Plot: What’s it about?
The next time you have an abrasion, a pimple or some sort of rash on your body, it’s not that big of a deal. Consider life as John Merrick. Merrick, was better known by his sideshow name in a traveling circus of freaks as ‘The Elephant Man’. Merrick was born with a very rare disease that had encased his body in enormous tumors, disfiguring him terribly. His head was the size of three normal human heads, his mouth deformed and virtually every part of his body was so horribly disfigured in such a way that it was unrecognizable. In fact, the only parts of his body not ravaged by tumors were his genitals and his left arm. As we find out, he was intelligent enough to know how to read, so we can assume that he realized what he looked like and what he was. Life as John Merrick must have been so horrible that most don’t even want to think about it. He couldn’t even sleep the way the rest of us do, he had to be hunched over his knees or else his neck would break. Not a pretty life. To add insult to injury, he was horribly abused by his “owner” who paraded him in a circus show under the act of “The Elephant Man” (because of his similarity to that of an elephant). In a world where we think that looks are everything, and we’ve become so used to perfect models around every turn, it is truly hard to imagine what life were like if you were John Merrick.
We first meet Merrick (John Hurt) as he is the featured act in a traveling show of freaks. The local authorities are in the midst of making The Elephant Man’s owner, Bytes (Freddie Jones), shut down the show as people are too grotesquely offended by the sight of The Elephant Man. It’s at this time that Dr. Fredrick Treves’ (Anthony Hopkins) curiosity gets the better of him and arranges a private showing of The Elephant Man. Treves then takes The Elephant Man back to the hospital where he works and arranges a showing of John Merrick (The Elephant Man) to an assembly of his collegues. Treves feels that by caring for him in a hospital is a much better walk of life than that as a circus freak. Treves’ major obstacle is to get Carr Gomm (John Gielgud) to allow him to stay at the hospital. While he does eventually end up staying, Treves starts to doubt his own motives. He feels that in a way, he is no better than Bytes. He is, in a way, parading him around and has profited off of his “discovery”. But even as John is now talking and not living in fear anymore, Treves feels that he is exploiting Merrick. At times during the movie, a night porter (Michael Elphick) has access to John and makes fun of him and charges people to see him through a window. It seems that man’ inhumanity to man is abundant in this film, thereby making it very hard to watch.
We know that the life of John Merrick was not a happy one, he was beaten and exploited for the better part of his life. He was kept in cages and poked, prodded and insulted for as long as he can remember. I will have to say that this is one of the most difficult (if not the most difficult) movies I’ve had to sit through. It’s superbly well-made and extremely well-acted, but the subject matter may not be appropriate for some people. This was one of David Lynch’s first movies, a follow-up to his cult hit “Eraserhead”. The film remains highly popular with audiences around the world, and it was nominated for 8 Academy Awards though it left the stage empty-handed on all accounts. While this isn’t the sort of movie that I’ll watch again and again (I just can’t emotionally handle it), I have to say that I loved it. I never really got used to the appearance of how John Hurt looked as John Merrick, I suppose that I would have been one of the people to look at a creature like that with horror and disgust. Still, The Elephant Man is a wonderful film and if you can stomach it (and maybe have a box of Kleenex nearby), then I highly recommend it.
Video: How does it look?
I’ve long had an affinity for black and white films on disc and this one is no exception. Criterion’s new 4K image is, by far, the best the film has ever looked. Though it is harder to pick out errors on a Black and White film, there are hardly any to be seen here. There is a bit of background “noise”, but I feel that it’s the way it was supposed to be presented. Some scratches and nicks can be seen from time to time, but the print is relatively free of any other errors. Black levels, which obviously play a major part here, are right on target and I found no edge enhancement at all. It’s the most pristine film that I’ve ever seen.
Audio: How does it sound?
Though other sound mixes exist, we get a LPCM 2.0 mix and, frankly, that’s just fine. Yes, the score has a bit of depth to it at times that is consistent with some of Lynch’s other movies. The dialogue has a bit of a “hiss” to it, but it adds a bit more to the authenticity of the movie. I caught a few times when the surround effects were used as well. While this won’t blow you away in terms of how it sounds, prepare yourself to be just as impressed with the audio as you were by the video.
Supplements: What are the extras?
- Room to Dream – Director David Lynch and critic Kristine McKenna read from said book, which they co-authored.
- Interviews – David Lynch, actor John Hurt, producers Mel Brooks and Jonathan Sanger, director of photography Freddie Francis, stills photographer Frank Connor, and makeup artist Christopher Tucker are all given their due with these archival interviews.
- Audio recording – From 1981 from an interview and Q&A with Lynch at the American Film Institute.
- The Terrible Elephant Man Revealed – A 2001 documentary about the film
- Joseph Merrick: The Real Elephant Man – A 2005 program featuring archivist Jonathan Evans
- Theatrical Trailer
The Bottom Line
This isn’t an easy movie to watch. I first saw it for my DVD review and that was 25 years ago. It’s not gotten easier. But it’s also one of David Lynch’s better films and Criterion, as per usual, has given this a great-looking transfer and loaded it up with some nice supplements.
