19, 20, 21...
22, 23, 24...
25, 26... Get ready, everyone!
27, 28, 29, 29 and a half, 30!
Ready or not, I'm coming!
I'm giddy. You'd better be well hidden!
Hello, boy. Don't turn around!
What?
I said don't turn around, please, don't.
Very well, sir.
- Where am I? - Near Geneva.
- Geneva? - Yes, sir, of the lake.
Can't you see it? It's there.
The lake... how it glistens.
I have come a long way, walking at night,
fish in the streams... Do you fish?
- Oh, yes! - And what do you catch?
What bait do you use?
I should go to my friends, we're playing.
Guess who I am.
Are you from... are you a friend of the family's?
Yes!
Then you're a judge, or a minister, perhaps!
I am a judge. Don't look.
- What? - I said don't look at me.
I shan't.
What's your name?
- William. What's yours? - We can be friends, William!
We can go hiking, we can climb those mountains over there!
- Climb Mont Blanc? - Yes!
- Great! - Let's go!
No, sorry, I'm not allowed.
- Father will be angry! - Forget about him. Come with me!
- Let's climb Mont Blanc! - I'd like to, but I can't!
Everyone has friends, William, you must be my friend.
I have to find my father, let me go! Let me go!
I will release you if you answer my question.
What is it?
I seek a man called Frankenstein, have you heard of him?
That's my name.
You? Frankenstein?
- You're ugly, leave me alone! - Victor Frankenstein,
- he is your father? - No, Victor's my brother.
- Where is he? - He's at home, he's always at home.
- Can I see him? - No, of course you can't!
We must be friends, William, everyone has friends.
We will go climbing in those mountains
- after you take me to see Victor. - No, you're revolting!
What is he? What does he do?
- He's a scholar, a genius. - Was he ever in Ingolstadt?
Yes, he studied there.
He's come home to marry Elizabeth.
But he's silly, he never leaves his room,
he's missing everything.
You will bring him to me.
- Come. - No, I shan't!
Come!
My father's a magistrate! He'll punish you for this!
- You're going to prison! - Quiet!
William!
- William! - William!
This is where you were playing?
Yes, we were hiding. He was coming to find us.
- Where were you hiding? - Down at the boathouse.
- Did you see anything? - No, nothing.
- Heard nothing? - He was calling out.
I thought it was part of the game.
William! William!
Divide into teams! You and you, come with me!
They are looking, everyone is looking, you may go home.
But William's missing, how long has it been?
Since this afternoon but you may go home.
I have a duty to help, father.
Victor, it doesn't help anybody when you become agitated.
He's my brother, let me join the search, I must!
Over here! Monsieur Frankenstein, look at this.
- It's William's hat. - What was he doing here?
We were playing hide and seek.
- And you didn't keep him in view? - I was hiding from him.
How could I keep him in view?
- Where were you? - Well, where were you?
Locked in your study, I suppose.
William was not my responsibility, he was yours!
So you have responsibility for what, exactly?
Enough!
The villagers are saying, Clarice?
They say they've seen a beast in the mountains, sir.
- Beast? What kind of a beast? - A monster!
Tall as a pine tree!
They say it breathes blue fire.
And you think this thing took William?
Well, someone took him, he can't be found.
No one knows what's up in those mountains.
I know what's up those mountains.
Snow and ice!
And a bit more snow and ice, that's all.
Spread out, keep looking! He may be nearby.
- William! - William!
Monster? What do they mean, a monster?
They've seen some sort of animal, presumably.
They didn't say animal, they said a monster, a creature.
Folk-tales.
Who exactly saw it?
I don't know. Does it matter?
Victor... you don't look well.
I haven't seen you for weeks, you're always up in your room.
Why do you want to see me?
We're supposed to be getting married.
- So I'm expected to... - Talk to me occasionally, yes.
What if I haven't got anything to say?
What am I meant to do then?
- What is it? - A boat, drifting against the current.
That's impossible!
- Against the wind? - Is someone pulling it?
- No, no one! - Is there anyone aboard?
Haul it in!
- William! - Is it the child?
Oh, please, no.
He's... dead, Father.
- Is it him? - Angels in heaven, little William...
Have mercy on his soul.
My boy... let me see him.
Carry him.
Sound the bell! My son is dead.
What are those papers?
Victor, it looks like your hand!
These are diagrams, equations. University work.
What are they doing here?
It seems they are pages from my journal.
- Where is your journal? - I don't know.
I lost it.
- I don't know where it is! - Victor!
Are you here?
Where are you?
Are you here?
Where are you?
You show yourself, you monstrous thing!
God...
Muscular coordination, hand and eye...
...and a perfect balance!
Excellent tissue, the sutures have held!
I failed to make it handsome but I gave it strength and grace!
What an achievement!
Unsurpassed in scientific endeavour! My God, the madness of that night...
the heat, the sweat, the infusions...
The moment I saw it crawl towards me and I...
- You ran away. - What?
You abandoned me.
- It speaks! - Yes, Frankenstein.
- "It" speaks. - You know my name.
- My journal. - Why did you abandon me?
I was terrified... what had I done...
- Built a man and given him life! - Now I've come to take it away.
- Have you? - I've come to kill you.
Kill me? Then why did you create me?
To prove that I could.
- So you make sport with my life? - In the cause of science!
You are my greatest experiment,
but an experiment that has gone wrong.
An experiment that must be curtailed.
Be still, genius.
- I have a request. - Damn you, you can't have requests!
Oh, I can. Listen to me.
- It is your duty. - I have no duty to a murderer!
If I am a murderer, you made me one.
You killed my brother, you did it, not me!
I curse the day you drew breath.
Since then I've lived in darkness.
"Is this the Region, this the Soil, the Clime,"
"said then the lost Arch-Angel,"
"this the seat that we must change for Heav'n,"
"this mournful gloom for that celestial light?"
That's Paradise Lost.
You've read Paradise Lost?
I liked it.
Why? You saw yourself as Adam?
I should be Adam, God was proud of Adam.
But Satan is the one I sympathise with.
For like Satan, I was driven out though I did no wrong,
and when I see others content,
I feel the bile rise in my throat,
and it tastes like Satan's bile.
This is remarkable, you are educated, you have memory.
Yes, I use it to remember being hunted like a rat!
Running from human places, finding refuge in the woods.
I use it to remember being beaten and whipped
and I was good.
- I wanted to be good. - Then why did you kill William?
I wished to see you and you came.
Would you have come otherwise if I had killed half of Ingolstadt?
Would you have come?
Did no one show you kindness?
There was an old man, he taught me many things,
but he was blind, he never saw my face.
He did not know that I looked like this.
After a year had gone by, after he had described to me the seasons,
I watched them go round, 1-2-3-4,
when I was one year old, he said they would take me in.
His son and his wife, beautiful wife.
What happened?
- You know what happened. - Oh, God, I do.
- I burnt them in a fire! - Sorry, I am...
Sorry? You are sorry?
You caused this!
This is your universe, Frankenstein!
Here is my request.
I wish to be part of society,
but no human being will associate with me,
but one of my own kind, one just as deformed
and horrible, she would understand...
- She? What? - I want a female built like me!
- A female? - You did this!
- You alone have the power to... - To create another monster,
another brute? No, I will not.
- It is my right! - You have no rights.
You are a slave!
You want me to build you a female so that the pair of you
could be wicked together? No, I will not.
Torture me as much as you like,
I'll never consent.
I will not torture you.
I will reason with you. Isn't that what we're supposed to do?
Have a dialogue?
There is no dialogue with killers.
Yet you'd kill me if you could, you have just tried!
Why is your killing justified and mine is not?
I will not argue with you, I can't.
I'm halfway up a mountain, debating with a...
- A living creature. - A nothing!
A filthy mess of nothing!
I am your master, you should show respect.
A master has duties. You left me to die.
I am not a slave, I am free!
If you deny my request, I will make you my enemy.
I will work at your destruction.
I will dedicate myself,
I will not rest until I desolate your heart!
I apologise, I did intend to reason.
I am capable of logic.
I do not think what I ask is immoderate.
A creature of another sex but as hideous as me.
If you consent, we will disappear together,
we will go to the wilds of South America,
we will build our little Paradise,
and live there in peace and no human being will see us again.
- What do you say? - I'm amazed you've learnt so much, so fast.
- Are you proud of me? - Proud? No.
Why not?
- Because your logic is flawed. - Is it?
You say you'll go abroad and disappear,
yet you also say you yearn to be accepted by society.
Won't you grow tired of exile?
Won't you return and try once more to live amongst people,
only to meet with their detestation?
Because that is what you will meet with.
Only now, when you run wild, there will be two of you,
and double the destruction. Why should I facilitate this?
Because I am lonely!
Every creature has a mate, every... bird in the sky,
even you are to be married.
Why would you deny me the comforts you allow yourself?
A moment ago you were amazed at my intellect,
but now you harden your heart!
Please, do not be inconsistent. I find it infuriating.
All I ask is the possibility of love.
- Love? - Yes.
- You think it is a possibility? - Yes.
- For you? - A good man deserves it.
- Are you a good man? - I would be, I would be.
I regret that you are lonely,
- I did not foresee that... - That I might have feelings?
You were an equation! A therum, I confess it!
A puzzle to be solved!
But if you are sentient, and you will depart...
Frankenstein, if you build me a companion,
I will quit Europe forever, I will vanish into air,
there will be no more destruction,
- I will be gone. - Do you swear to be peaceful?
Yes, I beg you to believe me.
If you gave me your word that you'd leave here forever,
and never return, never, if you swear and swear solemnly!
I swear by the blue sky, by the white snow,
by the fire of love that burns in my heart,
that if you grant my request,
you will never have to look on me again
for as long as the world turns around.
- You think it turns round? - Yes, of course.
You must understand, the work is hard.
You alone can do it, you alone have the skill.
I alone in the whole world and no one to share the secret.
Down there, do you see them?
Little men with their little lives.
- Little houses, little men! - I am different.
You are a king, the King of Science!
Build me a woman, please, I beg you, a bride!
A bride should be beautiful.
She should have pretty eyes, shining hair,
she should not be hideous,
she should be as lovely as possible.
I will not repeat my mistakes,
we can only go forwards, we can never go back.
Master, work your magic once more.
- I beg of you... - A female, I haven't even
considered the question, there are differences of...
of anatomy, of course, but also differences of what?
- Temperament, humour, skill... - I don't know...
- What are females good at? - I don't know!
What a challenge!
If I could build something immaculate,
something I could exhibit...
Not a demon, but a goddess.
A goddess.
She, who's indistinguishable, she, who's... perfect.
Imagine that.
I may be damned, but I'll attempt it.
- You will comply with my request? - I will comply with your request.
If you give me your word that afterward you will leave us be.
I will, if you give me your word that you will do it.
What is that for?
You shake it.
- I shake it? - We seal the bargain,
take my hand.
Thank you, thank you, my dream's come true!
Go home and begin your work at once!
- Home? I can't do it at home. - Why not? What happens at home?
Do this work in my father's house? No.
Then go where you need to. I will be watching!
Your post, sir.
Letters of condolence.
The Lord giveth, and the Lord taketh away.
I know, Clarice, I know.
Count.
Victor, where have you been?
In the mountains, on a sea of ice.
This is a house of death, it is no time to go adventuring!
Father, I have to make a long journey,
- I leave today. - Today?
What about William?
He isn't coming.
- I must travel to England, goodbye. - England? Why?
- Work. - What work?
For a year I haven't seen you work,
what is this work for which you must decamp to England?
- I don't expect you to understand... - No, I don't understand.
I don't believe your studies are so important
and I order you to remain here for the funeral.
I have no intention of obeying, I must go.
And your wedding?
- It'll have to be postponed. - And Elizabeth?
Elizabeth will wait.
I was in Ingolstadt for six years,
a little longer won't make much difference.
Victor, why are you so sad?