An inversion of the traditional horror story

Rating: 9/10 (22 September 2008)

"The Elephant Man" is based upon the true story of Joseph Merrick (1862-90), although he is referred to as "John" in this film. Merrick suffered from hideous facial deformities and as a result was compelled to earn a living in a freak show where, according to the film, he was cruelly ill-treated. The film tells the story of how he was rescued by a surgeon named Frederick Treves and of how he spent the rest of his life living at the London Hospital. He is at first wrongly believed to be mentally as well as physically handicapped, but it is later discovered that he is not only sensitive and intelligent but also well-educated. (John Hurt plays him as a gentle young man, speaking throughout in a cultured voice). He becomes a minor celebrity in late Victorian England, and is befriended by an actress named Mrs Kendal and the Princess of Wales (the future Queen Alexandra).
The roles of Merrick and Treves are taken by two of Britain's leading actors, John Hurt and Anthony Hopkins. In the case of Hurt, this was undoubtedly his finest film performance. In the case of Hopkins I am not so sure- not because he is bad in this film (indeed, he is very good), but because he has given so many great performances that it would be difficult to single any one of them out as his greatest. ("The Silence of the Lambs", "Howard's End", "Shadowlands" and "Amistad" are others that come to mind). What stands out about his performance here is the way in which he brings out the conflict in Treves' mind and his uncertainty about his own motives. Ostensibly, the gentlemanly, Christian Treves is motivated by compassion for Merrick's plight. Lurking at the back of his mind, however, is the fear that his compassion may be mixed with a baser motive- the desire for the scientific and academic fame that a study of Merrick's case might bring him.
What makes Hurt's performance so extraordinary is that, because of the elaborate make-up he had to wear for the role, he was unable to use facial expression- normally one of an actor's most important tools- in order to convey Merrick's personality and so had to rely on voice and gesture alone. He was deservedly nominated for a "Best Actor" Oscar, but lost out to another great performance, Robert de Niro's in "Raging Bull". Hurt and Hopkins received great support from the rest of the cast, especially John Gielgud as Treves's older colleague Dr Carr Gomm, Michael Elphick as the hospital porter who tries to exploit Merrick by charging people to see him, Anne Bancroft as Mrs Kendal and Wendy Hillier as the hospital Matron Mrs Mothershead.
Few films in the eighties were made in black-and-white, but "The Elephant Man" was one of the few exceptions. ("Raging Bull", of course, was another). Director David Lynch seems to have been aiming for a look based upon the horror films of the thirties. The film can, in fact, be seen as a sort of inversion of the traditional horror story. In many of the classic horror tales of the past- "Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde", "Frankenstein", "The Phantom of the Opera"- ugliness and deformity are associated with moral evil. Hyde is evil by nature, whereas the Phantom and Frankenstein's monster become evil because they are rejected or ill-treated by society. Merrick, although he is frequently ill-treated, remains gentle and noble in nature and, as a result, is eventually accepted by society. Lynch has taken the raw material of horror, but has used it not to horrify but to make a film about pity and compassion.
The film can therefore be seen as a quasi-religious parable about the ability of good to overcome evil and injustice; those critics who only see it as sentimental are missing its deeper significance. Although it was made by an American director, and is officially classified as a US/UK co-production, "The Elephant Man" deserves to be ranked, alongside the likes of "Gregory's Girl", Chariots of Fire", "Gandhi" and "The Missionary", as one of the great films to come out of the great British cinema revival of the early eighties. 9/10