Soy Frankelda, the masterpiece I didn't know I needed
It took me so long to figure out what I would call this article, because I simply have way too many feelings about the film Soy Frankelda.
Let’s start with some context. Soy Frankelda is a prequel to the animated series Los Sustos Ocultos de Frankelda. Both of them are stop-motion productions from Mexico. Unfortunately, getting your hands on Los Sustos Ocultos de Frankelda if you don’t live in Mexico or the US is pretty much impossible legally. This means that most of us will probably discover the prequel before the show itself.
Soy Frankelda is a gothic tragedy in stop motion that doubles as a dark fantasy musical featuring a romance between a raging female horror writer and her devoted but tortured monster love interest.
So yes, it basically has it all. It fits in many many genres and at the same time feels like its own type of niche. That’s why in order to do it justice, I had to break down the many ways in which that film shines.
a gothic universe in service of art
Okay, okay. First of all. I have to address the artistry of this film. As we all know, stopmotion is one HELL of a job. The film not only does it justice, but also does so while having a lot of things happening on screen at the same time. From a technicality point of view, this is extremely difficult. Other than that, the amount of details put on screen at every scene makes it a film you want to rewatch to make sure you haven’t missed anything.
Some of the characters and element of Soy Frankelda seem to be reminiscent of another mexican artist, Remedios Varo, who specialised in Surrealist paintings such as Creation of the Birds, The Gathering, or Character. The inspiration for Herneval’s species seems directly inspired from them. However the universe of Soy Frankelda knows how to distinguish itself from its inspiration, and rivals in stopmotion. Its maximalism and choppy animation gives it a lot of character. It might not be as fluid as a Laika or Aardman film, but somehow this does not become a flaw and instead contributes to the eerie aspect of the story.
Speaking of its animation, something that the film does brilliantly is mix its puppet animation with another style of animation during musical sequences. During the ballad Yo Ya Había Estado Aquí, Frankelda and Herneval are represented as different real life objects, being together in every universe. Whereas in El Principe De Los Sustos each character is has a hand-painted animated sequence.
Speaking of the music, it is banger after banger. I personally watched the film in Spanish with subtitles in my native language, so I don’t know what the English Dubbed version is worth. However, I can assure that the Spanish version does not disappoint (unless you’re the type of person who hates musicals–but if that’s the case, what are you even doing here?).
There is just something about the songs that feels very Shakespearesque. I know he didn’t write musicals, but it feels like that type of theater. The film is definitely a tragedy in my opinion. I also saw a lot of criticism regarding the plot, what was developped and wasn’t, etc. Personally, I think the issue comes from the fact people looked at it with the expectations of a standardised 21st century scenario–which, fair enough, we are in the 21st century– when the story and the way it is laid out is much closer to the plays that adorned stages way before the era of television.
There is a love story between characters from two different worlds, a tensed political climate, a royal family. Most of the element you would find in plays they make you study at school. Except that here, it is presented before you in stop motion with musicals. It reads like a revival of almost-forgotten arts.
the revival of tragic romance
The Principe de Los Sustos, Herneval, is ultimately the tragic hero you find in most plays. He is torn by love and duty during the entirety of the film, every move he makes towards Frankelda’s affection has legitimately awful consequences on his kingdom, and every action he makes out of duty to his people–by a wonderful butterfly effect in shape of the antagonist–results in driving Frankelda away from him and damages their relationship. His caring nature is the source of his internal conflict, because he cares deeply for his parents and would do anything to save them and his kingdom, but he is also helplessly in love with Frankelda.
Except that he can’t repress his love for Frankelda, he doesn’t just love her, he lives for her. They have been connected ever since they were kids, when she started writing about his world and he quite literally became her comfort character (I’m not kidding, her child-self carries a stuffed animal version of him). The link was so strong that it allowed him to cross the border of their world as a child, but that’s the thing, he was equally obsessed with her as she was with him. Growing up, she wrote and wrote about his world, as a whole, thinking it fiction, while he didn’t care much for the human world but watched over her nonetheless because he was enamoured with everything she made.
If you like devoted male character, well then Herneval is your next tumblr sexy man. But careful, it is impossible to talk about Herneval without mentioning Frankelda. So let’s learn a bit more about her incredible character.
She is a young woman in the 19th century who has been writing horror ever since she was little, and longs to share her stories with the world. But after many rejections in her world, she barely hesitates when Herneval invites her into his world. She willingly becomes a ghost and joins him in his kingdom, a kingdom she has been writing about for years.
What I love about Frankelda is how real she feels. The animation lets her be very expressive in all her emotions, positive or negative. She is allowed to rage, cry and be scary, to a degree that we all know women capable of, despite Hollywood trying to freeze our face in one singular lookmaxxing expression. Frankelda has passion, and feels everything to 100%. She believes in the quality of her work while at the same time crumbling and questioning everything for every bit of criticism she receives, a sentiment that can probably be shared by many artists.
She rightfully completely shuts out Herneval when he betrays her (it’s a bit more complicated than that, but from her point of view that’s what happens), only to quickly forgive him when he rescues her with an open shirt (Let’s be honest, you too would probably forgive the real-life version of your book crush if he saved you shirtless).
Frankelda feels like a self insert in Topus Terrenus (Herneval’s Kingdom) and that is entirely the point.
the soul of Soy Frankelda
I believe the strenght of this film is the people it will speak to. Frankelda wants to escape her world in which she feels out of place and rejected. She uses writing as an escapism but also a tool to channel her eotions, something most writers and readers can relate to.
“Lo que imaginas lleva tiempo imaginándote.”
In the film, what you imagine also imagines you. It follows the theory that everything you think about is already true in another universe, somewhere. Frankelda was lucky enough to pass that threshold and enter the world she has been dreaming of. If you have been on TikTok during 2020, you will probably make the link between what Frankelda does and shifting2. If you don’t, you can still recognise that–while not true for everyone– a lot of readers and writers would jump at the opportunity to live in what they so far believed to be a fictional world.
But what I find most interesting about Soy Frankelda is that, if you pay close attention to the details, you will see that what she was wishing for was already there. Fiction is inspired from reality, and while the film quite literally tells you that one of the Sustos is based off her Abuela, there are two other characters that are slightly more subtle. The Royal Writer is eerily similiar to the Editor who rejects her book without even reading it, the antagonist was present in both world. Sure, even less of a reason to stay in the boring version of the two you would say. But so was her love interest. There is one male character with little screentime, who was present in the human world, and was eerily similar to Herneval.
I genuinely believe that, had she not left, there could have been a love story between the two. And funnily enough, the obstacle was her insecurity. During every interaction Frankelda has with that character, you can see that she has fully internalised that the people in this town will reject no matter what, so she misinterpret every kind action he tries to take as a mockery or a trick. In that aspect, Frankelda also warns to not fully detach yourself from reality because what you’re looking for may be right under your nose, if only you lift it from the pages from time to time.
Frankelda is the soul of the film, if she had existed nowadays she would be that talented fanfic writer who desperately tried to shift in 2020 to be with her comfort character, and tends to prefer maladaptive daydreaming over real life interactions. I loved Soy Frankelda because I looked at the screen and I saw parts of myself. I believe I won’t be the only one.
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