Gods and Beasts

This film tells the story of the famous Hollywood director James Whale (played by Ian McKellen) in the last years of his life in 1957. The creator of one of cinema's most terrifying characters, 'Frankenstein', has withdrawn from the film industry and is deeply focused on painting, while still frequently dating various men in his spare time. When his housekeeper Hannah (played by Lynn Redgrave) hires a new gardener, the strong former Marine Boone (played by Brendan Fraser), Whale's interest gradually shifts entirely to Boone. Like a spider creeping toward a fly, Whale slowly approaches Boone, leading him step by step into a carefully designed trap. Though Whale has stopped making films, upon meeting Boone, he finds that Boone bears an uncanny resemblance to Frankenstein, the character from his film—awkward in speech, innocent, and difficult to grasp. Whale feels he cannot quell the passion inside him, believing only Boone can relieve his pain. His plan is to entice Boone to ultimately kill him, allowing him to realize the perfect movie plot of his life... The film intricately portrays the delicate contact between an aging Hollywood director and a young gardener, as well as the fragments of memories it triggers. It beautifully unfolds a world of emotions including friendship, respect, love, resistance, hatred, and fear, all intertwined with subtle lesbian undertones. The film constantly intersperses clips and lines from 'Frankenstein', cleverly parallelizing the shared discriminated status and fearful circumstances of homosexuality and the monster. The director's playful yet calm presentation layers the final journey of a gay director's life, marking this film as a masterpiece of black comedy. 'Gods and Monsters' won the Oscar for Best Adapted Screenplay that year and was nominated for Best Actor and Best Supporting Actress. It also stands as Sir Ian McKellen's most important and outstanding performance in his career, renowned worldwide for his portrayal of 'Gandalf'. Ian McKellen was nominated for Best Actor at the 71st Academy Awards and Lynn Redgrave was nominated for Best Supporting Actress. The film was also nominated for Best Drama at the 56th Golden Globe Awards.