40 Years On, 'The Elephant Man' is David Lynch's finest hour

John Hurt as the titular 'Elephant Man' John Merrick, with Anthony Hopkins as Dr Frederick Treves;
Director David Lynch conversing with Hurt

I've always remarked that Lynch is at heart an optimist - and you only have to watch scenes like Major Briggs having a heart to heart with Bobby in Twin Peaks, any scene with Laura Dern in Blue Velvet, The Straight Story all throughout, to know that besides the bizarre flairs we all see there's also an utter sincerity that helps ground each of his works. Weirdness and warmth is all one and part of the overall package that makes him one of a kind. Now I've always been a mark for each and every one of Lynch's works, with Twin Peaks being up there with my favourite television series of all-time, and Blue Velvet being one of the greatest films of all-time. His crowning achievement though, for me, has to be his sophomore effort where he took the ambition and potential he showed in Eraserhead and crafted what some might consider in retrospect to be a compromise of his style to a studio system, but what I consider a flourishing masterpiece that set the mark for the rest of his career and truly set him up as one of a kind.

Moulds of Christopher Tucker's immaculate prosthetic effects 

The first two things that are often remarked upon this film are the makeup used to transform the late great John Hurt into the titular 'Elephant Man' a.k.a. John Merrick, enduring his severe deformity in 19th Century London. Amidst Lynch's filmography this is hardly the most 'snubbed' of his films at the Oscars - it's the only one to receive multiple nominations and the only one to be recognised outside of Lynch's direction and performances (Richard Farnsworth in The Straight Story and Diane Ladd in Wild at Heart) - but it is notable that the film helped usher in the makeup effects category at the Academy Awards (just in time to award the brilliant Rick Baker for his work in An American Werewolf in London) Christopher Tucker's work here is superlative in helping transform Hurt into Merrick without a hint of artifice, you really feel like you're watching this very particular individual with the immensely complicated makeup process not just for Merrick's facial structure but his entire body.

Hurt and Anne Bancroft as Victorian-era actress Madge Kendal

Of course this would be all pointless without the talents of the man beneath the makeup. No one could play a victim quite like John Hurt, who really was the king of getting the cinematic raw end of the deal. Yet what Hurt does with Merrick is grant him a quiet strength of spirit that comes through the prosthetics. The only assets Hurt really has at hand to utilise are his eyes and voice and he makes use of both to such expressive effect, to convey the innate shyness and fear of a man shunned by society gradually opening up to the kindness of others, and showing that sincerity and warmth of personality does not make a character boring, but can make him even more compelling in his own unique way. Anthony Hopkins too is extraordinary in giving such a quiet, realistic arc to Dr Frederick Treves, it's underrated how much of a knack Sir Tony has for playing kindness and generosity when he's best known for Hannibal Lecter. And as with any Lynch film the ensemble is watertight - John Gielgud, Wendy Hiller, Freddie Jones, Michael Elphick, (a very young) Dexter Fletcher, all add some fine British character actor work to the proceedings, and the lone American (and one of the greatest actors of all-time) Anne Bancroft fits right in with what might be the film's most iconic scene as her Madge Kendal trades lines from Romeo and Juliet with Merrick. It is a film that steps on the fine line between sincerity and schmaltz and achieves the balancing act perfectly as it captures just the right sort of kinship between the kindred spirits through the beautiful Shakespearean scripture.

Freddie Francis' remarkable B&W cinematography 

Speaking of writing, the screenplay does something quite remarkable which is delivering a message of generosity and compassion so earnestly while also not shying away from the hypocrisy and horrible treatment prevalent in both sides of society. Decrying the nastiest parts of human nature while also focusing on the best qualities of humanity. It never takes the easy route for kindness, firstly showing all characters as human beings with their own stresses and faults and showing how Merrick's generosity and kindness of spirit helps bring out the best of their nature, whether its Gielguld's hospital governor warming up to Merrick, Hiller's seemingly cold matron calling out the hypocrisy of high class society gawking at Merrick as a circus attraction, and one of the best scenes being Merrick's fellow 'freakshow' performers offering him a helping hand. This is very much a Lynch film in showing its affinity for the odd and shunned while also displaying the horrifying underbelly of much of society in the scenes where Merrick is being mistreated by his nasty showman caretaker. It is an auteur's film through and through with Lynch's individualistic style coming into play in particular. through the surreal bookends to Adagio in Strings (music is a consistently excellent element of the film with use of pre-existing music and John Morris' haunting score) which are just the right blend of out-of-this-world and painfully tragic. Among the other thing to bring up at a technical level is Freddie Francis' strangely snubbed cinematography (particularly since he won the other two times he was nominated for Sons and Lovers and Glory and how beloved this film was in the other technical categories).

In conclusion: if you haven't seen this film yet, whether because you're a bit wary of the concept, a bit scared or tentative, or just haven't piqued up the interest, I assure you it's every bit as brilliant as I've enthusiastically praised here, if not even more so.