Frankenstein director Guillermo del Toro has revealed that he used a different frame rate for the scenes between Jacob Elordi's Creature and Mia Goth's Elizabeth – and that's one of the reasons why viewers are noticing more emotional resonance between the two characters.
"I shot all their scenes together at 36 frames per second so I could slow down certain moments/Gestures (wedding dress moth flutter float) or speed them (her face trembling in glove scene) and you can feel that effect leaning on every emotional beat…" del Toro wrote on Twitter, in response to a fan who'd noticed slower movements in a scene between the two characters.
Elizabeth, who's engaged to Victor Frankenstein's brother William (and who Victor also has feelings for) is one of the only characters in the movie who shows any empathy or kindness for the Creature, particularly in the first few days after his creation when Victor has him chained up in the basement below his lab.
The standard frame rate for movies is 24 frames per second. By increasing it to 36 frames per second for the Creature and Elizabeth's interactions, del Toro not only creates a subtle visual distinction to their relationship, but also allows us to notice new details.
Based on Mary Shelley's iconic 19th-century Gothic novel, Frankenstein stars Oscar Isaac as the titular scientist. Alongside Elordi and Goth, the cast also includes Christoph Waltz, David Bradley, Charles Dance, Ralph Ineson, and Lars Mikkelsen.
Frankenstein is streaming now on Netflix. For more, fill out your watchlist with our picks of the other best movies on Netflix.
