DVD of the Week: The Elephant Man

I hadn’t seen David Lynch’s second feature, “The Elephant Man,” from 1980 (which I discuss in this clip), since it was in its first run; seeing it again, now with three decades’ worth of ecstatic memories, I was surprised. What remained strong and accurate was Lynch’s depiction of history on the edge of the unconscious—of a vision that haunts not just the moral sense but also stirs the most obscure and primal forebodings, fears, and sympathies. What surprised me was the fusion of a political and a visual dialectic in Lynch’s approach to the story of the grievously disfigured John Merrick. Lynch’s powerful depiction of Merrick (played by John Hurt) moves a viewer from revulsion and fear to empathy and tenderness. That’s the very movement of the story itself, as the doctor (Anthony Hopkins) who cares for Merrick learns that his patient is intelligent, cultivated, and sensitive—the bearer of a noble artistic soul. The tensile arc of the film relies on the contrast between the notables of London society, who overcome their first impression of Merrick’s appearance to become acquainted with his beautiful character and then, in effect, work out back to his appearance, which they now find beautiful. There’s a surprising element of class distinction in the drama, dividing those who yield only to their response to the immediately physical and those who look beyond appearances. It is, so to speak, a movie of true Platonic love.