Frankenstein: Guillermo del Toro uses color as character in his adaptation of Mary Shelley's gothic novel

Oscar Isaac in Frankenstein (Image via Netflix)
Oscar Isaac in Frankenstein (Image via Netflix)

Frankenstein shows you the importance of color in a movie. It shows you how much color can shape a story. You notice right away that nothing is random. Every shade has a meaning. Every light pulls you into the mind of Victor, the creature, and other key characters.

The movie's world looks so rich and heavy because del Toro wanted a story where the frames spoke without words. He uses deep reds, golden tones, and cold greens to show what the characters feel before they even speak. Color becomes a guide for the viewer. And it helps you understand the heart of the story without needing any sort of explanation.

You also notice how Frankenstein shifts its colors as Victor changes. The warm golds around his early life feel safe and soft. Then the reds show grief, fear and the mess inside him after his mother dies. The greens and steel blues take over when he enters the world of science and the creation of the creature becomes his whole identity.

These colors feel alive and they act like another character that follows Victor through his downfall.


Frankenstein: The color story behind Victor’s world

Frankenstein uses color to show you who Victor is even when he feels lost. You see soft golds and gentle light when the movie shows him as a child. These colors feel like comfort and they show how much he depends on his mother.

The staircase scene in Frankenstein is one of the best examples of how color holds emotion. The whole space feels pale and controlled when Victor’s father returns to the house. Everyone around him is dressed in soft white tones. Then you see the mother standing on the stairs in a red dress with a red veil. It stands out in the whole scene. It's striking and alive in a world that suddenly looks drained of feeling.

Her red stands out because she is the heart of Victor’s childhood. She is the source of his comfort and the center of his memories. The moment shows the contrast between the father’s cold order and the mother’s emotional presence. It prepares you for the loss ahead in Victor’s journey.

The colors turn heavy and red after her death. Red becomes the shade of pain and it stays with him as he grows colder. It also appears when he sees the dark angel. You feel his anger against his father and you see how red shadows every space he walks into. It lets the viewer feel his wound without needing a single line of dialogue.

The shift into science and creation brings a new palette. Frankenstein fills the lab with greens, dark teals, and steel blues. These colors feel cold and muted. They show the world Victor builds when he pushes away his guilt and tries to control life.

The creature is born in this world of strange greens and bright white light. It looks unnatural because that is what Victor is doing. He is trying to force life out of death. The colors make that clear. You feel the distance between this cold place and the warm world he lost as a boy.

Mia Goth’s costumes speak for her characters in Frankenstein. She wears deep reds and rich textures as the mother. It makes her feel warm and full of life. Her dresses shift into brighter tones as Elizabeth. She wears detailed embroidery and jewel-like finishes. So, she feels elegant and full of light. Both roles share a visual link through bold color choices. This helps you understand why Victor sees traces of one woman in the other.

The colors grow darker and deeper as the story moves closer to its end. Frankenstein lets the shadows take over because Victor has no light left inside him. The creature moves through these spaces with the same colors that shaped Victor, so they mirror each other in that sense. These choices show that color is not decoration in the movie. Rather, it becomes a character in itself.


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Edited by Parishmita Baruah