Erewhon Review of Gods and Monsters

Gods and Monsters (1998)

Outstanding performance by Ian McKellen as one of the movies' great eccentrics

[7/10 · 5 November 1998]

McKellen has admitted that while he knew nothing about Whale when he was asked to play him in Bill Condon's movie, he did some checking and discovered their lives had many parallels. Whatever it took, he seems to have slipped into Whale's skin, giving a simply brilliant performance, the best by a male lead so far this year. If he's overlooked at Oscar time, it'll be nothing less than a damned shame. One of the remarkable things about this movie is that while Whale was gay (as is McKellen), this is not emphasized in the film any more than is the heterosexuality of Brendan Fraser's character. In short, this is not a "gay movie" but a movie about a man who was gay. Similarly, Whale's having been a movie director is simply part of his life -- and of his past, since he'd quit directing about 14 years before the time the movie is set -- so that this is not a movie about Hollywood per se, but about the end of the life of a man who lived and worked in Hollywood. It's really about a man trying to get ready to die, how he (sometimes unwillingly) re-examines his past life, with wistful melancholy, bravery and some sense of regret -- but he also knows he basically lived a good life. Whale may not have been a very pleasant person to know, but McKellen illuminates his soul -- at least as adapted from Christopher Bram's novel by Bill Condon -- and makes him endearing, infuriating and fascinating. The film is also >beautifully< photographed. Note: the story is mostly fictional.