Szelíd teremtés – A Frankenstein-terv (Tender Son – The Frankenstein Project, English Title)
Hungary – 105 Minutes -- Drama – Hungarian – 2010
Directed by Kornél Mundruczó
Screenplay Written by Kornél Mundruczó
Based on the novel Frankenstein by Mary Shelley
Cast: Rudolf Frecska (Rudy- 2nd film in 10 years), Kitty Csikos (Magda- 1st credited role), Lili Monori (mother), Kornél Mundruczó (Viktor), Miklós Székely B. (step-father)
On a bleak, rainy day, in a dark, heavy country, a young, quiet man stops by a flowerstand in front of a cemetary. He buys a bundle of white flowers the seller claims are “flowers for mourning” before passing graves on the way to his destination. (Note: A gothic tale will soon begin. Expect heavy-handed symbolism, melodramatic deaths, unexplained details, and possible confusion for those not familiar with the tale's original source.)
Tender Son- The Frankenstein Project unfolds as a modern reinterpretation of Mary Shelley's novel, Frankenstein. In this film adaptation, Frankenstein's “creature” takes the form of Rudi (Rudolf Frecska), the rejected son of an aging landlady (Lili Monori ) and a young film director, Viktor, (writer and diretor Kornél Mundruczó) who is searching for inspiration.
Rudi, exiled to an orphanage for his childhood, has now been released and comes in search of his family which loosely consists of the landlady; Viktor; the step-father (Miklós Székely B.); Magda, the beautiful orphan living with the landlady and the step-father (Kitty Csikos in her film debut); and Tunde, the young blonde that Rudi strangles in a fatal audition.
When he locates his parents, he is rejected on all counts and heartlessly denied the love that he seeks (this probably has something to do with the fact that he just murdered his could-have-been sister). Unaccepted by his family, Rudi ends up killing them instead (Normally, I would call this a spoiler. However, since the film is based on the novel, and Rudy is based on the “creature”, these eventual killings are really no surprise.)
The action primarily takes place in an antiquated building that rises several stories high and houses a central, open courtyard. With stone facades, winding staircases, dark raftered rooms, and plenty of places to hide, the building becomes a powerful tool in conveying the gothic tone of the film. Not only is it the home of the landlady and her piecemeal family, it is also the location of a honeymoon, a casting call, several untimely deaths, and an unwelcome reunion between long-lost family members. In this sense, the film does a good job at creating an insular space that, by the end of the film, has transformed from a home to a tomb.
Moments of humor creep into the script in both expected and unexpected ways. In the beginning scenes, Viktor goes through a series of auditions with hopeful actors. He reminds them each that actors have to often cry or laugh on screen and commands that they cry immediately. In keeping with the film's stoic mask, the actors all try to cry without success (with the exception of a woman whom the director hounds about her recently deceased husband until she is wading in tears) and these attempts are sure to elicit chuckles from the audience.
However, at of the world premieres of the film at Cannes, audiences also laughed collectively at a few gruesome deaths. Whether this was the intention of the director, or simply a miscalculated reaction of an uncomfortable audience, I can't say. Although the utter abruptness of both of these incidents left me surprised and temporarily stunned, I found nothing humorous about blood spattering on a brightly papered wall or someone falling to their death from a four-story ledge.
Rudi, played by virtually untried actor Rudolf Frecska (this is his second film appearance in ten years), can only be described as stoic as stone. Whether he is pleading to know the identity of his father, asking his mother to take Magda as his wife, or killing someone for getting too close to him, his expression never changes. This does nothing to assist the audience in interpreting his motives, but does dehumanize him to make him more of a “creature” in the eyes of the audience.
In one of his most vocal moments, Rudi corners Magda in the family kitchen and utters the caveman-like phrase “You are very beautiful. I like you. You should wear some make-up.” He then proceeds to smear red lipstick on her mouth as she stands stiffly in a strange mixture of excitement and fear as he marks her as his territory.
The landlady feels the toxicity of Rudi's very presence, and agrees to give Magda to Rudi as a bride/bribe/chattel as long as he promises to leave immediately and never return. In one of the most perverse images of the film, the mother stands in an empty living room wearing an old wedding veil while ironing a dusty white gown. As she labors over the ironing board, she creates the bride of the “creature” (often misnomered as “The Bride of Frankenstein” in popular culture) by offering Magda as a sacrifice to Rudy in exchange for peace. Magda returns home, finds her bedroom emptied into a lone suitcase, and the landlady rejects her from her home, just as she created and rejected Rudi 18 years before.
Thus, two unwanted children are sent off with not much more than the clothes on their backs to make a new life together. At this point, the film attempts to becomes hopeful. Magda and Rudi share a tender moment on their “honeymoon”. As Magda nervously stalls the inevitable consummation, they share a dinner of canned peaches and she shyly turns her face each time he tries to kiss her. However, this hope is short-lived as ill-timed carnage ensues, and the one chance that Rudi has for redemption never materializes.
The film itself is undeniably beautiful. Intense close-ups and saturated colors create colorful portraits in an otherwise bleak territory, and do more to capture the characters and their emotions than any of the scripted lines. Swooping crane shots and creative pans create an almost dizzying effect at times and work to emphasize the height and magnitude of the central space as well as communicate that the characters are on the ledge of danger, the precipice of demise.
However, well-composed images cannot make-up for gaping holes in a narrative where numerous strange relationships are never quite explained. For example, why does Magda live with the landlady and step-father, and if they are not related, why does she call them mother and step-father? What drove the director to procreate with a woman who looks old enough to be his own mother? Furthermore, why does the landlady allow the father of her banished son to rent out her creepy house to hold auditions for a film that never materializes?
Combine those unheard queries with heavy-handed symbolism, and the film can only fully be understood as a direct allegory of the original text of Mary Shelley. Without these literary roots, Rudi has no apparently urgent motivation to kill, whereas Frankenstein's “creature” verbalizes the fact that he goes on a killing spree because he has been rejected by his maker and denied any chance at human love and compassion.
The film is best viewed as an exercise in literary translation, a personal adaptation of the original Frankenstein text. Those familiar with Shelley's novel may “get it” and even enjoy postulating character identifications, gothic symbolism, and the merit of wholly modern interpretations. If viewed without this mindset, too many holes are left in the story, too many questions left unanswered, and the characters themselves lack clear goals, obstacles, and motivations.
By Brittany Hannah
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