The gothic romance is back, and from the master himself.

At the beginning of this month, Guillermo del Toro brought to our screens the novel that laid the very foundations of what we know today as science fiction: Frankenstein. Yet there is so much more to this story, and to the way the director reimagined it through the prism of his own creative vision.

Frankenstein was originally published in 1818 by Mary Shelley, an English author whose life tragedies deeply influenced her work. Although many interpret the novel through themes such as the dangers of knowledge, ambition, prejudice, and the responsibility behind our actions, there is a strong belief that the story also mirrors Mary Shelley’s feelings of loss and guilt. Her grief after losing her children and her difficult journey toward forgiveness, toward understanding that not everything in life can be controlled.

Let us not forget that this classic was born from a bet on a stormy night when Lord Byron challenged his guests during the “Year Without a Summer” to write a ghost story. Mary Shelley and her husband, Percy, were among them. It is said that the tale came from a dream that haunted Mary during their stay at Byron’s villa that cold, wet summer. And truly, is there any ghost more terrifying than the one born from regret and past mistakes?

This haunting is fully present in Guillermo del Toro’s adaptation. From Victor’s childhood to the very end, the ghosts of his past become the doom of his existence. It is not ambition that drives him but the regret of loss. His bond to his mother is portrayed delicately through the smallest details: the inheritance of the colour red in his gloves, wardrobe, and bedsheets; even the way he drinks only milk, clinging to the taste of childhood and the security of the mother figure. Something taken from him too soon. Something he believes he should have prevented. A nightmare that follows him until his last breath.

Colour is fundamental in del Toro’s language of expression. Everything holds meaning: light, shape, texture – all part of a deeper narrative beneath “the monster.” Elizabeth’s clothing mirrors the beauty of nature in greens and blues: balance, harmony, safety, healing. A moth unafraid to seek the light in darkness. A butterfly unafraid of transformation. Nature challenges the rigid mind of science, and this becomes the dance between reason and emotion.

As for the creature, as for all of us, he has no choice in how he is brought into this world, a blank page defined by external perception and expectation. Where most see monstrosity, others will see purity and beauty. A breath of fresh air in a world suffocated by ambition. And ultimately, who is the real monster of this story?

The beauty of this movie lies in its sensitivity and its understanding of the original essence of the tale: two opposite sides of the same coin. A man who brings his dream to life, only to reject it because it reflects his own flaws. And a pure heart that sees beauty despite the world’s horrors. A story of duality that restores yearning in a world full of shallow promises – where small gestures speak louder than elevated words, and forgiveness becomes the key that unlocks the soul’s cage.

In conclusion, Frankenstein is a perfect symbiosis between Mary Shelley’s original vision and Guillermo del Toro’s imaginative mastery – a descent into a dark, poetic universe where souls are haunted by the ghosts of their past and the dreams that once defined them.

With love,

A.