{"id":409,"date":"2008-08-02T10:51:38","date_gmt":"2008-08-02T09:51:38","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.electricsheepmagazine.co.uk\/reviews\/2008\/08\/02\/the-elephant-man\/"},"modified":"2013-11-11T15:36:17","modified_gmt":"2013-11-11T14:36:17","slug":"the-elephant-man","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.electricsheepmagazine.co.uk\/reviews\/2008\/08\/02\/the-elephant-man\/","title":{"rendered":"The Elephant Man"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n\"The<\/a><\/p>\n

\nFormat:<\/B> DVD

\nRelease date:<\/B> 4 August 2008

\nDistributor:<\/B> Optimum Releasing

\nDirector:<\/B> David Lynch

\nWriters:<\/B> Christopher De Vore, Eric Bergren, David Lynch

\nCast:<\/B> John Hurt, Anthony Hopkins, John Gielgud, Anne Bancroft

\nUSA 1980

\n124 mins\n<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\nArguably one of David Lynch’s finest works, The Elephant Man<\/I> was his first major studio film. The inexperienced director only kept his position thanks to the unlikely patronage of comedian Mel Brooks, whose Brooksfilms produced the movie for Paramount. According to Lynch, a private screening of his debut film Eraserhead<\/I> ended with Brooks declaring, ‘You’re a mad man, I love you. You’re in’. And, as this film shows, it was a great decision. <\/p>\n

\nLynch makes the jump from American Gothic to Victorian Gothic with ease. The scenes of top hat-wearing doctors searching through the seamier sides of London could be straight out of a RL Stevenson novel, while the film is directed with far more atmosphere and style than anything from the Hammer studio. From the opening shot – a dreamlike image of Merrick’s mother’s ‘encounter’ with an elephant (apparently one did escape from a zoo in Leicester, the real-life Merrick’s hometown, around the time of his birth) – we are clearly in the realm of the fairy tale, a world akin to Cocteau’s La Belle et la B\u00eate<\/I>. <\/p>\n

\nThe pantomime villains, who resemble Oliver Twist<\/I>‘s Bill Sykes and Fagin, treat Merrick like a circus side-show. The night porter, in a brilliant turn from Michael Elphick at his most obnoxious, brings drunken revellers to ‘visit’ Merrick (including a young Pauline Quirk), while his former ‘owner’, the fairground showman Bytes, parades him like a performing animal. Tellingly, Bytes is a character invented for the film: the real-life Merrick made a lot of money by exhibiting himself in carnivals, before being robbed by his business partner.\n <\/p>\n

Merrick is rescued by Dr Treves (Anthony Hopkins) who at first seems eager to use him to further his own career. ‘He’s only being stared at all over again’, the head nurse tells him. But when Treves has a crisis of conscience, he puts the simple question to his wife – ‘Am I good man or am I a bad man?’ We are in no doubt as to the answer. <\/p>\n

As Merrick becomes more accepted, having tea in the Treves’ drawing room and taking a trip to the theatre, Lynch skilfully avoids the mawkishness of films like Mask<\/I>. The moments of sentimentality are a result of Merrick’s character, rather than the film trying to provoke an emotional response from the audience. It is Merrick who overreacts, bursting into tears when being ‘treated so well by a beautiful woman’ and placing the actress Mrs Kendal’s signed photo next to one of his mother. John Hurt puts in a great emotional performance through all of the latex and make-up; Hopkins does just as well through the doctor’s equally confining middle-class restraint.<\/p>\n

As with all such tales, morality is simplified into two polar extremes (‘twin peaks’ of good and evil) with little grey area in between. The Elephant Man is depicted as an innocent whose soul is as beautiful as his body is ugly (a twist on Dorian Gray perhaps). As we gradually get to know him, we discover him to be god-fearing, well-spoken (without a hint of a Leicester accent), sensitive and even romantic. ‘You’re not an elephant man, you’re Romeo’, Mrs Kendal (Anne Bancroft) tells him after reading a scene together.<\/p>\n

The Elephant Man<\/I> is a beautiful film, and not simply because of Freddie Francis’s monochrome cinematography. It is a story told with just the right amount of wonder and emotion (although Barber’s Adagio<\/I> has perhaps been overused since). The combination of David Lynch and Britain’s finest acting talent – Gielgud even makes an appearance – makes you wish he’d made more films in the UK.<\/p>\n

Paul Huckerby <\/B><\/I><\/p>\n

<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

According to Lynch, a private screening of his debut film Eraserhead<\/I> ended with Mel Brooks declaring, ‘You’re a mad man, I love you. You’re in’.
\nReview by Paul Huckerby <\/B><\/I><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-409","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-dvds-and-blu-rays"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","wps_subtitle":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/purUP-6B","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":906,"url":"https:\/\/www.electricsheepmagazine.co.uk\/reviews\/2010\/02\/01\/online-movies-davidlynch-com\/","url_meta":{"origin":409,"position":0},"title":"Online Movies: davidlynch.com","author":"VirginieSelavy","date":"February 1, 2010","format":false,"excerpt":"One of the most popular features of davidlynch.com is the crudely drawn animated series Dumbland. Review by Robert Barry","rel":"","context":"In "Online Movies"","block_context":{"text":"Online Movies","link":"https:\/\/www.electricsheepmagazine.co.uk\/reviews\/category\/online-movies\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.electricsheepmagazine.co.uk\/reviews\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/01\/Dumbland.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":38,"url":"https:\/\/www.electricsheepmagazine.co.uk\/reviews\/2007\/03\/04\/inland-empire\/","url_meta":{"origin":409,"position":1},"title":"INLAND EMPIRE","author":"VirginieSelavy","date":"March 4, 2007","format":false,"excerpt":"Inland Empire, David Lynch's tenth feature, is in many ways a summing-up of his career so far: it has a budget, a look and a sound design that are not that different from his 1977 experimental debut Eraserhead; it stars one of Lynch's favourite actresses, Laura Dern, who also appeared\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Cinema releases"","block_context":{"text":"Cinema releases","link":"https:\/\/www.electricsheepmagazine.co.uk\/reviews\/category\/cinema-releases\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":2183,"url":"https:\/\/www.electricsheepmagazine.co.uk\/reviews\/2012\/02\/07\/falling-the-allure-of-the-femme-fatale-in-the-world-of-david-lynch\/","url_meta":{"origin":409,"position":2},"title":"Falling: The Allure of the Femme Fatale in the World of David Lynch","author":"VirginieSelavy","date":"February 7, 2012","format":false,"excerpt":"To mark the complete David Lynch restrospective at BFI Southbank, which runs from 7 to 29 February 2012 and includes his early shorts, we have a comic strip on his femmes fatales. Comic Strip Review by Richy K. Chandler","rel":"","context":"In "Check it out"","block_context":{"text":"Check it out","link":"https:\/\/www.electricsheepmagazine.co.uk\/reviews\/category\/check-it-out\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.electricsheepmagazine.co.uk\/reviews\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/02\/Richy-David-Lynch-Femme-Fatalles-Page-1.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.electricsheepmagazine.co.uk\/reviews\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/02\/Richy-David-Lynch-Femme-Fatalles-Page-1.jpg?resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.electricsheepmagazine.co.uk\/reviews\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/02\/Richy-David-Lynch-Femme-Fatalles-Page-1.jpg?resize=525%2C300 1.5x"},"classes":[]},{"id":1327,"url":"https:\/\/www.electricsheepmagazine.co.uk\/reviews\/2010\/09\/05\/my-son-my-son-what-have-ye-done\/","url_meta":{"origin":409,"position":3},"title":"My Son, My Son, What Have Ye Done?","author":"VirginieSelavy","date":"September 5, 2010","format":false,"excerpt":"'David Lynch presents: A film by Werner Herzog.' Opening credits really don't get any better than that. Review by Alexander Pashby","rel":"","context":"In "Check it out"","block_context":{"text":"Check it out","link":"https:\/\/www.electricsheepmagazine.co.uk\/reviews\/category\/check-it-out\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.electricsheepmagazine.co.uk\/reviews\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/09\/review_MySon-594x484.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.electricsheepmagazine.co.uk\/reviews\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/09\/review_MySon-594x484.jpg?resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.electricsheepmagazine.co.uk\/reviews\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/09\/review_MySon-594x484.jpg?resize=525%2C300 1.5x"},"classes":[]},{"id":451,"url":"https:\/\/www.electricsheepmagazine.co.uk\/reviews\/2008\/10\/02\/eraserhead\/","url_meta":{"origin":409,"position":4},"title":"ERASERHEAD","author":"VirginieSelavy","date":"October 2, 2008","format":false,"excerpt":"Eraserhead sets the tone for Lynch's career, the Emphasis upon 1950s Americana, the many dreamlike slow-motion scenes with constant industrial rumblings and hissings always subliminally present. Review by Franz Kerola","rel":"","context":"In "Home entertainment"","block_context":{"text":"Home entertainment","link":"https:\/\/www.electricsheepmagazine.co.uk\/reviews\/category\/dvds-and-blu-rays\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":4974,"url":"https:\/\/www.electricsheepmagazine.co.uk\/reviews\/2014\/05\/22\/maps-to-the-stars\/","url_meta":{"origin":409,"position":5},"title":"Maps to the Stars","author":"Pam Jahn","date":"May 22, 2014","format":false,"excerpt":"Cronenberg's latest offering sees the director at his weirdest, wittiest and most horrifying in years, crafting a highly charged, cynical nightmare about today\u2019s fucked-up Hollywood society, with the suitable feel of a mystery ghost story. Review by Pamela Jahn","rel":"","context":"In "Check it out"","block_context":{"text":"Check it out","link":"https:\/\/www.electricsheepmagazine.co.uk\/reviews\/category\/check-it-out\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Maps to the Stars","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.electricsheepmagazine.co.uk\/reviews\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/09\/Maps-to-the-Stars-594x395.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.electricsheepmagazine.co.uk\/reviews\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/09\/Maps-to-the-Stars-594x395.jpg?resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.electricsheepmagazine.co.uk\/reviews\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/09\/Maps-to-the-Stars-594x395.jpg?resize=525%2C300 1.5x"},"classes":[]}],"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.electricsheepmagazine.co.uk\/reviews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/409","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.electricsheepmagazine.co.uk\/reviews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.electricsheepmagazine.co.uk\/reviews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.electricsheepmagazine.co.uk\/reviews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.electricsheepmagazine.co.uk\/reviews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=409"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.electricsheepmagazine.co.uk\/reviews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/409\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3811,"href":"https:\/\/www.electricsheepmagazine.co.uk\/reviews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/409\/revisions\/3811"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.electricsheepmagazine.co.uk\/reviews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=409"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.electricsheepmagazine.co.uk\/reviews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=409"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.electricsheepmagazine.co.uk\/reviews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=409"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}