I sat on this
review for a long while, toying with the angles, trying to take a direction.
And really it is more of a set of observations than a review. Gods and
Monsters is a confounding piece, but not by accident, for the lackadaisical
approach to its story, the meanderings of the characters, and the frustratingly
hidden, dark interiors of the players serve the whole.
The three people caught up
in this mysterious, decaying world, James Whale the director(Sir Ian McKellen),
Clayton Boone the caretaker/lawnboy (Brendan Fraser), and Hanna the housekeeper
(Lynn Redgrave), have disparate intentions, interwoven and played out to a
sinister purpose; the creation of a monster that will take the life of its
creator.
It is that simple, I
suppose.
James Whale, famous for
directing Frankenstein, Bride of Frankenstein, The Invisible Man and Showboat,
wants his life to end because a stroke has deprived him of his artistic
abilities and left him at the mercy of obtrusive and shattering memories. A
poor, unhappy childhood, the suffering of his friends and loved ones, artistic
struggles, failures in relationships – a broad cacophony of ancient
self-pitying regrets. He has spells, and they torment him. To madness. And an
overpowering desire for death. To what extent medicine could fail him, it did.
And he is living without hope.
For whatever reason, Whale
is unable to take his own life, and he sets about the process of inciting a
rough hewn soldier named Clayton Boone to do him in. In this respect Whale
achieves an evil betrayal, earning the trust of the young muscle-bound
caretaker in slow agonizing steps, prying into his psyche to determine if Boone
has the will to take a life, and setting up the moment when he will set Hell
loose upon himself and be freed from the earthly coil. The anguish on all sides
is evident – the stark progress of the film left me in a stupor.
Perhaps Whale did not know where he was going with the
gardener. Perhaps his manipulation was machined from the start. At the point in
the film when it dawns on us what he really wants from this kid, and how he
wants it, perhaps not even up until the moment that Boone realizes it himself,
we have to look back and ask ourselves if we really saw it coming. And why did
we not see it sooner? Prejudices about attractedness, sex, and the omnipresent
caretaker types - pizza boys and what not? Disbelief that someone could use
someone for so venal a purpose? Struggling for life ourselves and and ignorant
of a mindset that believes death would be a welcome release?
Gods and Monsters is
not about an aging homosexual preying upon men for genital gratification. It is
clearly established that the man wants nothing to do with the caretaker
sexually – but he does want his brutality. Or what he thinks that
brutality is. This is about homosexuality only in how it shows a man using his
sexual nature and others’ fear of it to hasten his own end; playing upon
the fears of the naive. Paralleling the Frankenstein story, Whale sets out to
create his monster in a dreary landscape of 50’s Hollywood and a once
great man’s fading influence.
Failing to rise to the
occasion is Clayton Boone. As a young supposedly trailer-trashed ex-marine, he
takes to the hedge-clipping routine with flaw. Moody, closed-in, uncomfortable,
sexually ambiguous; he is the 180 pounds of clay Whale needs for his
experiment. Boone’s life revolves around work, and not living up to
expectations of others. He is in so deep, he cannot see how he sets himself up
for those expectations. By the time he realizes what is going on, with Whale,
with his girlfriend, with the housekeeper, he cannot stop it, or fix it. So he
runs. But he has potential, and an inquisitive mind fighting to keep itself
open. He starts to learn about Whale, and respect him, and see him for the
father he wanted. This trust, admiration and vulnerability sets the stage for
the betrayal.
Hanna functions like the
castle servants in the original Frankenstein, lurking about in the shadows,
supporting the Mad Doctor’s daily needs, casting dire warnings about the
SIN. She tries to warn Boone, but they take the un-credibility of manic fervor.
And if Whale is so bad, why does she serve him? Boone's teasing questions of
her lead to flashes of anger and in a startling moment, Hanna is breaking eggs
into a bowl and hurling the shells across the kitchen.
The townspeople are bar patrons, and Boone is involved
with a woman who serves to illustrate his immaturity and malleability. He
cannot communicate with her, and it adds to his frustration. And the barflies
are goading Boone about his sexual preference because of Whale’s
attentions. Voila. Classic pretext for gay-bashing. And we, smug we, think we
know Boone like Whale does...
In what becomes a highly
charged and intolerably abusive scene, Boone is finally ready to reveal himself
to Whale, and Whale uses that vulnerability to push him over the edge. Like Dr.
Frankenstein’s inconsideration of the monster’s feelings before being
brought to life, Whale gives no thought to the damage he will do to Boone.
Whale’s only consideration is release, and if Boone is the animal Whale
thinks he is, Boone is there to be used. Used like the others in Whale’s
life? It is hard to say if there were true relationships or merely abidances.
There were excesses, pool parties with hoards of naked men swimming, a ribald
life. Whale’s water of life. With no regard to society's disdain, ever,
not that there is anything wrong with that...
Undoubtedly
Whale was capable of sustained interest in people in his youth, and a long-time
companion appears briefly, showing concern but intimating that he has moved
well on. But the focus is on Whale at the end of a once great life, and he is
not a well man. And in the end, we are given to wonder if Whale did find
his peace, and if there is comfort in the meaning of his one word, questioning
apology to Boone.
