Last night, we went to see a brilliant film by an oft-maligned but cult favorite director about a person who is sometimes viewed as some kind of monster by the public. A person who has been put on display by a heartless manipulator, and made to feel like a freak by an uncaring media.
That’s right, we went to see The Elephant Man (1980), directed by David Lynch and starring Anthony Hopkins and John Hurt. What movie did you think I was talking about?
Anyway, this film is absolutely amazing. It is not just a sensitive portrayal of a sometimes mysterious figure, but a detailed portrayal of life in Victorian England. The realities of the economics and class structure are displayed, and the dehumanization of everyday people by the advance of mechanization is always a factor. The film even addresses its own morality by having the morality of its characters openly debated.
Brilliant work by Anthony Hopkins, John Hurt, and Freddie Jones of course, with notable appearances by Anne Bancroft, John Gielgud, and a quite young Dexter Fletcher. Even minor roles are played with considerable emotion and skill by such luminaries as Kenny Baker, Wendy Hiller, and Michael Elphick.
In some ways, this is maybe the most mainstream of Lynch’s films, but in others it is pure Lynchian obesession. Mysterious and loud machinery punctuates contemplative sections. Deformities and bloody injuries are everywhere. There are so many photographic portraits of women that they should have been collected and published as a book. Even the controversial use of black and white is straight out of David’s artistic playbook.
If you haven’t seen this film in decades, or you haven’t seen it at all, pay tribute to the legacy of David Lynch by watching this film if you can. Many thanks to the Harris Theater for shoing this on the big screen where it really belongs.
