Mary Shelley

IMDb RATING

6.4/10

18K

YOUR RATING

Play trailer2:10

3 Videos

53 Photos

Docudrama Biography Drama History Romance

Life and facts of Mary Wollstonecraft Godwin, who at 16 met 21 year old poet Percy Shelley, resulting in the writing of Frankenstein.Life and facts of Mary Wollstonecraft Godwin, who at 16 met 21 year old poet Percy Shelley, resulting in the writing of Frankenstein.Life and facts of Mary Wollstonecraft Godwin, who at 16 met 21 year old poet Percy Shelley, resulting in the writing of Frankenstein.

Director
- Haifaa Al-Mansour
Writers
- Emma Jensen
- Haifaa Al-Mansour
Stars

See production info at IMDbPro

IMDb RATING

6.4/10

18K

YOUR RATING

Director
- Haifaa Al-Mansour
Writers
- Emma Jensen
- Haifaa Al-Mansour
Stars

See production info at IMDbPro

Awards
- 2 wins & 8 nominations

Videos3

Photos53

+ 45

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Storyline

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Did you know

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Trivia
Haifaa Al-Mansour was the first female Saudi director to direct a Hollywood film.

Goofs
After Claire goes into Lord Byron's bedroom, there is a shot of the candle chandelier. The cord used to raise and lower the chandelier, as it is holding up the chandelier, would be taut with the weight, yet there is a slack arc in the cord.

Quotes
Harriet Shelley: Evidently you are a stranger to scandal, Miss Godwin. Did you know I ran away with Percy when I was a girl? Idealism and love give us courage. But they do not prepare you for the sacrifice required to love a man like Percy.

Crazy credits
Even though the movie is clearly based on real people, including of course Mary Shelley, Percy Bysshe Shelley, Lord Byron, Claire Clairmont, and many others, the end titles include the ridiculous disclaimer that "The characters depicted in this motion picture are fictitious, and any similarity to the history of any person is entirely coincidental."

Connections
Referenced in Late Night with Seth Meyers: Tom Hiddleston/Maisie Williams/Rooney (2016)

Soundtracks
Over the Hills and Far Away
(uncredited)
Traditional English ballad
Sung as a lullaby by Elle Fanning

User reviews107

Review

Featured review

6/10

This might have worked better as a six hour TV mini-series.

Mary Shelley: This film is a tad confused as it tries to fit so much into a 2 hour running time. There is the romance between Percy Shelley (Douglas Booth) and Mary Wollstonecraft (Elle Fanning); her freethinking father William Godwin (Stephen Dillane); her deceased mother Mary Wollstonecraft the author of A Vindication of the Rights of Woman; the affair between Mary's stepsister Claire Clairmont (Bel Powley) and Lord Byron (Tom Sturridge); then there is the tale of the Swiss villa where the Frankenstein story was conceived. Mary even has a nasty stepmother (Joanne Froggatt).

Booth and Fanning both look exceedingly pretty and it's certainly lust if not love at first sight but somehow there are no real sparks in the relationship. Shelley is a cad who has deserted his wife and child and now hopes to have free love with Mary and more on the side. The real fire rages between Powley and Sturridge even if his Byron portrayal is somewhat reminiscent of Jason Isaacs plying Zhukov. The Swiss scenes where Frankenstein was thought up are surprisingly low key with Polidori (Ben Hardy) providing the main interest.

This might have worked better as a six hour TV mini-series. 6/10.