Gods and Monsters

Plot synopsis:
Clay gets up from his trailer at the beach and drives to Mr. Jimmy's lush house, where he mows the lawn.Mr. Jimmy has a visit from David, who is concerned about his health. He then goes out to chat with Clay, his new gardener, and invites him to swim in the pool after he is done working. Clay says he needs to do another lawn later.An academic named Edmund Kay comes to visit Mr. Jimmy, and expresses his deep enthusiasm for his films. Jimmy takes him out back to the pool, and recalls his youth in London, and then his movement into movies and on to Hollywood.Mr. Jimmy becomes bored with Kay's questions, and suggests that Kay begin removing clothing in exchange for his answers. Kay begins disrobing to each of Jimmy's tales about homosexuals in Hollywood and making Frankenstein.Jimmy then gets lightheaded and needs Kay's help to get inside and lie down. His maid Hanna scolds him for chasing boys after just returning from the hospital.Jimmy goes to a doctor who explains that he had a stroke which has left his brain somewhat impaired.Jimmy sees Clay working out in the garden and invites him to talk over iced tea in his painting studio. Jimmy tells him he directed the first two Frankenstein movies, and they talk about his paintings. Jimmy tells Clay he has an expressive head and asks him to model for pay; Clay agrees.Clay arrives at Jimmy's house and Hanna asks if he is going to hurt him. Clay is confused, and she withdraws the question. Clay sits down in the studio to model for Jimmy, who asks him to remove his shirt, even though he only plans to draw his face. Jimmy begins to draw, telling Clay of a memory he has about eating fat drippings as a poor child. He explains how different he was from his family, more talented, more intelligent.Clay goes to a bar and boasts that a famous director is drawing him. Betty the bartender, whom Clay has slept with, turns on The Bride of Frankenstein on TV; meanwhile, Jimmy watches at home with Hanna. The others at the bar criticize the film for not being scary. Clay seems to understand the monster's feelings of loneliness.Flashback: Jimmy directs the performers on the set of Bride of Frankenstein.Clay and Betty talk outside the bar, and he gets upset that she does not want to sleep with him again.Clay calls his parents from a payphone but does not want to talk much.Jimmy dreams that Clay is Dr. Frankenstein, replacing his brain and electrifying him.Hanna tells Clay that Jimmy would like him to have lunch. The two talk as she cooks, and Hanna tells him he should be married. Hanna tells Clay that Jimmy commits unspeakable sins of the flesh, buggery. She is surprised that Clay did not know.Jimmy and Clay have a rather fancy lunch. Jimmy tells Clay that he had hoped Bride of Frankenstein would be seen as a comedy. Jimmy asks Clay to pose for an hour after lunch, and he declines. Jimmy explains that he had a "husband" named David, and Clay asks about his homosexuality. They smoke cigars, and Clay agrees to pose.During the sitting, Jimmy talks about how he made the successful Show Boat and then tried to make his WWI masterpiece The Road Back but the studio butchered it. He says he always wanted to go back to movies, but that was the end. He also broke up with David thereafter. Jimmy begins to describe how he used to have many male models, all naked, which upsets Clay so much he gets mad and storms out.Clay goes to Betty's bar but she is not there. He finds another woman and has sex with her in the parking lot.Clay returns to Jimmy's house and says he will sit for him again if he eases up on the locker room talk. Jimmy is curious that Clay has never known any gay men before, not even when he was in the Marines. Jimmy recalls a young soldier from WWI he mentored in the trenches, then becomes quite upset, looking at Clay intensely. After a calming moment, Jimmy asks Clay to drive him to a fancy party in another few days.Jimmy finds a gas mask and has another memory of the war.Clay drives Jimmy to the party, where they pay their respects to Princess Margaret and George Cukor. She is chatty but mistakes Jimmy for someone else; Cukor is more curt. David is there with Elizabeth Taylor, and he has an awkward chat with Jimmy.Kay also shows up, telling Jimmy he had Cukor invite him. Kay brings over Elsa Lanchester to chat, then Boris Karloff as well. Jimmy notices the resemblance between Karloff and Clay. A thunderstorm arises, and Jimmy asks Clay to take him home.They come in soaked from the rain. Jimmy offers Clay a baggy sweater, but he wears a towel over his waist. Clay confesses he never made it out of boot camp as a Marine since his appendix burst.Jimmy sketches Clay in the living room and they continue talking about fear and monsters. Jimmy describes how his beloved soldier was gunned down in the war and died. Clay reassures Jimmy that he survived the war. Jimmy reveals that his sketches have been nothing but scribblings, his mental powers are lost.Clay stands up and takes off his sweater, offering Jimmy to draw him like a statue. Jimmy grabs the gas mask and asks Clay to wear it, kissing his shoulders and trying to grab his penis. Clay reacts violently and beats him, but Jimmy asks Clay to kill him, placing his hands on his throat. Clay refuses and throws Jimmy to the floor. Jimmy apologizes. Clay helps him to bed.Jimmy has a dream of standing with Clay, looking over the bodies of dead WWI soldiers. Jimmy walks down among them, finding his beloved comrade, and lays down next to him.Clay wakes up at Jimmy's house. He finds the portrait of the monster that Jimmy drew for Frankenstein next to him. He then quickly dives into the pool when he sees Jimmy floating face down. Hanna runs out with a suicide note from Jimmy while Clay says he didn't do it. Hanna tells him to leave to avoid investigation, but Clay suggests they put his body back in the pool.Years later, Clay is watching a scene from Bride of Frankenstein on TV with his son, in which a blind man befriends the monster. Clay smokes a cigarette while the monster smokes one in the movie. After the movie, Clay shows his skeptical son the sketch of the monster. Jimmy has written on the back: "For Clayton. Friend?"Clay goes out in the street and starts to walk in the rain like the monster.

Tags: romantic, flashback

Review:
I knew little about James Whale and the Frankenstein franchise, possessed virtually zilch experience with Bill Condon (aside from the trivial baggage that his previous _and first_ feature film was the Direct-To-Oblivion sequel to the Scariest-Movie-Of-All-Time-When-I-Was-Fourteen, Candyman.), and unceremoniously avoided anything to do with Brendan Fraser.
Fact or fiction, he wasn't necessarily James Whale, but a complicated, reserved, and often misunderstood director who found a glimmer of intrigue and desire for his new gardener, Clayton Boone, played impeccably by Brendan Fraser.
In one of the Motion Picture Academy's most bewildering choices, the Best Actor Oscar for 1998 went to an Italian comic who has not been heard from since instead of to the brilliant Ian McKellan in what is arguably his finest film role as James Whale.
A historical drama about famed director James Whale (Ian McKellen), Gods and Monsters finds Whale primarily in his last years, living relatively modestly in 1950s Hollywood.
A heavy emphasis is placed on his homosexuality and his complex relationship with his young male gardener, Clayton Boone (Brendan Fraser).Gods and Monsters is an unusual film in that although it's not very plot heavy, there is little feeling of a lack of substance.
Of course McKellen and Redgrave are good, too, but their roles are more along the lines of some of their past fine work.Echoing the parallel between Boone and Whale's histories and dispositions, Whale's life is shown as being deeply mired in the themes of his two Frankenstein films, even though he is shown as publicly wanting to play them down.
Like the Monster seeking emotional recompense, especially in the face of imminent destruction in the wake of a stroke, Whale attempts to latch on to whatever intimacy he can find from others, and ultimately expresses an embrace of death over living.Although the historicity of the film may be questionable on some accounts, it's important to remember that the film, although a historical drama, is still fiction, and many changes are by way of normal "literary license", designed to underscore more abstract points about Whale's life and character.Director Bill Condon nicely inserts select scenes from Whale's past, including his experience in World War I, which informed his films such as Journey's End (1930), and a wonderful recreation of Whale filming a scene from Bride of Frankenstein (1935).
From the opening credits to the (mostly) predictable climax, Bill Condon's film is a technical masterpiece and an excellent bit of arthouse fodder to boot.The title, which comes from James Whale's classic film Bride Of Frankenstein, refers to the gods and monsters living in our lives and vicariously in our close associates' lives.Condon has done a remarkable job editing in flashbacks, and the sketchy oblique, often contrasted shots pay great homage to Whale's early Universal pictures.The story is a simple one: James Whale (Ian MacKellan), famed director, has had a stroke and is slowly dying.
Based from Christopher Bram's novel, Gods and Monsters depicts the last days of famed director James Whales and his flourishing relationship with his gardener Clayton Boone.
Ian McKellen plays the ill-fated director haunted by painful memories of the past while Brendan Fraser, in a very serious role, is the man from which Whales finds peace.
Though this episode is a predictable story, it makes us explore within ourselves the Gods and Monsters of our lives.I'm surprised that the Academy ignored Ian McKellen and Brendan Fraser for their extremely fine performances.
The film is based on the novel Father of Frankenstein by Christopher Bram and explores the final days of James Whale, the director of the original Frankenstein and Bride of Frankenstein movies.
Condon tries very hard indeed to draw links between Frankenstein's monster and Whale, the invisible man and Whale, between Whale's films and his experiences in the Great War. These links come across as forced, too.The thing is, nothing much happens in the two weeks of Whale's life we see - nothing to constitute a story.
Anyway, Whale himself is sick to death of being associated with Frankenstein, and would rather people thought of him as the director of `Show Boat'.The surprisingly good press this film has generated is almost entirely due to Ian McKellen and Brendan Fraser.
But much more than that, it is a film that speaks of human strengths and weaknesses, one that studies with quirky charm and quiet strength the scenario of man versus man.Without getting maudlin or preachy, "Gods and Monsters" goes about telling its story about ignorance, frailty, and unconditional love, the very themes that ran throughout most of James Whale's life and films.Bill Condon has created a poetic masterpiece, a wonderful answer to the question "Can't we all just get along?".
Boone prooves to be as dignified and monstrous as Whale.The few problems I had with the film where two gimmicky scenes, one showing Boone's surrender to a request of Whale's that he pose "like a statue", the other a dream sequence that has Whale walking among his fallen comrades in the trenches of World War one, and one flashback on the set of "Bride of Frankenstein", a scene tainted by Arthur Dignam's awful portrayal of Ernest Thesiger.Eventually, "Gods and Monsters' proves two things: that we are all at once superhuman and sub-human, and that Hollywood can still show this in a beautiful way..
We see him  in the last year of his life, 1957, when a ficticious Clay Boone (Fraser), working as a gardener, happens upon Whale, who is afflicted by ill-health but living in comfortable retirement in Beverley Hills and being looked after by his severe but caring Hungarian housekeeper (beautifully played by Lyn Redgrave).Old James invites Clay in to see his etchings, or rather to be sketched.
McKellen, a very great actor in the classic English tradition and himself gay, has little trouble playing Whale, but the real surprise is Brendan Fraser as Clay  a quiet and well-judged performance.
This is one of the works of art that the 90s should be remembered for.The marvellous tale of how an old, homosexual, educated genius, in the twilight of his life, with a glorious past but also terrible ghosts, first tries to court but ultimately becomes a friend of a simple, young, good hearted man and opens his eyes and his mind with his stories and memories, becoming the turning point of his life, is gripping and moving beyond belief.Arthouse it may be, due to its reduced budget and complex content, but I can't understand how anyone could fail to be touched by this deeply human story, no matter his or her tastes.
Brendon Fraser truly shows depth of character as the gardener.Not only is the cast top notch but the film is filled with fantastic imagery and subliminal qualities that take the viewer into the minds of the characters.From the beginning to the end the viewer is taken on a journey through the life of James Whale.
On second viewing, after having discovered "Gods and Monsters" at a film festival when it hadn't been released commercially, we can report the film is worth another viewing.Mr. Condon, the director, who adapted the Christopher Bram's book, made a great film about James Whale, an English man that came to America and became a film director during Hollywood's golden era.
Hanna knows all the secrets of "Mister Jimmy", as she calls him.James Whale, the director of the famous film "Frankenstein", and others, was a gay man living in a closeted society.
The plot summary for Gods and Monsters states that it follows the last days of horror director James Whale, but it shouldn't be thought of as a biopic; it manages to avoid almost every pitfall suffered by most movies of that genre, except for one - predictability.
It doesn't matter, though, because Gods and Monsters isn't about the story; it's an art-house piece and a character study, an exploration of a complex personality and, above all, a remarkably beautiful film.Like any biographical film, Gods and Monsters relies heavily on one powerful lead actor; Ian McKellen gives one of the best performances of his career as James Whale, with whom he clearly felt a certain bond.
As for supporting cast - Lynn Redgrave is fantastic in a small but memorable part as Whale's maid; Brendan Fraser, on the other hand, plays a very generic character, mostly there as an avatar for the viewer, and though his performance is decent, it's not by any means impressive, and he gets a little too much screen time, taking the film down just a notch from masterpiece status..
"Gods and Monsters" is the beautifully acted and somewhat fictionalized story of director James Whale (Ian McKellan) as he faces the end of his life.
The openly gay Whale was the director of some of the great horror films: Frankenstein, Bride of Frankenstein, The Invisible Man, and The Old Dark House, as well as the definitive Showboat, and one of my favorites, the bizarre Remember Last Night?
How else to explain the omission of Ian McKellen not getting an award for his role as the stricken director James Whale.Gods & Monsters is a touchingly predictable story.
If you want a plot-driven movie, find something else.It is not a biography of James Whale, nor a tribute to his films.It is a serious character study of deep human emotion.
Stories like "Gods and Monsters" make you contemplate what is truth and reality...and Oh, don't I prefer the latter to the former.On the surface, this film is about James Whale's attempts to manipulate Clay Boone into a new version of his most famous creation, the Hollywood version of the Frankenstein monster...a creature that destroyed its creator in the first Frankenstein movie.
The layers fit so neatly and seamlessly into each other, one becomes almost indistinguishable from the other.Needless to say, I love "Gods & Monsters." I already had massive respect for Ian McKellen and Lynn Redgrave (they was robbed at the Oscars), but Brendan Fraser's low-key, almost brutally gentle performance was a revelation.Brendan, you kick it.This film is richly deserving of praise for every aspect of it -- from the writing and low-key directing to the perfect pitch music to the sense of time and place to the performances.
James Whale (Ian McKellen) was once a great director of monster movies like Frankenstein.
Here, we have Sir Ian McKellen CH KBE CBE in an Oscar nominated performance as the late great horror director, James Whale, who was also gay, artistic, and a genius.
In this film, James Whale is elderly and frail who encounters a handsome gardener, Clayton Boone (played wonderfully by Brendan Fraser in his best performance to date or since).
Based on the novel Father of Frankenstein by Christopher Bram, 'Gods and Monsters' recounts the "somewhat fictionalized" last days of the life of troubled film director James Whale.
Ian McKellen gives a triumphant performance as film director James Whale in this biopic about Whale's later years.The film focuses specifically on Whale's mental and emotional struggles with his own homosexuality and his obsession with a young hunk of beefcake, played by Brendan Fraser.
But the most interesting part of the movie for me were the glimpses of old Hollywood peppered throughout, including appearances by George Cukor and Elsa Lanchester, and the incorporation of Whale's best-known film, "Frankenstein."Director Bill Condon won an Oscar for the film's screenplay, and McKellen and Lynn Redgrave, who makes much of a teensy-tiny role as Whale's maid, received nominations.Grade: A.
Gods and monsters is a really extraordinary film which deserves a very enthusastic recommendation.Director Bill Condon,who counted with a very low budget,made an intelligent,emotive and great movie with excellent performances from the underrated Brendan Fraser and the great Ian McKellen.McKellen brings the best performance of his career.The performance is excellent,full of details.Fraser is a good actor who brings,here,a perfect performance.This is a brilliant film;one of that movies which are real art.I recommend this extraordinary film with a slow,but never boring development.Rating: 10.
It is fueled by two remarkable performances: just watch the doco on the disc, where you'll find pictures of the real James Whale, and then watch Ian McKellen's face in the movie, and you realise that he's virtually summoned the spirit of the eccentric, reclusive ex-Hollywood director of fun horror classics Frankenstein, Invisible Man, Old Dark House and Bride of Frankenstein.
His partner in the duet of this movie is Brendan Fraser, who pays homage ever so subtly to Karloff's monster in his portrayal of gardener Clay Boone, who reminds Whale of his great creation and seems to evoke memories of the past in him.This movie did a wonderful thing for me: it left me with an appreciation for the character of Whale, and made me notice and appreciate his eccentric humour behind those horror movies.Haunting and beautiful (helped in large part by Being John Malkovich composer Carter Burwell giving a terrific haunting score), with the poetry and simplicity of a Bergman film, no less..
Anyone interested in producing a biography should pay heed to this film, simply because it manages to encompass everything we need to know about the subject by focusing on one small period in his life.Gods and Monsters looks at the final days in the life of director James Whale.
Boone's character was making an act of love and sacrifice based on their friendship and his feelings of pity for this man when he offered himself for the final portrait in the "seduction" scene (as everyone seems to call it, but that's not really what it was to me.) All in all, one of the most thought provoking movies of the decade- all performances were great.
Ian McKellen, Lynn Redgrave, and even Brendan Fraser (in the film's most difficult role) shine in this beautifully written drama.
Ian McKellan plays director James Whale with near perfection, and Brandon Fraser and Lynne Redgrave throw in two almost equally done performances.
The terror and fright comes not from a psycho wielding a butcher knife, but internally from the protagonist.James Whale writer and director of the original Frankenstein and Bride Of Frankenstein movies is this film's protagonist played aptly by Ian McKellen.
One of the remarkable things about this movie is that while Whale was gay (as is McKellen), this is not emphasized in the film any more than is the heterosexuality of Brendan Fraser's character.
Gods and Monsters' is film-making at its best, depicting the final days of James Whale, a complex and complicated man, famous for directing the first two 'Frankenstein' films and the original movie version of 'Showboat.' Exquisite performances are given by the great Sir Ian McKellen as Whale, who executes every nuance, every witticism, every emotion, with a perfection that is little short of incredible; Lynn Redgrave as Hanna, Whale's formidable but devoted housekeeper; and Brendan Fraser, in a wonderfully humane acting turn as Clay Boone, Whale's hunky grounds keeper, who is unwittingly and inexorably drawn into Whale's ever-increasingly confused and confusing world.
Ian McKellen is the only reason to watch these imagined last few days of the film director James Whale.
James Whale (Ian McKellen), the Hollywood film director of the thirties who helmed such notable pictures as "Journey's End" and "Showboat," is retired now and looked after by a devoted but grumpy maid (Lynn Redgrave), who thinks it a shame that he'll burn in hell for being a homosexual.A bit of excitement arrives with an effeminate university student (Jack Plotnick) who is a gushing fan of Whale's work and wants to interview the man responsible for them.
This film is about an old film director and his young gardener, who overcome the great divides and make an unlikely friendship.Ian McKellen and Brendan Fraser are great in the film, but I like Lynn Redgrave the best.
"Gods and Monsters", the 1998 classic from writer/director Bill Condon, centers around James Whale {McKellen}, a flamboyant homosexual who is somewhat of a recluse living in Hollywood.
There he is on screen with one of the great English theatrical masters, Ian McKellan, and he blithely holds his own and even goes beyond what one would have accepted in his performance of Boon, the hunky gardener who enters Whales' life at the end, at least in this film version.
"Gods and Monsters" offers some stellar performances, headed by Ian McKellen, Brendan Fraser and Lynn Redgrave.This star trio creates mesmerizing chemistry in the subtle interpretations of their respective characters.
"Gods and Monsters" is a film which deals with the possible last days of famous Hollywood director James Whale (Ian McKellen in his Oscar-nominated role).
The big problem the movie suffers from is that it puts too much emphasis on a fictional friendship between Whale (Ian McKellen) and his gardener Clayton (Brendan Fraser).
The other role was in "Gods and Monsters" of homosexual movie director James Whale, the brains behind "Frankenstein" and "The Invisible Man (although the movie stresses "Frankenstein" and "The Bride of Frankenstein").Specifically, "GAM" focuses (apparently in a fictionalized way) on Whale's last few days alive, and his relationship with his gardener Clayton Boone (Brendan Fraser).
Sir Ian Mckellen's portrayal of Film Maker James Whale, had such depth, you didn't want the story to end.
While there are some 'flashbacks' to earlier events in the director's life (e.g. fighting in the trenches, directing his classic "Bride of Frankenstein"), most of the film takes place in the late-'50s, and focuses on the relationship between Whale (who was openly gay) and his gardener Clay Boone, a fictional character played by a very buff Brendan Fraser.
Gay desire for the unobtainable is also one of the movie's themes.The film is a biography that tells the specific story of a man who led an interesting life, Frankenstein director James Whale.
In my opinion,he is one the best directors that ever lived and therefore I think that it is a shame that this movie is more about the personal life of Whale,there should have been more footage of his directorial achievements.Ian McKellen is wonderful as the always witty and blackhumored James Whale and the performances of Fraser and Redgrave are also pretty good.