42 years later, we still haven’t recovered from the heartbreaking ending of this masterpiece

During the Victorian era, John Merrick, known as the Elephant Man, is so horribly deformed that he is condemned to the humiliating life of a freak in the midst of a traveling circus. John Merrick, who is regularly humiliated and mistreated by his master Bytes (Freddie Jones), is discovered by a violent drunk, a famous young surgeon, Frederick Treves (the extraordinary Anthony Hopkins).

Fascinated by this grotesque character, he then asks Bates to entrust Merrick to him for a while and brings him to his dispensary, where he can introduce him to medical students in anatomy classes. John Merrick is 21 years old, apparently unable to verbalize, and has hideous deformities that Travis has never seen before.

“Can you imagine what hell his life must have been?” says Dr. Kar Gom, his boss and director of the hospital. “I think I can, yes” The trees answer. “I doubt…” Gomi answers. For Trevez, there is no doubt: in addition to being incurable, John Merrick is a birth defect.

Placed in a hospital, more or less secretly in a room so as not to shock the other patients, Trevez nevertheless discovers in Merrick a creature endowed with great intelligence and sensitivity, a thirst for love…

Essay on human dignity

In the galaxy of works of David Lynch, elephant man It is undoubtedly the most accessible from its author. He was also cruelly and scandalously snubbed at the Oscars in 1981, leaving empty-handed despite his eight nominations, including Best Actor for the unforgettable John Hart, who came to posterity in the guise of the character.

Without Manichaeism, with great honesty to his subject and audience, Lynch weaves a story of ugliness reflecting beauty through a haunting black-and-white photograph signed by Freddie Francis. A deeply humanistic film that repeatedly offers the audience the emotional uplift of a destructive force.

How can we forget that terrifying sequence where Merrick is chased through the station by a curious mob, hunting him like a wild animal? “I’m not an animal! I’m a…human! I’m a…man!” He gasped before collapsing…

At the end of this unforgettable story about human dignity, there is an inevitable moment, carrying an emotional charge that will split the stones in two. Merrick removes his pillow and lies down to sleep, a suicidal act of release from his suffering. “My life is full because I know I’m loved” Merrick was already telling Treves as they were getting ready to go to the theater.

And while Samuel Barber’s string adagio begins to resonate, the voice of his mother’s boundless beauty whispers the poet’s verses. Alfred TennysonThe world opens above his son, who is breathing his last breath: “Never, no, never… nothing dies. The current flows, the wind blows, the cloud floats, the heart beats. Nothing will die.”

42 years later, we still haven’t recovered from the heartbreaking ending of this absolute masterpiece.