52 Films by Women Vol 3. 33. MARY SHELLEY (Director: Haifaa al-Mansour)
Though it is both written and directed by women, I’m not sure Mary Shelley qualifies as a film ‘by women’. It feels designed by a committee, who took Australian writer Emma Jensen’s script, ‘ A Storm in the Stars ’ and turned it into an industrial product starring Elle Fanning and a bunch of Brits. The title character, Mary Shelley, the lover of unconventional 19 th Century poet Percy Bysshe Shelley, is the author of ‘ Frankenstein or the Modern Prometheus ’. Even if, like me, you haven’t read the book you have a clear idea of what Frankenstein is from Boris Karloff’s memorable performance, Mel Brooks’ affectionate parody and Robert de Niro telling Kenneth Branagh, ‘meet me on the sea of ice.’ The director is Saudi-born, San Fernando Valley resident Haifaa al-Mansour, who since her breakout 2012 feature, Wadjda about a young Saudi schoolgirl who wants her own bicycle - the first film to be shot in Saudi Arabia, by the way, not just by a woman, but by anyone – has relocated t...