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Early Reactions: Maggie Gyllenhaal’s “The Bride!” Lets Jessie Buckley & Christian Bale Electrify a Ferocious Outlaw Romance

By The Credits  |  February 27, 2026

The first reactions for Maggie Gyllenhaal’s The Bride! are alive (online)—and it sounds as if Gyllenhaal’s second feature (her first was her stellar 2021 drama The Lost Daughter) is just as electric. 

The Bride! is anchored by two performers at the top of their games; Jessie Buckley, currently the front-runner to win the Best Actress Oscar for her earthy, captivating performance in Hamnet, stars as the titular bride, the victim of a crime who, when resurrected by “Frank” (Christian Bale), is unleashed for a second crack at life and certainly no longer willing to be anyone else’s plaything.

Gyllenhaal’s script sends a forlorn Frank to Chicago in the 1930s, hoping to get Dr. Euphronious (Annette Bening), a scientist on the bleeding edge of experimental work, to help create him a companion. Their solution is to resurrect the corpse of a murdered young woman—Buckley’s The Bride—but when they succeed, they create a being unlike any they could have expected. In Gyllenhaal’s hands, The Bride! is part horror, part romance, and part outlaw narrative, with Buckley and Bale’s monstrous couple like a Grimm’s Fairy Tale version of Bonnie and Clyde.

Caption: (L to r) Christian Bale as Frank and Jessie Buckley as The Bride in Warner Bros. Pictures THE BRIDE! Photo Credit: Photo courtesy of Warner Bros. Pictures

Gyllenhaal has assembled a killer cast and crew, mad-scientist style, including some of her own family—her husband Peter Sarsgaard and brother Jake Gyllenhaal, along with Penélope Cruz, Julianne Hough, and John Magaro. Her team behind the camera includes composer Hildur Guðnadóttir, cinematographer Lawrence Sher, costume designer Sandy Powell, production designer Karen Murphy, and editor Dylan Tichenor.

aption: (L to r) Jessie Buckley and Director Maggie Gyllenhaal on the set of Warner Bros. Pictures THE BRIDE! A Warner Bros. Pictures release. Photo Credit: Photo by Niko Tavernise

Let’s take a peek at some of those early reactions:

Featured image: Caption: (L to r) Christian Bale as Frank and Jessie Buckley as The Bride in Warner Bros. Pictures THE BRIDE! Photo Credit: Photo courtesy of Warner Bros. Pictures

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The Credits

The Credits is the Motion Picture Association's online platform that profiles below-the-line filmmakers and TV creators. Through in-depth interviews and coverage, we shine a spotlight on all the individuals who are indispensable to the entertainment industry and create the films and series we love.