a second part. Frank (Christian Bale), the stitched-together man left over from the old tale, wants a companion. Dr. Euphronious (Annette Bening) agrees to build him one, and the raw material is Ida (Buckley again). Ida wakes with a new name, the Bride, and no intention of being anyone’s reward. What follows takes in chases, dance numbers and a good deal of blood, with Peter Sarsgaard, Penélope Cruz, Jake Gyllenhaal, John Magaro and Jeannie Berlin along the way. Gyllenhaal writes and directs; Hildur Guðnadóttir supplies the score. ## Review Maggie Gyllenhaal’s second film as director takes the one figure in the Frankenstein story who never got a say and gives her the whole picture. In James Whale’s *Bride of Frankenstein* (1935) the woman built to be a companion gets a few minutes, a hiss and a scream before the roof comes down. Gyllenhaal, who also wrote this, starts from that scream and asks what happens if the woman gets up, looks at the man she has been made for, and says no. It is a good idea. Whether it is a good film depends on which twenty minutes you happen to be watching. Jessie Buckley plays Ida, the Bride and Mary Shelley, and she plays all three as if she has been let out. When the Bride first gets to her feet she tests the floor before she trusts it, and Buckley finds a physical comedy in that, a woman learning a body from the outside in. Later she bites, she shouts, she dances, and for long stretches the film is simply her, with Christian Bale’s Frank a pace behind, sad-eyed and patient. Bale gives the monster a gentleness that keeps threatening to become the film’s real subject and never quite gets the chance. Together they are the reason to see it. It is an expensive, good-looking object. Lawrence Sher, who shot [*Joker*](https://film.one/film/joker) (2019), lights the laboratory in a low amber that turns the metal to bronze, and gives the chases a hard flat daylight in which nobody can hide. Karen Murphy’s production design is generous with brass, tile and rooms too large for the people in them, and Sandy Powell puts Buckley in clothes that begin as a shroud and get louder as she does. Hildur Guðnadóttir’s score is the engine, low brass and drums, mixed high and often better than the scene beneath it. When all these people pull the same way, as they do in the dance sequences, the film is properly alive. We should own what we felt. The first dance number, Buckley moving as if the body were a dress she had not yet decided to buy, made us laugh out loud, and then it kept going and we stopped laughing and found we were moved, because the film had let her be a person for a few minutes without explaining what she stood for. That is the film at its best. It happens perhaps three times in 127 minutes. The rest of the time the script is arguing with itself. Gyllenhaal has written a horror film, a road film, a musical, a love story and a lecture on how women have been muzzled on screen, and she has not chosen between them. The lecture wins more often than it should. Characters stop to say what the film means, and since we could already see what it meant, the effect is of being handed the programme notes halfway through the performance. Dylan Tichenor, who cut [*There Will Be Blood*](https://film.one/film/there-will-be-blood) (2007), is asked here to hold scenes past the point where they have made their case, and the middle hour lumbers. The supporting cast is starrier than the film knows what to do with. Peter Sarsgaard’s Jake Wiles has the air of a man delivering bad news he has not finished reading. Annette Bening’s Dr. Euphronious is brisk and funny in her scenes. Penélope Cruz, Jake Gyllenhaal, John Magaro and Jeannie Berlin each arrive with a look that promises a subplot, and most of the subplots are left where they were found. Berlin, as Greta, does more with a glance than the script manages with a speech. *The Lost Daughter* (2021), Gyllenhaal’s debut, was small, exact and disciplined about what it would not show. This is the opposite in every respect, and the ambition is to her credit. But Whale made his bride unforgettable in about three minutes; Gyllenhaal has two hours and leaves us less sure who hers is. The reviews so far are split down the middle, some calling it a riot and some a wreck, and both sides are describing the same film accurately. See it in a cinema if you see it at all; the noise and the colour are the point, and at home the mess will look like a mess and the dance numbers like a good music video. Bring patience for the speeches. It runs 127 minutes and carries a 15. *Fi1m score 57, published 9 September 2026.* ## What the critics say The reviews are split down the middle, and widely. Nine critics come out in favour, six against, with only three in between, which is about as wide a spread as we see. Most agree on the ambition: Maggie Gyllenhaal’s reimagining of the Frankenstein story is called bold, messy, punkish and unlike anything else in cinemas, and the ones who enjoy it enjoy the mess. Praise clusters on Jessie Buckley, whom most critics describe as feral, unhinged and the reason the film holds together, with Christian Bale’s chemistry with her mentioned often. Reservations cluster just as tightly: an incoherent script, subplots that crowd out the central story, and feminist messaging several find heavy-handed or dated. The dissent is sharpest on Buckley herself. The Times calls her performance catastrophically poor, The Hollywood Reporter finds it shouty and mannered, and Vulture thinks it exposes her as an actor with one trick. Digital Spy argues the film misreads Mary Shelley’s novel rather than honouring it. ## Straight answers **How long is The Bride!, and what is it rated?** *The Bride!* runs 2h 07m and is rated 10+ by the MiC in Italy. It is a science fiction and horror film. **Where can I watch The Bride! in Italy?** *The Bride!* is streaming on HBO Max and Amazon Prime Video in Italy, and it is also available to rent from Amazon Prime Video from €4.99. Availability is checked daily; the links above go straight to each service. **What should I watch after The Bride!?** After *The Bride!*, try [*Bride of Frankenstein*](https://film.one/film/bride-of-frankenstein) (1935, Fi1m 89): The three minutes Gyllenhaal is answering; Whale’s original still says more with a hiss. Then [*Poor Things*](https://film.one/film/poor-things) (2023, Fi1m 76): Another woman built by a man and refusing the job, with a firmer grip on its tone; and [*Titane*](https://film.one/film/titane) (2021, Fi1m 74): Ducournau’s body horror keeps its nerve where this one keeps stopping to explain. ### Reviews we read (26) - **Evening Standard**, India Block (85/100, inferred): Gyllenhaal delivers a ferocious, gory, high-energy retelling packed with female rage, musical numbers, chases and shocks that hits the cultural moment perfectly. Buckley gives a show-stopping, range-pushing lead performance in this wild, expensive spectacle. [Read](https://www.standard.co.uk/culture/film/the-bride-review-jessie-buckley-maggie-gyllenhaal-b1273251.html) - **The Guardian** (80/100, inferred): The critic finds the film a bizarre and enjoyable black comedy reimagining, with Maggie Gyllenhaal's direction indulging in homages and twists. Jessie Buckley's barnstorming, outrageous performance as the bride is singled out as the element that makes the spectacle work. [Read](https://www.theguardian.com/film/2026/mar/04/the-bride-review-jessie-buckley-christian-bale-frankenstein) - **Time Out**, Anna Smith (4/5): The critic hails Gyllenhaal's bold genre-blending feminist riff, praising Buckley's brilliantly unhinged lead performance and the film's visually exciting, funny, and thought-provoking qualities as a big-budget accessible success. [Read](https://www.timeout.com/movies/the-bride-review-2026) - **Screen Daily** (75/100, inferred): The critic describes Gyllenhaal's audacious take as a bold, brash and modern Prometheus that remains interesting even when messy and excessive, highlighting the meta conceit, strong cast chemistry and potent reinvention of the source material. [Read](https://www.screendaily.com/reviews/the-bride-review-jessie-buckley-and-christian-bale-spark-in-maggie-gyllenhaals-high-voltage-horror/5214520.article) - **The New York Times**, Manohla Dargis (70/100, inferred): The critic finds the film an energetic, handsome, and performer-driven time-shifting riff on Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein story that holds interest despite rough patches. They single out the magnetic lead performances and the director’s bold, genre-hopping approach for praise while noting issues with tonal and intellectual coherence. [Read](https://www.nytimes.com/2026/03/05/movies/the-bride-review.html) - **The Observer**, Wendy Ide (70/100, inferred): The critic describes the film as a messy but fascinating patchwork like the monster himself, a chaotic yet oddly beautiful collision of ideas. Jessie Buckley's immense, feral performance in the title role is singled out for making it viable and compelling. [Read](https://observer.co.uk/culture/film/article/the-bride-is-an-oddly-beautiful-collision-of-ideas) - **Radio Times**, Jeremy Aspinall (3/5): The critic finds the reimagining ambitious and stylish with strong performances, especially Buckley's mesmerising turn, but notes it fails to fully cohere as subplots and genre elements get in the way of the central story. [Read](https://www.radiotimes.com/movies/the-bride-review/) - **Variety**, Owen Gleiberman (50/100, inferred): The critic describes the film as a scrappy punk feminist take-off on the Frankenstein myth with audacity and strong lead performances but criticizes its lumbering pace and insufficient storytelling spine. They single out the magnetic chemistry between Buckley and Bale and the reimagining of perversity for praise while faulting the static rhythm and didactic elements. [Read](https://variety.com/2026/film/reviews/the-bride-review-jessie-buckley-christian-bale-1236677964/) - **Little White Lies**, Hannah Strong (3/2/2): The critic calls the film a misguided and incoherent misfire that prompts second-hand embarrassment, faulting its dated feminist gestures, continuity errors, and failure to deliver on its radical claims despite Buckley's energetic performance. [Read](https://lwlies.com/reviews/the-bride) - **The i Paper**, Francesca Steele (40/100, inferred): Buckley delivers another tremendous, shape-shifting performance full of life and wit, but the script is a rambling dud that piles on heavy-handed girlboss messaging and fails to cohere as one film. Gyllenhaal needed to pick one idea instead of trying to make multiple films at once. [Read](https://inews.co.uk/culture/film/jessie-buckley-better-bride-hollow-hollywood-feminism-4272809) - **The Telegraph**, Tim Robey (40/100, inferred): The critic calls it a kinky, shallow and confused mess that wastes Buckley’s talents despite her wildly arresting performance. The lack of a decent story for the anti-heroine and overall shallowness at the core are singled out for complaint. [Read](https://www.telegraph.co.uk/films/2026/03/04/the-bride-review/) - **Vulture** (30/100, inferred): A huge swing of enormous ambition that is also an incoherent disaster, with a confounding opening and a performance by Buckley that makes her look like an actor with only one weird trick. Its feminism is vague and mild-mannered underneath the posturing. [Read](https://www.vulture.com/article/review-the-bride-is-more-pussy-hat-than-punk-rock.html) - **Empire**, Leila Latif (20/100, inferred): The film is a chaotic, incoherent mash-up of genres that fails to cohere despite flashes of visual flair and strong performances. It is a crushing disappointment from Gyllenhaal that obscures her earlier strengths. [Read](https://www.empireonline.com/movies/reviews/the-bride-review/) - **Financial Times**, Danny Leigh (★★★★☆): The critic calls it an unruly blast and weirdly marvellous ode to the unruly, careening through homages and a feminist twist. Gyllenhaal’s visuals and Buckley’s fantastic performance are singled out for praise. [Read](https://www.ft.com/content/34e68f63-6c24-4e1a-8ca0-f6082f8c3802) - **IndieWire**, Ryan Lattanzio: An ambitious feminist opera that feels unintentionally tailored to align with neighboring DC properties, with Jessie Buckley's anguished scream of a performance unable to sustain it. The film is a wokified, Joker-fied folie-à-deux zonked on its own rage. [Read](https://www.indiewire.com/criticism/movies/the-bride-review-maggie-gyllenhaal-1235182464/) - **Slant Magazine**, Justin Clark: A messy punk tale and shotgun blast of a movie that gives Mary Shelley her due through a roaring, feral expression of repressed female thought and emotion, with fealty to the protagonist's defiant emotions rather than gothic horror conventions. [Read](https://www.slantmagazine.com/film/the-bride-review-jessie-buckley-christian-bale-maggie-gyllenhaal/) - **The Hollywood Reporter**, David Rooney: The film is an over-conceptualized and over-intellectualized feminist Frankenstein spin that becomes a joyless slog, with a shouty, mannered central performance by Buckley that mutes any power. It earns credit for ambition and stylish visuals but is best left at the altar. [Read](https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/movies/movie-reviews/the-bride-review-jessie-buckley-maggie-gyllenhaal-1236519880/) - **The Times** (★☆☆☆☆): The critic deems it a howling misfire and flashy, incoherent Frankenstein reboot that abandons artistic integrity. Jessie Buckley’s central performance is singled out as catastrophically poor and ill-judged. [Read](https://www.thetimes.com/culture/film/article/the-bride-review-jessie-buckley-djd8v337b) - **Collider**, Therese Lacson (8/10): The critic finds the film a wild, irreverent, and unique adaptation that overflows with chaotic energy and benefits from strong lead performances. The feminist message is sometimes heavy-handed and lacks nuance. [Read](https://collider.com/the-bride-review-christian-bale-jessie-buckley-frankenstein/) - **/Film**, Chris Evangelista (8/10): The critic finds the film an extremely messy but inventive and unhinged delight that mixes genres in an irreverent way. They single out its audacious, meta approach to the Frankenstein story and willingness to take big swings. [Read](https://www.slashfilm.com/2115708/the-bride-2026-movie-review/) - **NME**, James Mottram (80/100, inferred): The critic calls it a messy-if-inventive meta feminist monster movie and scrappy, rebellious, arty cousin to Guillermo del Toro’s take, praising its unique singular quality, thought-provoking re-assessment of Shelley, bonkers feminist call-to-arms, raucous score, and standout dance sequences amid scattershot elements. They note it is wilder and weirder than Gyllenhaal’s prior work. [Read](https://www.nme.com/reviews/film-reviews/the-bride-review-maggie-gyllenhaal-jessie-buckley-christian-bale-3932728) - **The Ringer**, Adam Nayman (55/100, inferred): Gyllenhaal's ambitious, genre-bending take on the material is the strangest big-studio release of the year and rewards with its eccentricity and refusal to ingratiate. The film lacks coherence and pushes its allegory too bluntly at times. [Read](https://www.theringer.com/2026/03/06/movies/the-bride-movie-review-maggie-gyllenhaal-jessie-buckley) - **Digital Spy**, Clarisse Loughrey (40/100, inferred): The critic finds the premise fun as a response to the 1935 film and meditation on muzzled women in cinema but argues the divisive movie fails to follow through on its bold claims, instead throwing Mary Shelley under the bus by misrepresenting her novel and underestimating its depth and empathy. They see it as only half-understanding the source material while presenting female rebellion in a shallow way. [Read](https://www.digitalspy.com/movies/a70623958/the-bride-mary-shelley-frankenstein/) - **Deadline**, Pete Hammond: Gyllenhaal reinvents the Frankenstein story as an original, punkish monster mashup and love story with big ideas and a worthy feminist bent, handled on a grand scale after her smaller debut. Buckley gives a sensational, fearless generational performance as the title character who finds her own voice, with strong support from Bale as a soulful monster and the rest of the cast. [Read](https://deadline.com/2026/03/the-bride-maggie-gyllenhaal-jessie-buckley-christian-bale-1236743069/) - **Den of Geek**, David Crow (2 out of 5): The critic views the film as a chaotic, messy but boldly ambitious Frankenstein riff stitched together from wild ideas and influences, with strong, watchable central performances from Jessie Buckley and Christian Bale that anchor the proceedings. They appreciate its daring swing and wacky beauty despite numerous stumbles and a sense that it amounts to less than the sum of its parts. [Read](https://www.denofgeek.com/movies/the-bride-review-beautiful-abomination-frankenstein/) - **The Wrap**: The critic calls the film a glorious, invigorating pastiche that rights wrongs in prior Frankenstein adaptations by centering Mary Shelley's feminist perspectives. Buckley delivers a nuanced yet rampantly invigorating lead performance that anchors the monstrous masterwork, especially in its phantasmagoric first half. [Read](https://www.thewrap.com/creative-content/movies/the-bride-review-jessie-buckley-christian-bale-maggie-gyllenhaal/) ## Details - **Director:** Maggie Gyllenhaal - **Director:** Maggie Gyllenhaal - **Writer:** Maggie Gyllenhaal - **Cinematography:** Lawrence Sher - **Editor:** Dylan Tichenor - **Music:** Hildur Guðnadóttir - **Production design:** Karen Murphy - **Costume design:** Sandy Powell - **Producer:** Emma Tillinger Koskoff, Talia Kleinhendler, Maggie Gyllenhaal - **Cast:** Jessie Buckley as Ida / The Bride / Mary Shelley; Christian Bale as Frank; Peter Sarsgaard as Jake Wiles; John Magaro as Clyde; Jeannie Berlin as Greta; Annette Bening as Dr. Euphronious; Jake Gyllenhaal as Ronnie Reed; Penélope Cruz as Myrna Malloy - **Runtime:** 2h 07m - **Certificate (MiC):** 10+ - **Release (Italy):** 5 March 2026 - **Genres:** Science Fiction, Horror, Fantasy - **Budget:** $80 million - **Box office:** $24 million - **Trailer:** https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-oLJmEFK14k ## Where to watch in Italy - HBO Max: streaming, uhd - Amazon Prime Video: add-on, uhd - Amazon Prime Video: rent €4.99, uhd - Amazon Prime Video: buy €11.99, uhd *Checked 2026-09-10.* Also available in: AR, AT, AU, BE, BG, BR, CA, CH, CL, CO, CZ, DE, DK, EC, EE, ES, FI, FR, GB, HK, HR, HU, ID, IE, IL, IN, IS, IT, JP, LT, MX, MY, NL, NO, NZ, PA, PE, PH, PL, PT, RO, RS, SE, SG, SI, TH, UA, US. Add `?region=XX` to this URL for another country. ## If you liked this - *Bride of Frankenstein* (1935), Fi1m 89: The three minutes Gyllenhaal is answering; Whale’s original still says more with a hiss. — [Fi1m page](https://film.one/film/bride-of-frankenstein.md) - *Poor Things* (2023), Fi1m 76: Another woman built by a man and refusing the job, with a firmer grip on its tone. — [Fi1m page](https://film.one/film/poor-things.md) - *Titane* (2021), Fi1m 74: Ducournau’s body horror keeps its nerve where this one keeps stopping to explain. — [Fi1m page](https://film.one/film/titane.md) - *The Lost Daughter* (2021), Fi1m 84: Gyllenhaal’s quiet, exact debut, to see what she can do when she chooses. — [Fi1m page](https://film.one/film/the-lost-daughter.md) - *Gods and Monsters* (1998), Fi1m 82: Ian McKellen as James Whale at the end; the story behind the story being retold here. — [Fi1m page](https://film.one/film/gods-and-monsters.md) --- © Fi1m Ltd. Written by AI under a human editor; checked against sources before publication. Quote with attribution and a link to the canonical URL. Canonical: https://film.one/film/the-bride