Essential.

Rating: 10/10 (30 December 2005)

There is no feeling, no virtue, no human baseness "The Elephant Man" doesn't scrutinize: hypocrisy, cruelty, mercy, sadism, love...). David Lynch reached the status of genius with his second movie, he created an instant classic for the history of cinema, a masterpiece. He probed his huge talent beyond the oniric or surrealistic fits of "Eraserhead" (and of most of his filmography). He probed he's capable of doing anything he wanted to with a camera on his hands. For those who think Lynch is just a pretentious guy which only films nonsenses, please take a look at this movie.
As for John Hurt, he didn't need to become the elephant man to demonstrate he's one of the best actors of his generation; nevertheless, he accepted the challenge... and he won. He made an outrageous display of physical and mental effort, and of body talk. I can't imagine how hard it was for him to carry that disguise all along the whole filming. Please let's take our hats off to Mr. John Hurt.
The Elephant Man, just an essential film.
*My rate: 10/10