The Elephant Man (1980)
Director: David Lynch
The Elephant Man is the
3rd David Lynch film I've seen since been inspired to
explore his filmography after seeing Blue Velvet at my local cinema.
It tells the story of a Victorian Doctor called Frederick Treves
(Anthony Hopkins) who rescues a 'freak' known as The Elephant Man
from a travelling side-show and discovers the man behind the
disfigured face and body, a man called John Merrick (John Hurt)
I would first like to
mention John Hurt's brilliant portrayal of the tortured soul that is
John Merrick, he doesn't say a word for a big chunk of the film but
by subtle gestures and through his eyes makes us sympathise with this
seemingly child-like, gentle man.
Watching this movie was
a quite challenging thing, it is heartbreaking. Merrick has been
exploited and punished all of his life due to his deformities which
has left him fearful to the point of being mute and to see the
intelligent, shy and well-mannered man come out of his shell as the
film goes on is a beautiful thing to watch.
The way Lynch has
approached the direction of this film is outstanding, they're are
elements of surrealism that we see in films like Eraserhead and his
early short films but that doesn't take away from the emotional
poignancy that this film leaves you with. I was really trying to
think of a director that would have done a better job and I just
couldn't. He does a stellar job from start to finish.
This is a brilliant
film, I don't have a bad word to say about it. I would highly
recommend it to anyone wanting to get into David Lynch's work, from
what I've seen this is Lynch doing what he does best.
9/10
22/11/2015
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