Thursday, May 12 2022 | 8PM The Elephant Man USA 1980 d. David Lynch with John Hurt, Anthony Hopkins, Anne Bancroft, John Gielgud, Wendy Hiller, Freddie Jones and Dexter Fletcher. Black and white. 124 m
“It has to be said that Lynch’s Elephant Man, while not exactly sentimental, takes a determinedly un-alienated attitude to Merrick’s image: rational, compassionate and very different from his approach to what might be called body-nonconformity in Eraserhead in which the keynote is clearly one of horror …. Lynch’s depiction of Victorian London is strong, because it is not fetishised or Hollywood-ised in the usual way but simply uses existing city locations (which in 1980 were still a very good match). And Lynch, with his editor Anne V Coates, subverts the usual narrative rhythm by ending a scene on a line or moment that might normally be considered a climactic point – giving the proceedings a persistent dream logic.” Peter Bradshaw
See Also: Mask (Bogdanovich, 1985); The Hunchback of Notre Dame (Dieterle, 1939); The Straight Story (Lynch, 1999)
Series: Spring 2022 :: David Lynch Wild At Heart And Weird On Top