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Watch Frankenstein on Netflix, and you may notice something peculiar about the cast of Guillermo del Toro’s new movie: Mia Goth (Pearl, X, Maxxxine) plays two distinct roles, as both the mother of Victor Frankenstein (Oscar Isaac), and his love interest Elizabeth.
This isn’t exactly a subtle move. Del Toro seems to be making a clear point about Victor’s state of arrested development. Despite his incredible intelligence and skills as a surgeon, he’s still just a little boy in love with his mother. That metaphor pops up throughout Frankenstein, and it’s reflected in the costumes and prosthetics used to help differentiate Goth’s two characters, the ethereal Baroness Claire Frankenstein (Victor’s mom) and the enchantingly odd Lady Elizabeth Harlander (his brother’s fiancée… it’s complicated).
“The mother’s more abstracted in this world,” costume designer Kate Hawley tells Polygon. “She’s not a present mother who cooks you breakfast — she’s much more part of the dream world.”
The biggest visual difference between Elizabeth and Claire is in the colors they wear. Most of Baroness Frankenstein’s clothing is a deep red. “Guillermo calls it a pigeon-blood red,” Hawley says. Meanwhile, Elizabeth’s dresses are inspired by her love of nature, and insects in particular. “The greens have almost the iridescent coloring of beetles.”
Hawley used iridescent fabrics designed to replicate the “wonder of nature.” For Elizabeth’s dresses, she also took inspiration from the patterns formed by malachite, a green mineral that takes the form of stunning rocky crystals. “That was all carefully chosen and scaled up,” she says.
These color palettes also extend beyond Goth’s costumes. Victor Frankenstein surrounds himself with “pigeon-blood red” throughout the film, ranging from his clothing to his home decor, to solidify the mamma’s-boy metaphor.
“The red gloves and the red drapes, it all comes back to Mother,” Hawley says. “It is quite Freudian.”
Del Toro uses one more trick to help distinguish between Goth’s characters, and it goes far beyond the color of her beautiful gowns. Mike Hill, who served as department head for prosthetic makeup effects, tells Polygon that he designed a special prosthetic for Goth to wear while performing as Claire Frankenstein.
“I sculpted a whole forehead and nose for her,” Hill says. “The forehead was to resemble Oscar Isaac’s forehead, since she was playing his mother.”
Hill adds that he’s particularly proud of this work — “that was a tricky one” — and notes that some audiences don’t even realize it’s Goth playing both roles as a result.
But whether you spotted her dual performance or not, Frankenstein has enough visual clues scattered throughout to help the audience understand that Victor’s obsession with his mother goes deeper than just parental love — and perhaps help explain some of the story’s darker twists and turns.
Frankenstein is streaming on Netflix now.
