The Elephant Man

Rating: 8/10 (3 May 2020)

Director David Lynch has made a moving film. Mainly because he chose to film this in black and white and added some surreal touches to it.
It lends the film weight when it easily could be turned into a mawkish drama.
Surrounded by top class talent. Freddie Francis was the cinematographer who had won an Oscar for his black and white movies. Anne Coates has won an Oscar for editing Lawrence of Arabia.
John Merrick (John Hurt) was severely disfigured and exhibited in Victorian fairground shows. He was cruelly mistreated until rescued by Dr Frederick Treves (Anthony Hopkins.)
Under his care, Merrick could express himself and even moved in London society circles. However there were always those who looked on him as a freak to be paraded in front of the public.
Hurt gives an astonishing performance under layers of make up which took hours to apply. The make up is so effective and again the monochrome photography works so well with it.
Hopkins also gives a compassionate performance, someone who sees Merrick as human but he is also negligent as well.
Dr Treves might have just moved Merrick on to being a freak in polite society instead. He also had no inkling as to what was happening in the hospital in the evenings and Merrick was not telling.
A lot of the story is made up, which is a weak point of the The Elephant Man. Token villains in order for it to have a three act structure.