Spoiler alert! We're discussing important plot points and the ending of"The Bride!"(in theaters now), so beware if you haven't seen it yet.
Frankenstein's monster and his Bride live fast and die hard in"The Bride!"Or in their case, die again. Yet director Maggie Gyllenhaal still manages to give them a hopeful ending.
In the filmmaker's twisted 1930s twist on "The Bride of Frankenstein," Frank (Christian Bale) asks Chicago scientist Dr. Euphronious (Annette Bening) to make him a mate and they reanimate the corpse of a young dead woman named Ida (Jessie Buckley) who becomes the Bride. Frank kills a couple of dudes who mess with his love interest and they go on the run.
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Crime and murder highlight their road trip, with the cops in pursuit, but their travails also spawn a legion of female followers who paint their faces with black splotches to match the Bride and rise up against the men holding them down.
Let's dig into the film's electric finale and Gyllenhaal's very personal dedication.
What happens in the ending of 'The Bride'?
The authorities – including detective Jake Wiles (Peter Sarsgaard) and his assistant Myrna Mallow (Penelope Cruz) – track down the fugitive couple to a drive-in movie theater and the cops shoot Frank. An upset Bride drives him to Euphronious' lab to save his life, the police follow and the Bride is killed as well, left slumped atop Frank.
Myrna, who's sympathetic to the Bride's plight, and the other officers leave Euphronious' place. Outside, Myrna looks up and sees electricity in the windows of the lab: The scientist has decided to try and spark life in Frank and the Bride again. The final shot is a close-up on their hands, unmoving at first and then slowly clasping one another.
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Euphronious is "not supposed to bring people back to life," Gyllenhaal says. "That's bad. That's naughty. And she's inspired by the Bride and the love she sees between them to go against the grain."
As for the happy-ish ending, "I would say, why not go hopeful?" Gyllenhaal adds. "Like,let's go. It's so much braver. It's so much scarier. It's so much more vulnerable to go hopeful. Maybe that's just me."
Maggie Gyllenhaal and Jake Gyllenhaal are one of Hollywood's most dynamic sibling duos in recent memory. The A-list actors have supported each other through the years as both of their careers blossomed. See their sweet dynamic in photos, beginning here at the premiere of the Maggie Gyllenhaal-directed film "The Lost Daughter" during the 59th New York Film Festival at Alice Tully Hall, Lincoln Center on Sept. 29, 2021, in New York City." style="max-width:100%; height:auto; border-radius:6px; margin:10px 0;" loading="lazy" />
Jake and Maggie Gyllenhaal pose with parents Steve Gyllenhaal and Naomi Foner at a benefit screening of Jake's film "Moonlight Mile" on Sept. 24, 2002, at the Motion Picture Academy in Beverly Hills, California." style="max-width:100%; height:auto; border-radius:6px; margin:10px 0;" loading="lazy" /> 
Maggie and Jake Gyllenhaal receive "The Torch of Liberty Award" at the ACLU Foundation of Southern California Torch of Liberty Awards Dinner at the Beverly Hilton Hotel on May 19, 2003, in Beverly Hills, California." style="max-width:100%; height:auto; border-radius:6px; margin:10px 0;" loading="lazy" /> 
Jake and Maggie Gyllenhaal arrive at the 77th annual Academy Awards at the Kodak Theater on Feb. 27, 2005, in Hollywood." style="max-width:100%; height:auto; border-radius:6px; margin:10px 0;" loading="lazy" /> 
Peter Sarsgaard, Maggie Gyllenhaal and Jake Gyllenhaal with their parents on the red carpet for the TIFF gala screening of the film "Bee Season" on Sept. 11, 2005, in Toronto." style="max-width:100%; height:auto; border-radius:6px; margin:10px 0;" loading="lazy" /> 
Maggie and Jake Gyllenhaal talk at the premiere of his film "Jarhead" at the Arclight Theatres Oct. 27, 2005, in Los Angeles." style="max-width:100%; height:auto; border-radius:6px; margin:10px 0;" loading="lazy" /> 
Maggie and Jake Gyllenhaal arrive at the 82nd annual Academy Awards held at Kodak Theatre on March 7, 2010, in Hollywood." style="max-width:100%; height:auto; border-radius:6px; margin:10px 0;" loading="lazy" /> 
Maggie and Jake Gyllenhaal arrive at the 82nd annual Academy Awards held at Kodak Theatre on March 7, 2010, in Hollywood." style="max-width:100%; height:auto; border-radius:6px; margin:10px 0;" loading="lazy" /> 
Jake and Maggie Gyllenhaal attend the 72nd annual Golden Globe Awards at The Beverly Hilton Hotel on Jan. 11, 2015, in Beverly Hills, California." style="max-width:100%; height:auto; border-radius:6px; margin:10px 0;" loading="lazy" /> 
From left, Christian Bale, Maggie Gyllenhaal, Penélope Cruz, Jessie Buckley, Peter Sarsgaard and Jake Gyllenhaal attend "The Bride!" photocall at The Corinthia Hotel on Feb. 25, 2026, in London." style="max-width:100%; height:auto; border-radius:6px; margin:10px 0;" loading="lazy" /> 
From left,Jake Gyllenhaal, Julianne Hough, Penélope Cruz, Director Maggie Gyllenhaal, Jessie Buckley, Christian Bale and Peter Sarsgaard attend the World Premiere of "The Bride!" at Cineworld Leicester Square on Feb. 26, 2026, in London." style="max-width:100%; height:auto; border-radius:6px; margin:10px 0;" loading="lazy" /> See how famous siblings Jake and Maggie Gyllenhaal support each other
Maggie Gyllenhaal and Jake Gyllenhaal are one of Hollywood's most dynamic sibling duos in recent memory. The A-list actors have supported each other through the years as both of their careers blossomed.See their sweet dynamic in photos, beginning here at the premiere of the Maggie Gyllenhaal-directed film "The Lost Daughter" during the 59th New York Film Festival at Alice Tully Hall, Lincoln Center on Sept. 29, 2021, in New York City.
Bale feels that Frank and the Bride's love is "really vibrant and volatile" and they're "sort of essential for each other" in the film. She's "awakening to this brilliance and this life energy and this electricity that she has within her. He's trying to reconcile with all of the wrongs that he's assumed about how to live life, and this hundred years of guilt that has really led him nowhere. And the possibility of no matter what you've done in the past, you can have a future as well.
"At the end, he says, 'Will you marry me?' And she's like, 'You know, that's not it.' And he understands what she means. It's more of a reinvention each and every day, being totally alive, no matter where that takes you."
Does 'The Bride' have a post-credits scene?
No, but if you wait till the movie ends, there is something pretty cool for fans of Gyllenhaal. In the credits, she thanks her parents and brother Jake (who plays movie idol Ronnie Reed), and adds the dedication "For my daughters."
Gyllenhaal thinks Ramona, 19, and Gloria, who turns 14 next month, both informed the film's theme of "not fitting in your box" and being true to yourself.
"Without even knowing it, I was trying to get them in the box because, oh, guys, it'll just be easier if you can fit in," the director says. "And they both taught me that's really actually a total dead end. They just were never going to fit in their boxes."
Ramona has already seen "The Bride!" "a few times," Gyllenhaal says. "She's my biggest fan." And Gloria frequently would visit the editing room during post-production. "She used to come hang out on our couch and watch pieces of the movie, but I didn't let her watch the whole thing. But I'm going to let her. And they both want to paint their faces (like the Bride)."
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY:'The Bride!' ending explained by Christian Bale, Maggie Gyllenhaal
