The Bride has a wild ending that leaves things open-ended for viewers, but also helps slam home its message in one explosive moment. This is a bizarre mix of a horror movie, mixed with an arthouse vibe that pays homage to Frankenstein and Young Frankenstein in equal measure.

At heart, The Bride is a perfectly executed message movie about a woman taking control of her life, even when the world tries to force her into a specific role. Jessie Buckley is masterful as a mix of The Bride, a woman named Ida, and the angry spirit of Mary Shelley herself. In the end, The Bride finally reveals who she was always meant to be.

The Bride And Frankenstein Get Another Chance (Or Do They?)

When The Bride begins, Frankenstein (having taken his father’s name) goes to visit Dr. Euphronious, believing she could help him create a companion after living alone for 111 years. However, the dead body they dug up from a pauper’s grave brings several problems. Her resurrection leads to a Bonnie and Clyde-style storyline.

They end up wanted for murder after Frankie kills two men who tried to rape The Bride, and then, when she kills a police officer in self-defense, a giant manhunt begins. After Frankie proposes to The Bride, and she rejects, all to his intense pleasure, the police shoot and kill him. This leads the movie back to where it all began.

The Bride drives a dead Frankie back to Dr. Euphronious and asks her to bring him back, but she says she can’t. After the detective chasing them shows up, she listens to everything, but then the police show up and murder The Bride in a blaze of non-stop gunfire. The Bride and Frankie lie dead together.

However, there is a moment after this that leaves the door open for what happened. When Det. Mallow (Penélope Cruz) orders the police out of the house so Dr. Euphronious and her maid Greta (Jeannie Berlin) can prepare to come down to answer questions. However, she knows what will happen when the police leave.

The movie never shows what happened inside the lab. However, as Det. Mallow looks up at the house. She hears a boom, and the lab’s lights start flashing, which then leads to a scene where The Bride’s hand moves, and then Frankie’s hand moves, and they grasp hands as the movie ends.

It does not show what happens after this, and with so many police officers on the scene, there is little chance they could escape. However, the movie ends with the monsters seemingly back to life again, which is at least hopeful for the future.

Did Mary Shelley Really Possess The Bride?

One of the biggest questions surrounded the opening of the movie, which saw Mary Shelley (Jessie Buckley) in a starkly lit scene where she addressed the audience. The Frankenstein author talked about how she couldn’t say everything she wanted to say in her novel, or in real life, but now she can speak her truth.

In The Bride’s opening scenes, she appears to possess a young escort named Ida (also Jessie Buckley). A seemingly possessed Ida then points out a wealthy man in the restaurant as an abuser and murderer of young women, before two men escort her outside, and one of them murders her by throwing her down the stairs.

The idea of possession took the movie in a strange, eclectic direction, as Mary Shelley would occasionally speak directly to Ida (now known as Penny, after Frankie said her name was Penelope).

There are also scenes that are tonally different, and it is often hard to know what is real and why it might be in The Bride’s mind, although several moments make it look like it really happened, thanks to Mary Shelley’s possession. The big dance scene seemed like a hallucination, but it clearly happened.

However, Mary Shelley reveals her truth at the end when she names everyone the wealthy man from the restaurant (Zlatko Burić) has killed. Mary Shelley is angry, and she knows about all these women killed by a powerful man, with the police covering it up. She wants revenge, and The Bride is her weapon to deliver this powerful message.

Why Were The Two Detectives Chasing The Bride And Frankenstein?

While the police set out on a manhunt against The Bride and Frankie, two detectives were also on the case. These were Peter Sarsgaard as Det. Jake Wiles and Penélope Cruz as Myrna Malloy. While Wiles was the chief detective, Malloy was the brains behind the duo.

Wiles had a secret he was hiding, though. He had slept with Ida while she was undercover, getting information on crime boss Lupino (Zlatko Burić). When Ida died, he blamed himself, but he was also a corrupt cop who was helping cover up for Lupino, and he wanted to find some redemption for himself.

More important was Det. Malloy, who was a brilliant detective overlooked by the male police officers around her. She finally got her position of power when Wiles resigned his position on the condition that he could name his replacement, and he chose Malloy. She was another face of women held down by powerful men, trying to help save a woman killed by these same men.

Why Did The Bride Reject Frankenstein’s Proposition?

Right before the police killed Frankenstein, he proposed to The Bride. This seemed like an important moment for her, but then she made a comment that she had said more than once. She said, “I’d prefer not to,” which she told Dr. Euphronius more than once after her resurrection. It was also something Mary Shelley said.

“I’d prefer not to” is a quote from Herman Melville’s Bartleby, the Scrivener. The title character uses this quote as a line of passive resistance or defiance to others. Ida (and Mary Shelley) uses this quote, but they keep repeating it because they refuse to let men dominate their lives. She then uses the same line at the end when Frankie proposes to her.

While this angers most men who fear rejection, it only made Frankie smile. The Bride rejected him because she wanted to keep her independence, and she said she preferred to be The Bride and not a wife. It was a perfect decision, and one that Frank understood completely. This was the only ending they could have had in this twisted love story.

What Happened To Lupino At The End?

There was a mid-credit scene that showed how widespread The Bride’s message was. Women earlier in the movie had painted The Bride’s stained marks on their faces and stood up to the hurtful, dominating men. Mary Shelley wanted revenge against all evil men, but specifically the one who killed Ida and her friends. That happened at the end.

Lupino had a fetish where he would collect people’s tongues when he had them killed. In the mid-credit scene, several of these women were standing in a room with Wiles standing there. The camera then showed Lupino bound to a chair, a tattoo artist painting The Bride’s markings on his face, and his tongue possibly also removed. Ida finally gained her vengeance thanks to Wiles.

The True Meaning Behind The Bride

The Bride is a movie about rage and revenge against a society that has always pushed women to the background and the men who abuse them without punishment. In a world that sees men like Harvey Weinstein brought down following years of alleged abuse, and the recent Epstein Files, this is a film where a woman fights back.

Maggie Gyllenhaal created a bizarre movie that became even more unhinged as The Bride’s anger and confusion grew. This was a story that showed that when women are pushed too far, they eventually show their monster side. At the end, The Bride lived on, whether literally or metaphorically, and the men who held her down finally faced the consequences of their actions.