MARY SHELLEY (2018)

The love affair between poet Percy Shelley and 18-year-old Mary Wollstonecraft Godwin, which resulted in Mary Shelley writing Frankenstein.
—
Disappointing. Ironically, the movie loses its focus on Mary Shelley and her writing of the Frankenstein novel to spend most of its time on the relationship between her and her husband, Percy Shelley. This flaw in the movie mirrors what happened to her in real life when she had to publish her novel anonymously, and it was assumed that her husband wrote it. While her life circumstances obviously influenced her, focusing on this rather than her how she actually wrote the story devalues her extraordinary achievement. Elle Fanning does a reasonable job as Mary Shelley, and the film is beautifully shot, but this doesn’t make up for the unsatisfying script and poor direction. Given that the movie is two hours long, it’s a travesty that all we get is a few minutes near the end when we finally get what we came to see.