The Elephant Man | | Cast : | Anthony Hopkins, John Hurt | | Director : | David Lynch | | Studio : | Paramount Home Video | | Format : | Black & White, Closed-captioned, Widescreen, Dolby | | Released Date : | October 10, 1980 | | DVD Released Date : | May 13, 2003 | | Language : | English (Dubbed), French (Dubbed), English (Subtitled), English (Original Language), French (Original Language) | | Audience Rating : | PG (Parental Guidance Suggested) | | | BUY THIS DVD FROM AMAZON |
Customer Reviews
| Rating |  | | Date | August 04, 2005 | | Summary | A Personal Favorite | Content
 | A touching movie about the horribly disfigured John Merrick. Hurt and Hopkins performances are very strong and the story is written and filmed very well. This is director David Lynch's most accessible film but that certainly does not weaken it in any respect. A movie of true heart and a celebration of being human, with all it's flaws and imperfections intact. |
| Rating | | | Date | July 21, 2005 | | Summary | John's Ending | Content
| I am not under 13 I'm just not giving you creeps my email adress. I'm John, and I am going to post my obituary on this site. Blood is dripping from my head as I type. Tell my wife she's an insensitive cow. it's just too hard to carry on. I've gone away for a while. It's my fault, the duck was in bits and it was the cars. I will see you all. There is another world.There is a better world. This film reminds me of myself with my deformed face. is it a coincidence my names John.
What exactly is a dream. And what exactly is a joke. I am not an animal. I just can't take anymore. |
| Rating | | | Date | June 28, 2005 | | Summary | "I'm not an animal! I'm not an elephant! I'm a human being!" | Content
| probably if lynch had waited a bit to make this film, it would have got all the perfection it lacks. but who cares? this film is just GREAT. it puts you in the skin of merrick, the elephant man, a man who was put aside by society, and keept by a man whose only interest was to get admiration (by lynchs interpretation, i dont know if the real treves was like that). when merrick says "you are my friends" you cant hold a tear (i couldnt, really, and i usually dont cry at films. though i love the ones who can make feel like this one), cause he really has no friends, just people who stares at him.
what i really didnt like was the acting. i know many will desagree with me but i didnt believe everything. maybe the script too..... it lack a bit of credibility, not for the fact you have an elephant man in the screen but some things dont hold up well..... but maybe i'm overreacting. |
| Rating | | | Date | May 03, 2005 | | Summary | Gloriously Sentimental | Content
| Read all my reviews at www.midnitcafe.blogspot.com
David Lynch's second full length film contains the odd assortment of freakish characters we've become accustomed to in his film. Yet, despite one of the more outlandish characters he has ever put on celluloid, it remains his most sentimental.
The Elephant Man is based upon the true story of John Merrick, a 19th century Englishman with massive deformities throughout his body. He performed in freakshows for many years until he was found by Dr. Treves who cared for him and placed him in Whitechapel hospital. It is his time in this hospital that the film concerns itself with. For here, Merrick is able to life, more or less, as a gentleman. He is well fed, well kept, and educated. He can read, write, speak eloquently and even begins to entertain well-to-dos of society.
It is filmed beautifully in black and white. It is a very well made piece of cinema. Lynch, for the most part, stays away from his trade mark imagery and symbolism, and sticks to more traditional story telling, although the elephant involving opening sequence is straight Lynch nightmare. That the characters come from real life and not Lynch's twisted imagination only serve to add to the surrealism of the film.
It has been said that Lynch is too sentimental in this movie. That he manipulates the audience too much. Ebert even goes as far as saying Lynch tricks the audience into believing that Merrick is a noble and courageous man. He suggests, that rather than being noble, Merrick is merely doing the best that he can, under poor circumstances. It is true that the film is sentimental. There is hardly a scene that does not prick the audiences emotions. Yet how can an audience not feel emotion when they see a kind, intelligent man live with such deformities. How many of us would dare to get out of bed each day with similar atrocities. And here, this man, though physically plagued, manages to keep up his spirits and even write and build card sculptures. It would be a poor director at that who could not produce a tear at such a sight. If we pretend it is not a noble feat for such a creature to retain his humanity and good cheer, while being constantly bombarded with inhumane indecencies are we any better than those who stand outside the carnival and jeer?
Yet there is something in these critiques of sentimentalism. Lynch continues to use his tricks as a director to keep our eyes wet. There is a scene in which Merrick meets Dr. Treve's wife and breaks down with tears at her simple kind acts. His tears state that no one has been so kind to him as to treat him like a gentleman. Though effective, this is using the craft of filmmaking to do nothing but manipulate emotions. In other films I would lambaste this type of sentimentalism and chastise the audience for falling for it. Yet the overall sadness throughout the story makes me fall for it here. I cannot commend such use of it in film anywhere, and yet it works for me in this particular instance.
Overall, the Elephant Man is a fine achievement for a young director. Lynch would go on to make more articulate, less sentimental films. But here we find him assured in his imagery and storytelling. He effectively sweeps the viewer into the emotional turmoil of such a sad, hopeless story.
More reveiws at www.midnitcafe.blogspot.com |
| Rating | | | Date | April 09, 2005 | | Summary | No Oscar for Christopher Tucker ?!! | Content
| Virtually all my fellow reviewers have commented amply & intelligently on the masterful acting, directing, screenplay, & cinematography, so I needn't add to what they've said.
I bought this used on video before I owned a DVD player. I rented the DVD this past week simply to watch the Special Features, & I'm SO glad I did. The interviews were all enlightening, especially those with Hurt ("If you haven't been moved by the final scene, I don't think you're someone I'd care to know") & Christopher Tucker.
That Tucker received no Oscar for his backbreaking, painstaking, crucial makeup work is a bloody shame.
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