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The Elephant Man
When discussing the films of David Lynch, heartfelt is rarely a word that comes up. The American auteur has become known for his surrealist delves into the human condition (so much so that his own name has become a shorthand within film criticism) but in matters of the heart he is not often regarded. I feel this is an unfair treatment, as within his film The Elephant Man we see that Lynch handles carefully the ideas of love, adoration, loneliness, and belonging, and the powers these emotions can hold over us. While the film is a much more straightforward narrative than many of his other works, the care with which this narrative unfolds puts this film up there with his other masterworks.
Heavily inspired by other works, most notably the classic Universal monster movies of the 1930s and 40s, Lynch tells the true story of John Merrick, a man cursed with a tremendously hideous form. Everything in life is difficult for Merrick, “The Elephant Man”, due to his deformities, from eating to speaking to breathing. But most notably it’s his ability to form connections that his form has robbed from him, at first because of the rejection from others and then because that rejection has made John a cautious man. Even when presented with a kind hand, Merrick refuses it at first, for everything given to him until that point was pain and harm. This is a story of accepting the kindness of others in a world so cruel.
The film is presented in its first half as a classic monster movie, one made to frighten teenagers at late-night drive-ins. The black and white pallet that Lynch uses is heavily covered in bright whites in deep blacks for the first half, the contrast casting suspicions upon the unknown creature we have yet to meet. For the first thirty minutes of the film, we do not see “The Elephant Man”, his image hidden from us and his name spoken in whispers. This builds tension as Doctor Frederick Treves (Anthony Hopkins) searches for the creature. Treves is presented in the way of the classic hero from these horror tropes, the highly educated Englishman who doesn’t believe in the supernatural but is keen to it nonetheless. While there is nothing supernatural in the life of John Merrick, it’s the playing of these tropes that heighten the reality of the film.
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