En toute innocence (Mord-Skizzen)

Appearing to be a likeable and cosy scientist and lecturer, the physician Viktor Frankenstein, scion of a dynasty of inventors, works in an underground test laboratory on the creation of an artificial human being made half from cadaver parts and half from electronic elements. The result, a giant with a quiff of hair, dresses Frankenstein in jeans and a T-shirt and teaches him to talk, eat and walk - with such resounding success that his creature is soon socially acceptable. Jessua takes obvious pleasure in inventing ever more absurd plot twists and mischievously plays with motifs from Mary Shelley's original novel and the earlier film adaptations. He allows the moral seriousness of Shelley's fable to shine through again and again, despite the drollery of the detached staging in the style of a French social comedy. (G.V.)

Courtesy Cinémathèque de Toulouse

Introduction Gary Vanisian on 8.6.2025