Anthony Hopkins Movie:

Editorial Review:
You could only see his eyes behind the layers of makeup, but those expressive orbs earned John Hurt a well-deserved Oscar nomination for his moving portrayal of John Merrick, the grotesquely deformed Victorian-era man better known as The Elephant Man. Inarticulate and abused, Merrick is the virtual slave of a carnival barker (Freddie Jones) until dedicated London doctor Frederick Treves (Anthony Hopkins in a powerfully understated performance) rescues him from the life and offers him an existence with dignity. Anne Bancroft costars as the actress whose visit to Merrick makes him a social curiosity, with John Gielgud and Wendy Hiller as dubious hospital staffers won over by Merrick. David Lynch earned his only Oscar nominations as director and cowriter of this somber drama, which he shot in a rich black-and-white palette, a sometimes stark, sometimes dreamy visual style that at times recalls the offbeat expressionism of his first film, Eraserhead. It remains a perfect marriage between traditional Hollywood historical drama and Lynch's unique cinematic eye, a compassionate human tale delivered in a gothic vein. The film earned eight Oscar nominations in all, and though it left the Oscar race empty-handed, its dramatic power and handsome yet haunting imagery remain just as strong today. --Sean Axmaker

The Elephant Man [Region 2] Reviews:
Painfully sad to watch but a true classic
2008-11-03 - Rightly regarded as one of the classic British films of the last decades, this broadly true tale of dignified humanity shining through the gloomy, impersonal smog of Victorian London hardly puts a foot wrong. Anthony Hopkins is superb as the dispassionate surgeon who rescues the maltreated circus freak and convincingly settles his own (and our) moral doubt as to whether he has simply replaced the morbid curiosity of the voyeuristic crowds for an equally exploitative scientific curiosity and means of personal gain. But it is John Hurt's rendition of a humanity that has refused to die that makes this film so memorable, a peerless performance that is heartbreakingly never less than utterly convincing.

One of the most powerful films in existence
2008-10-25 - This is an incredible film and one of my all time favorites. I first saw it on cable TV when I was only 6 years of age or so and was completely blown away by the film's message. Even at such a young age, it changed my outlook on the world. This movie kept me up at night. It truly redefines what is to be human. I purchased it on DVD a few years ago and the film was just as powerful as I remembered, even more so. Yes, it is a sad film but is equally uplifting as kindness and compassion trump cruelty and fear in this true story of Joseph Merrick. I've read numerous books on Merrick's life and the film does differ in some ways from the historical accounts. Being a cinema adaptation of the story, it is to be expected. But most importantly, David Lynch understood the temperament of Merrick as being a polite and intelligent young man and conveyed this successfully in the film. John Hurt's performance as `The Elephant Man' was amazing. Joseph Merrick had to endure incomprehensible hardships while growing up but his spirit was never broken. He always remained a kind, intelligent, well read, and gentle soul without hatred and a desire for revenge. He will always be of my heroes. David Lynch did a fabulous job with this film. Great film score too. Highly recommended.

A sad, sad film....
2008-10-07 - The film opens under the tent of a circus. The Elephant Man is the main attraction of the freak shows. A physician, Dr. Frederick Treves (Anthony Hopkins), passes through a menagerie of Siamese twins, strongmen, fat women, pickled abortions, etc., until he arrives at the Elephant Man's tent. Treves pays the carnival barker, Bytes (Freddie Jones), a fee for a private exhibition of the Elephant Man. Bytes leads Treves into the Elephant Man's tent. It's dark inside. The Elephant Man peeks out of the shadows. Treves is astonished. He leases the Elephant Man from Mr. Bytes. The Elephant Man transforms a wing of the London hospital into a freak show, and Treves is the circus barker as he catalogues the Elephant Man's deformed body. The physician waves over the reeking bags and nasty testicle-like sacs lapping out of John's back. The physician waves over the huge fibrous globes displacing John's skull; the physician waves over the swollen twisted chain of John's vertebrae.

In some, John inspires fear; in others, he inspires sympathy. His deformed body is a funhouse mirror, returning the ugliness of those who gaze at him, beat him, and exploit him. Through the first forty-five minutes of the film, John only snorts, wheezes, and growls in his mask. An ominous air surrounds him. The physician's kindness, respect, and patience win John's trust. Then, we discover that John can not only speak, but--despite the crippling distortion of his mouth--he speaks elegant English. He quotes bible scriptures. He even writes poetry. John's only possession is a picture of his beautiful deceased mother. Elephants trampled her to death when she was only twenty-one. In John's nightmares, one of those elephants--his father--impregnates his mother.

A beautiful and sympathetic actress (Anne Bancroft) visits Merrick. Her open interest in John starts a new trend. Now, John plays the humble and frequent host to London's upper society. The hospital's head nurse, old Mrs. Mothershead--Wendy Hiller, dislikes John's growing fame. The old woman scolds Treves for making John a freak all over again. Treves is defensive--at least at the hospital, John's treated with some measure of human dignity and decency. John's not abused at the hospital as he is with Bytes, the carnival barker.

The carnival suffers in John's absence; the Elephant Man was the freak show's most popular draw. Bytes interrupts John's new life, invades the hospital, and steals back his cash cow, the Elephant Man. Bytes treats John coldly, as one would treat an unfaithful spouse. The magic was gone. The Elephant Man has become a figure of sympathy. In a drunken fit of anger, Bytes drags John out of his trailer and tosses him into a cage full of baboons. The circus's other freaks pity John. They free him from the baboon cage and spirit him out of the circus.

Traumatized, John hides his head--his face--under a sack and begins his long journey home: the hospital. He boards a train to London. At the train station, his hooded face, stooped back, and limping gait attracts a mob. They unmask him and flush him to the bowels of the station. They corner him in a restroom. Amid steampipes and rows of urinals and rusted toilets, John cries at the top of his lungs: "I am not an animal, I am not an animal!" The crowd dissipates, and the film moves to its final scene.

The Elephant film is a poignant straightforward film directed by David Lynch, known for eccentric films like Eraserhead, Lost Highway, Wild at Heart, and Blue Velvet. Photographer Freddie Francis shot the film in black and white, a mode that evokes the era of the story and the mystique surrounding the film's subject. All of the main actors--Anne Bancroft, Anthony Hopkins, and Wendy Hiller--performed perfectly. But the biggest star of the Elephant Man was John Hurt. How he didn't win the Oscar in 1980, I'll never know. Get a box of Kleenex and see this film.

author of Gotta Be Down!


Too melodramatic and predictable
2008-09-15 - A man and the lifetime conflict of his existence and the self acception... Despite the fact it was based in a true story, something in this film recalls me the classic French novel "The Hunchback of Notre Dame". Very well filmed, but the plot takes an overemotional approach.

Truly upsetting and memorable
2008-09-09 - I can cry at anything. I cry at films, reality TV shows, Neighbours *cough*, sob stories on American Idol, etc. And I've cried so much at a similar film, Mask, that I can no longer watch it. I was actually expecting to dislike this. Everyone seems to rave about it. What's to like?

For anyone who has seen this movie, the scene where the doctor (played superbly by Anthony Hopkins) takes John back to his home and introduces him to his wife - that was me. When John starts crying and says he's never been spoken to like that before by a beautiful woman, that was me for the rest of the film. I cried on and off for the rest of the movie. And was still crying when the credits rolled.

Elephant Man is based on the true story of Joseph Merrick, who was afflicted with a disfiguring disease. Some of this is similar to Mask, where Rocky (played by Eric Stoltz) is also afflicted by a similar disease. But this was in the 19th century, and little was known about this kind of thing. Because of this, Merrick is subjected to years of misery as the 'Elephant Man' in freak side shows, things that were popular on those days. There are benign tumours which grow all over his body, distorting his head, face and body, which makes him sleep sitting up or will die from suffocation.

Most of the movie is set inside the hospital, where we learn Merrick is extremely well educated, and instantly likeable. I'm still not quite sure about the beginning of the movie - where we see Merrick's mother being attacked by an elephant in the fourth month of her pregnancy. It seemed a bit tacked on to the beginning of the movie and didn't really work.

There are a few familiar faces in this - fans of UK TV show Hotel Babylon look out for Dexter Fletcher, he's appeared in films too, but that's how I know him. Fans of Anne Of Green Gables (!), look out for Wendy Hiller, playing the main nurse. She was Mrs. Harris in the sequel. There's probably others too, but those are the ones I know.

Unfortunately, I really don't see this as the kind of the movie I will ever watch again. It's just too upsetting, although I know people I've spoken to, disagree with that, and watch it over and over. It just had to much of an effect on me. Otherwise it's a really brilliant movie, with similarities to Mask, but in black and white, and outstanding performances.