Vito Russo would have loved this film, about the last days of semi-openly gay director James Whale. In mental decline and heavily medicated, Whale (Ian McKellen) is mainly house bound, where he’s tormented by memories, mild strokes, and the Olympic beauty of his gardener Clayton Boone (Brendan Fraser). On the occasional day trip, such as a party at George Cukor’s place with Elizabeth Taylor and Princess Margaret, Whale delights in teasing gay Hollywood figures with public disclosure and openly flaunting his own homosexuality.
Apparently blacklisted mid-career for being gay, Whale made his last film (the coincidentally titled They Dare Not Love) prematurely in 1941, after an accomplished and extremely prolific ten year film making burst that included Frankenstein, Bride of Frankenstein, and The Man In The Iron Mask. Known for his humorous approach to horror, and his all-male pool parties, Whale stayed in Hollywood after he finished making films, and in 1957 he committed suicide in his backyard pool, aged 64.
In Gods And Monsters, writer-director Bill Condon has very judiciously captured the spirit of Whale through examining the last few weeks of his life. Flashbacks are numerous, but they’re quick, and usually abstract. We get a sense of the context of Whale’s life through occasional flickers of World War One trench scenes (where Whale served as an officer), black and white mini-scenes of Whale at work on Bride of Frankenstein, and evocative dream sequences. It’s clever and efficient structuring, and it’s complemented by a lack of sentimentality.
If only Condon had hemmed in Lynn Redgrave, who overacts so badly it’s hard to watch her, let alone listen to her gravel chewing Eastern European fake accent. As Whale’s live in maid/mother/wife, the talented Redgrave is unusually hopeless and completely out of her depth in the company of Ian McKellen and a surprisingly good Brendan Fraser.
Openly gay McKellen is outstanding, and was beaten out of the 1998 Best Actor Oscar by Roberto Benigni, a surprise and rare non-English language winner in Life Is Beautiful. Speaking on David Letterman during the nomination period that year, McKellen sagely dismissed his Oscar chances, saying being English and queer double-disqualified him from victory. He may have been onto something - Benigni certainly didn’t deserve it, and there was no one else in that year’s field who was a serious contender.
Fraser rises to the occasion with a performance that’s just as good as McKellen’s. Commendably, he didn’t take this on as masterpiece-theatre filler before his leading man career took off - Gods And Monsters was filmed between George of the Jungle and The Mummy. Blockbuster Hollywood’s gain is serious cinema’s loss, as Fraser proved here that he’s an actor with dimension and surprise, as well as looks to burn.
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