Reply #2: It is a gorgeous movie, isn't it? [View All]

[BurtWorm]

The cinematography and the purity of the children's performances were enough for me to recommend it as a classic.

I don't think there's a simple, straightforward, one size fits all way to read this film. Your interpretation of the symbolism of Frankenstein makes perfecr sense. There are some interesting essays (or at least one) on the film at the Criterion Collection website. (CC put out the film on DVD.) If I recall correctly, one of the essays pointed to the loneliness the girls are enduring in this backwater town as a central theme. Evidently, they've come to wait out the war far from the city where the father is a professor or scientist. Ana identifies with the girl Frankenstein encounters by the lake, who is so desperate for a playmate (and so innocent) that she'll open her heart to a monster. This makes the girl's death particularly disturbing--it's evidently Ana's first encounter with the idea that she herself could die. There's a connection, too, between the cautionary tale that Frankenstein is and the father's profession--something about scientific hubris and unintended consequences. And of course the republican whom she meets in the barn is a Frankenstein figure. Of course, he's not the monster, in the end.

Another viewing would probably deepen your experience of the film.