Mary Shelley's Frankenstein (1994)

Kenneth Branagh: Victor

Photos 

Quotes 

• Victor Frankenstein : It's alive. It's alive!

• Victor Frankenstein : Do you share my madness?

  Walton : No, not madness.

  Victor Frankenstein : What, then?

  Walton : There is a passage to the North Pole. And I will find it!

  Victor Frankenstein : At the cost of your own life and the lives of your own crew?

  Walton : Lives come and go. If we succeed, our names will live on forever. I will be hailed as the benefactor of our species.

  Victor Frankenstein : You're wrong. I of all men know that.

• Victor Frankenstein : I have done something - so terrible, so evil, that I am frightened that if I tell you the truth, that I will lose you.

  Elizabeth : You'll lose me if you don't.

• The Creature : Get up. Get up.

  Victor Frankenstein : You do speak.

  The Creature : Yes, I speak. And read. And think. And know the ways of man.

  Victor Frankenstein : How did you find me?

  The Creature : Your journal.

  Victor Frankenstein : Then you mean to kill me?

  The Creature : No.

  Victor Frankenstein : You murdered my brother, didn't you?

  The Creature : I took him by the throat with one hand, and lifted him off the ground, and slowly crushed his neck, and, as I killed him, I saw your face. You gave me these emotions, but you didn't tell me how to use them. Now two people are dead because of us. Why?

  Victor Frankenstein : There was something at work in my soul which I do not understand.

  The Creature : What of my soul? Do I have one? Or was that a part you left out? Who were these people of which I am comprised? Good people? Bad people?

  Victor Frankenstein : Materials. Nothing more.

  The Creature : You're wrong.

  [Shows flute] 

  The Creature : Did you know I knew how to play this? In which part of me did this knowledge reside? In these hands? In this mind? In this heart? And reading and speaking. Not things learned, so much as things remembered.

  Victor Frankenstein : Trace memories in the brain, perhaps.

  The Creature : Did you ever consider the consequences of your actions? You gave me life, and then you left me to die. Who am I?

  Victor Frankenstein : You... I don't know.

  The Creature : And you think I'm evil.

  Victor Frankenstein : What can I do?

  The Creature : There is something I want. A friend.

  Victor Frankenstein : [confused]  A friend?

  The Creature : A companion. A female. Someone like me. So she won't hate me.

  Victor Frankenstein : Like you? Oh, God. You don't know what you're asking.

  The Creature : I do know that with the sympathy of one living being I would make peace with all. I have love in me the likes of you can scarcely imagine. And rage, the likes of which you would not believe. If I cannot satisfy the one, I will indulge the other.

  Victor Frankenstein : And if I consent, how will you live?

  The Creature : We would travel north, my bride and I, to the furthest reaches of the pole where no man has ever set foot. There we would live out our lives, together. No human eye would ever see us again. This, I vow. You must help me. Please.

  Victor Frankenstein : If it is possible to right this wrong. Then I will do it.

• Walton : Who are you?

  Victor Frankenstein : My name... is Victor... FRANKENSTEIN

• Victor Frankenstein : I haven't got time to argue!

  Elizabeth : Oh, isn't it convenient? Or doesn't it fit in with your plans? Don't you ever think of anything or anyone than yourself?

• Victor Frankenstein : How close did you come?

  Professor Waldman : Too close.

• Victor Frankenstein : One month, that's all I ask - and then we can be married and then we can forget this whole business. I promise!

  Elizabeth : Promise? Promise? Oh, don't dare use that word to me! You promised to tell me who this man was. You promised to abandon this work of yours. Your promises don't mean anything.

• Krempe : The foolish and vain force their views by their brawn. But knowledge is power only through god, our motto, easily forgotten by you young men in a hurry... . But perhaps the greatest mistake that all students make during their time here is to suppose that they can ever have an original or creative thought. We have all imagined that in our time. But gentleman you have not come here in order to think for yourselves. You are here to learn how to think for your patients. You must learn therefore in the first place, to submit yourselves to the established laws of physical reality.

  Victor Frankenstein : But surely, Professor, you don't intend we disregard more philosophical approaches.

  Krempe : Philosophical?

  Victor Frankenstein : Those which stir the imagination as well as the intellect. As in Paracelsus, for example.

  Krempe : Ah, Paracelsus. An arrogant and foolish Swiss.

  Victor Frankenstein : Albertus Magnus.

  Krempe : His nonsense was exploded 500 years ago!

  Victor Frankenstein : Cornelius Agrippa.

  Krempe : A sorcerer, an occultist. What is your name?

  Victor Frankenstein : Victor Frankenstein sir. Of Geneva.

  Krempe : Oh-ho. Another Swiss. Mr. Frankenstein here at the University of Ingolstadt, we teach and indeed hope to advance the science of medicine. Chemistry, biology physics. We study hard science.

  Victor Frankenstein : But surely professor the greatest possible advances lie in combining these things.

  Krempe : We do not study the ravings of lunatics and alchemists hundreds of years in their graves because they're kind of amateur, fanatical, fantastical speculation does not heal bodies or save lives! Only science can do that. Now have we your permission to continue.

• Professor Waldman : You! Explain yourself!

  Victor Frankenstein : Professor I'm sorry. Listen I came here to learn all about the new science. I'm Galvanism, Franklin's experiments. The combination of modern disciplines with ancient knowledge in an attempt to protect and create...

  Professor Waldman : To create what?

  Victor Frankenstein : So we can change things. We can make things better. Now you know that. We're on the verge of undreamt of discoveries, if we only have the courage to ask the right questions. Now you must help me. Please.

  Professor Waldman : Come on.

• Krempe : Once and for all, Frankenstein. Life is life, death is death. These things are real. They are absolute... .

  Victor Frankenstein : That is rubbish and you know it. The premise has been repeatedly challenged by members of your own staff!

  [Pointing to Waldman] 

  Victor Frankenstein : Yes you sir! We don't know where life ends or death begins. Hair continues to grow after what we choose to call death, so do fingernails! We know that a man's brain may die, but his heart and lungs may continue to pump and breathe. Now you know that!

  Krempe : Mr. Frankenstein of Geneva, I warn you what you are suggesting is not only illegal, it is immoral.

  Victor Frankenstein : Rubbish!

• Professor Waldman : Lock the door.

  [Henry closes doors] 

  Professor Waldman : now for thousands of years, the Chinese have based their medical science on the belief that the human body is a chemical engine run by energy streams.

  Victor Frankenstein : That's fascinating, then how do they explain... .

  Professor Waldman : [Henry is looking through his journals]  Don't touch that! Their doctors treat patients by inserting needles like these into the flesh at various key points to manipulate these electric streams

  Victor Frankenstein : I see! So electricity is the key.

• Victor Frankenstein : No I'm serious. You take vaccine for instance. 30 years ago the entire concept of vaccine was unheard of, and now we save lives every day. But that isn't the whole answer.

  Henry Clerval : What do you mean?

  Victor Frankenstein : That sooner or later the best way to cheat death, will be to create life.

  Henry Clerval : Now you've gone too far. There's only one God, Victor.

  Victor Frankenstein : No. Leave God out of this. Listen. You love someone they have a sick heart. Wouldn't you give them a healthy one.

  Henry Clerval : Impossible!

  Victor Frankenstein : No, it's not impossible. We can do it. We're steps away. If we can do that if we can replace one part of a human being. We can replace every part. And if we can do that we can design a life. We can create a being that will not grow old or sicken. One that will be stronger than us, better than us, one that will be more intelligent than us, more civilized than us.

  Henry Clerval : In our lifetime?

  Professor Waldman : No!

  Victor Frankenstein : How close did you get, Professor?

  Professor Waldman : Too close.

  Victor Frankenstein : Professor, I beg you, let me see these notes!

  Professor Waldman : No! My work now and it's application, lies exclusively in the preservation of life. I abandoned my researches many years ago.

  Victor Frankenstein : Why?

  Professor Waldman : Because they resulted in abomination.

• Henry Clerval : Nice coat.

  Victor Frankenstein : Thank you.

  Henry Clerval : Don't take it too hard. It's just that Krempe doesn't approve of public humiliation.

  Victor Frankenstein : I am not mad!

  Henry Clerval : My dear fellow, of course you're not. In fact that's just the sort of thing I'd expect a perfectly rational person to say to a complete stranger. Henry Clerval, by the way and I'm completely crazy.

  Victor Frankenstein : Victor Frankenstein.

  Henry Clerval : Of Geneva

  Victor Frankenstein : Of Geneva

  Henry Clerval : Yes I...

  Schiller : [bumping into them]  Why don't you look where I'm going?

  Henry Clerval : That's Schiller. Ornament to the playing field.

  Victor Frankenstein : Really?

  Henry Clerval : He's new as well. You can tell because he goes around looking at things with his mouth open. What are you here for?

  Victor Frankenstein : Research.

  Henry Clerval : Very grand. I'm here to become a mere doctor. I'm told that has something to do with healing the sick, which is a pity really, because I find sick people rather revolting.

  Victor Frankenstein : Uh-huh.

  Henry Clerval : Still, I'll have a good time, get my degree if I can stop failing anatomy, and settle down to relieve rich old ladies of imaginary ailments. And then relieve their very real and beautiful daughters.

  Victor Frankenstein : Who was that? He was at the lecture.

  Henry Clerval : Ah, that's Waldman.

  Victor Frankenstein : Oh, that's Waldman?

  Henry Clerval : Yes, interesting case. They say, in his youth, he could break into heaven and lecture God on science. Ran into trouble with the authorities a few years back. Something to do with illegal experiments.

  Victor Frankenstein : What kind of experiments, I wonder? So what was it you were saying about rich old ladies and their daughters?

  Henry Clerval : Yes, it's a life of sacrifice, I know. But someone's got to do it.

• Henry Clerval : [from trailer; somewhat sternly]  No, you can't cheat death.

  Victor Frankenstein : [whispers]  We won't know unless we try.

• Victor Frankenstein : Resultant Reanimant is deformed, and pitiful, and dead. Tomorrow this Journal and its Secrets must be Destroyed.

• Victor Frankenstein : So, how do you feel Elizabeth?

  Elizabeth : Alive!

• Justine : Willie!

  Elizabeth : Victor!

  Victor Frankenstein : Wait! One, two, three.

• Victor Frankenstein : Oh, Mother. You should never have died. No one need ever die. I will stop this. I will stop this. I promise.

• Henry Clerval : Even if it were possible - and even if you had the right, which you don't - to make this decision for us, can you imagine for one second that there wouldn't there be a terrible price to pay?

  Victor Frankenstein : I think for the chance to defeat death and disease, to let everyone on this earth have the chance of life - sustained, healthy life - to allow people who love each other to be together forever - for all of that, I think it's a risk worth taking.

• Victor Frankenstein : ... of how your lips taste. I dream of your arms and of your breasts and of the time on our wedding night when we will be alone together, at last.

• Victor Frankenstein : Are you my sister?

  Elizabeth : Sister, friend, lover.

  Victor Frankenstein : Wife?

  Elizabeth : Yes!

• Victor Frankenstein : We don't know where life ends or death begins. Hair continues to grow after what we choose to call death. So do fingernails! We know that a man's brain may die, but his heart and his lungs may continue to pump and breathe!

• Victor Frankenstein : What have I done? *What* have I done?

• Victor Frankenstein : I - cannot abandon this work now. It is too important. Not just for me, but, believe me, for everyone. And it must - come first.

  Elizabeth : Before us?

• Elizabeth : Who is this man? I mean, how do you know he's responsible?

  Victor Frankenstein : I'll tell you everything after I destroyed him.

  Henry Clerval : If what you say is true then surely this is a matter for the police!

  Victor Frankenstein : They wouldn't understand.

  Elizabeth : Well, neither do I.

  Victor Frankenstein : Then just accept it.

• Victor Frankenstein : Why her?

  The Creature : Materials, remember? Nothing more. Your words. You will honor your promise to me!

• Elizabeth : You're soaking. Brother and sister, no more.

  Victor Frankenstein : Now husband and wife.