Tender Son – The Frankenstein Project
Encyclopedia
Tender Son: The Frankenstein Project is a 2010 Hungarian film written and directed by Kornél Mundruczó
, developed from his own theatrical play and loosely based on Mary Shelley
's Frankenstein
. The film was screened in the main competition at the 2010 Cannes Film Festival
, where it was poorly received by critics.
(€540,000) in support from the Motion Picture Public Foundation of Hungary and 145,000 Euro from the Mitteldeutsche Medienförderung in Germany. The total budget was €1.6 million.
of The Hollywood Reporter
was highly critical of the film: "One wonders what the grand poobahs at the Cannes Film Festival were thinking when they chose "Tender Son -- The Frankenstein Project," a disastrously bad Hungarian film, for the competition. It's pokey and pretentious, and all character motivations, which are often contradictory if not ridiculously illogical, seem based on the film's symbolic needs rather than on real-life psychological desires." In Variety
, Boyd van Hoeij was disappointed with how the filmmakers had bypassed the original novel's mythological allusions: "Mundruczo and regular co-scripter Yvette Biro (Delta, Johanna
) have completely neutered Shelley's clever notion of a hero incompatible with his surroundings by replacing the monster with a flesh-and-blood human with no backstory, turning him into a supposed equal rather than a misunderstood outcast. Without a clear understanding of his psychology or past (How was he treated in the orphanage? How does he feel about his parents' absence for most of his life?), his random killing spree seems simply incomprehensible and vile."
In 2011 the film was shown at the Edinburgh International Film Festival, where it was viewed by a group of Video Production Students from Pellissippi State Community College, who all agreed the film was not only a complete waste of production time and money, but viewing time and money as well. The movie, which clocked in at about 1 hour and 45 minutes, could easily have been chopped down to about 20 minutes, due to the absurdly long, pointless shots. It is widely accepted that this film has no redeeming qualities. How it was ever accepted by both Cannes and EIFF is a mystery, the likes of which has never been seen.
Kornél Mundruczó
Kornél Mundruczó is a Hungarian actor, film director and screenwriter. He has directed 15 short and feature films since 1998. His film Johanna was screened in the Un Certain Regard section at the 2005 Cannes Film Festival....
, developed from his own theatrical play and loosely based on Mary Shelley
Mary Shelley
Mary Shelley was a British novelist, short story writer, dramatist, essayist, biographer, and travel writer, best known for her Gothic novel Frankenstein: or, The Modern Prometheus . She also edited and promoted the works of her husband, the Romantic poet and philosopher Percy Bysshe Shelley...
's Frankenstein
Frankenstein
Frankenstein; or, The Modern Prometheus is a novel about a failed experiment that produced a monster, written by Mary Shelley, with inserts of poems by Percy Bysshe Shelley. Shelley started writing the story when she was eighteen, and the novel was published when she was twenty-one. The first...
. The film was screened in the main competition at the 2010 Cannes Film Festival
2010 Cannes Film Festival
The 63rd annual Cannes Film Festival was held from May 12 to May 23, 2010, in Cannes, France. The Cannes Film Festival, hailed as being one of the most recognized and prestigious film festivals worldwide, was founded in 1946. It consists of having films screened in and out of competition during the...
, where it was poorly received by critics.
Cast
- Rudolf Frecska as boy
- Kitty Csíkos as girl
- Kornél MundruczóKornél MundruczóKornél Mundruczó is a Hungarian actor, film director and screenwriter. He has directed 15 short and feature films since 1998. His film Johanna was screened in the Un Certain Regard section at the 2005 Cannes Film Festival....
as director - Lili Monori as mother
- Miklós Székely B. as father
Production
The film was produced by Proton Cinema with co-production support from fellow Hungarian companies Filmpartners and Laokoon Film, Germany's Essential Filmproduktion and Austria's KGP Produktion. It received 150 million HUFHungarian forint
The forint is the currency of Hungary. It is divided into 100 fillér, although fillér coins are no longer in circulation. The introduction of the forint on 1 August 1946 was a crucial step of the post-WWII stabilization of the Hungarian economy, and the currency remained relatively stable until...
(€540,000) in support from the Motion Picture Public Foundation of Hungary and 145,000 Euro from the Mitteldeutsche Medienförderung in Germany. The total budget was €1.6 million.
Reception
Peter BrunettePeter Brunette
Peter Brunette was a film critic and film historian. He was the author of several books, including biographies of Italian directors Roberto Rossellini and Michelangelo Antonioni...
of The Hollywood Reporter
The Hollywood Reporter
Formerly a daily trade magazine, The Hollywood Reporter re-launched in late 2010 as a unique hybrid publication serving the entertainment industry and a consumer audience...
was highly critical of the film: "One wonders what the grand poobahs at the Cannes Film Festival were thinking when they chose "Tender Son -- The Frankenstein Project," a disastrously bad Hungarian film, for the competition. It's pokey and pretentious, and all character motivations, which are often contradictory if not ridiculously illogical, seem based on the film's symbolic needs rather than on real-life psychological desires." In Variety
Variety (magazine)
Variety is an American weekly entertainment-trade magazine founded in New York City, New York, in 1905 by Sime Silverman. With the rise of the importance of the motion-picture industry, Daily Variety, a daily edition based in Los Angeles, California, was founded by Silverman in 1933. In 1998, the...
, Boyd van Hoeij was disappointed with how the filmmakers had bypassed the original novel's mythological allusions: "Mundruczo and regular co-scripter Yvette Biro (Delta, Johanna
Johanna (film)
Johanna is a 2005 Hungarian musical film directed by Kornél Mundruczó. It was screened in the Un Certain Regard section at the 2005 Cannes Film Festival....
) have completely neutered Shelley's clever notion of a hero incompatible with his surroundings by replacing the monster with a flesh-and-blood human with no backstory, turning him into a supposed equal rather than a misunderstood outcast. Without a clear understanding of his psychology or past (How was he treated in the orphanage? How does he feel about his parents' absence for most of his life?), his random killing spree seems simply incomprehensible and vile."
In 2011 the film was shown at the Edinburgh International Film Festival, where it was viewed by a group of Video Production Students from Pellissippi State Community College, who all agreed the film was not only a complete waste of production time and money, but viewing time and money as well. The movie, which clocked in at about 1 hour and 45 minutes, could easily have been chopped down to about 20 minutes, due to the absurdly long, pointless shots. It is widely accepted that this film has no redeeming qualities. How it was ever accepted by both Cannes and EIFF is a mystery, the likes of which has never been seen.