COMPULSORY FILM FILE CARD Name: Ilaria Cocino

Film Title: Mary Shelley Year: 2017

Director: Haifaa al-Mansour Country: USA, United Kingdom
Main cast: Elle Fanning, Douglas Booth, Tom Sturridge, Bel Powley, Stephen Dillane,
Ben Hardy, Maisie Williams, Joanne Froggart, Hugh O’Conor
Before Watching:
What topics did you think the film would deal with?
I think it will talk about Mary Shelley’s life, since the title of the film takes her name. I
know some members of the cast, so I suppose it will be a very interesting film. I also
believe that it will focus on women’s condition at her times.

While Watching:
Write down ten words or expressions used in the film that were new to you and
provide a synonym for them:
1. “Sinking his talons”: ready to fight 6. “With my fist”: ready to fight
metaphorically physically

2. “All of the contradictions she 7. “A fearful blow”: a very strong shot

embodied”: a person with a complex
personality, full of contradictions
3. “Someone to reach out”: to contact 8. “I am under no illusions about your
somebody situation”: to be aware of a fact, trying
not to change it in a too positive way
4. “Return your embrace”: to repay 9. “To abandon my claim”: to renounce
somebody for a good action to a protest you believed in

5. “My cloak of disappointment”: to be 10. “It seeks the touch of its creator”:
very disappointed, but trying to hide it you can easily understand who created
something
After Watching:
How would you rate the film?
Is there any scene or dialogue line that you particularly liked/disliked? Describe:
I really appreciated the dialogue between Lord Byron, Mary Shelley and Percy Shelley
talking about the relationship between literature and women, since a woman can’t
have the same freedom given to men while writing. A woman can’t be as good as a
man, as the two men say, and I think Lord Byron’s idea of writing horror stories is
what makes Mary believe that she can beat them and demonstrate her value not only
to them, but to everybody.

I also liked the scene in which there is a quarrel between Mary and Percy, because he
understands the power of that woman, and he does not want to be an obstacle to her
will of writing anymore. He knows he has some faults, and he does not hide them,
while at the beginning he always believed he was right and she was wrong about
everything, especially literature.

How does the film relate Mary Shelley’s life to her creation of Frankenstein?
Watching the film, we sees she had her ideas to write her masterpiece thanks to Lord
Byron; in fact, during a rainy day, he has a fabulous idea: they all have to write a
horror story to pass their time, since the weather is very bad, and they will gather
later to read all of them. She also writes because she wants to demonstrate that not
only men can be good authors.
The main ideas are linked to some shows she previously saw, and to Polidori, a boy
she meets while she has to write her story: she saw that some frogs were able to
come back to life after death thanks to electricity, that’s why her monster can become
a real creature.

Do you think the film may resonate with contemporary audiences? Why? What
contemporary issues does it tackle?
I think that most of the people could appreciate the film; in my opinion, it is a
different view of the society of the period she lived in, because she is not the classic
woman that has to be saved by a man: she is able to survive without any help, she is a
true woman.
Looking at our lives, it has to do with the situation of women in certain states of the
world, where they don’t have the same rights as men, and she can be considered a
pioneer of women’s fighting to obtain men’s rights. Considering some states
belonging to Asia, women are not allowed to do certain things, and they are trying to
be as important as them.

What changes would you make to the film?

I appreciated almost everything, so I find it difficult to say what I would change.
If I had to change something, I would probably cut some scenes describing her falling
in love with Percy and I would focus more on her creation of the creature in the book.