While David Lynch, a genius filmmaker, died on January 16, 2025 at the age of 78, Number looks back on the story of his second feature film Elephant Manfreely adapted from the play by Bernard Pomerance.
Elephant Mana cult film inspired by a successful play
November 1977. A crowd of curious people flocks to the grounds of the Hampstead Theater in London, in an excitement similar to that of a 19th century freak show. The play that the playwright Bernard Pomerance (1940-2017) presented for the first time has nothing to envy of these circuses of fear. The American was inspired by the memoirs of Joseph Merrick – who became John Merrick in the work – a man terribly deformed by a genetic disease and nicknamed “Elephant Man”. The surgeon Frederick Treves discovers this man completely disfigured, and publicly humiliated at a fair. He decides to extricate him from this hell and gradually discovers that this bruised man is not the monster we think.
The success of The Elephant Man crosses the Atlantic. Adapted to Broadway, it won the Tony Awards for best play in 1979. On stage, unlike the film, the power of the play is reinforced by the audacity of the staging: in fact, the actor playing Merrick wears neither makeup nor prosthetics, leaving it to for the viewer to imagine his deformed face. Over time, The Elephant Man will experience several revivals – notably in 2002 and in 2015 then in 2019 where Joeystarr find the actress Béatrice Dalle (37°2 in the morning), the one with whom he shared ten years of his life.
A free adaptation by David Lynch
Anthony Hopkins – who plays the surgeon – engages in the project ofElephant Man shot by David Lynch without hiding his reservations regarding the director. In this free adaptation, the filmmaker moves the scenario away from the original news item, transforming the prologue and epilogue of the story. This initiative greatly displeases Bernard Pomerance who takes legal action. Despite everything, the film was released in 1981. Lynch chose John Hurt (Midnight Express, Alien) to embody the strange Elephant Man.
Nominated for the Oscars in eight categories, the feature film did not win any statuettes but consoled itself with the César for best foreign film and three BAFTAs. Fascinated by Lynch’s work, the producer Dino De Laurentiis will then invite him to carry out Duneadaptation of Frank Herbert’s masterpiece. The feature film received a makeover in 2020 and was released on the big screen in a 4K restoration, supervised by the American filmmaker himself. Others will be able to rediscover it on the MUBI streaming platform and on Canal+ VOD.
Elephant Man (1981) by David Lynch, with Anthony Hopkins, available on MUBI.
