Mary Shelley

"Elle Fanning plays titular character Mary Shelley, who at a mere eighteen years of age anonymously penned the now iconic horror novel Frankenstein; or, The Modern Prometheus. The story of the book’s inception is a fascinating one and director Haifaa Al-Mansour and writer Emma Jensen have tackled a story that should be a celebration of a young woman’s talent and tenacity overcoming the odds, in a time when both these things were discouraged for the ladies. Somehow though, the anarchist spirit and rebellious journey she takes are never fully realised and it plays out rather as a soapy TV drama might, with many of the historical details fudged and some of the more scintillating nuggets transpiring in a series of unsatisfactory reveals."

"In their biopic of the great Mary Shelley, who wrote Frankenstein when she was just 18 years old, director Haifaa Al-Mansour and screenwriter Emma Jensen argue that the author penned her seminal novel in response to mistreatment experienced at the hands of men. Accepting the film’s hypothesis, the question it then tries to pose becomes: should we condemn these brutal blokes for their inhumanity, or feel in some way grateful that they inspired art?"

"It boggles the mind that anyone would try to make something mannered from her wild, sad, huge life...a dismal book report that the author herself would have declared fusty."

"Impressively shot and suffused with a righteous feminist fire, the film is undercut by a confused and clunky script and a fundamental lack of thematic focus, turning an extraordinary story into didactic and disjointed melodrama."

"A reminder that England in the early 19th century remains a rich repository of stories and characters, and era that can be made to feel charmingly quaint and bracingly modern, on both the page and the screen."

"Mary Shelley is a diverting enough biopic that features decent performances through an often vivid lens, but given the unusual facts of the author's life, a far more offbeat and far less rigid film could have been made here."

"An intelligent balance between romantic drama and literary biography that could hold a solid appeal for upscale arthouse audiences."

"Celebrates Mary Shelley for the trailblazing woman that she is, but hews far too close to convention to truly represent her life."

"Elle Fanning's central performance adds needed weight, but all around her the tone is bizarre and the performances hammy."

"A passionate film about a woman's ideas."