The Elephant Man

 SPOILER ALERT! The plot will be discussed.

The black and white cinematography in The Elephant Man (1980) gives it a documentary, realistic, grim feel. Mel Brooks produced the movie but didn’t want it publicized because he wanted the film taken seriously. David Lynch is the right person to direct a movie about what society considers grotesque versus the frightening reality of the world at large. The first shot is of the close-up portrait of an attractive woman which is then offset by a heard of elephants marching across the screen. The elephants cry out and we see the woman on the floor silently screaming, supposedly being killed by the elephants. We hear a baby crying, implying a birth has taken place. We then shift to Anthony Hopkins’s character, Dr. Frederick Treves, a surgeon in London, at a sideshow, an appropriate setting for where so-called normal people go to reassure themselves that they are not what deviates from norm.

People either laugh or leave crying as they view those behind human cages, like scary animals in a zoo. Treves follows policemen who wish to remove The Elephant Man display because, as one says, it is inhumane to have this exhibit. The man who presents The Elephant Man, Bytes (Freddie Jones), says that there must be another move, indicating that his entry goes beyond even the average sights at the sideshow. He calls his act “my treasure.” It is an ironic phrase since it can be a term of endearment but also something of economic worth. Exploitation comes to mind.

The background sound of the film is like an industrial hum, similar to what Lynch used in Eraserhead. The usage fits with the scene that has Treves operating on a man who is a victim of a machine accident. The doctor says there have been more of these accidents lately, and he adds “you can’t reason with machines.” That echoes the ominous industrial landscape in Eraserhead and comments on the dehumanization ushered in by the Industrial Revolution. That feeling is backed up by the bleak urban setting with steam and fire present that implies a hellish backdrop. We later get a shot of polluting smoke belching out of smokestacks.

John Merrick (John Hurt) is the title character, and his extreme deformity may be due to a combination of neurofibromatosis type I and Proteus syndrome, although, as IMDb notes, the exact diagnosis was never discovered. That fact implies that it can be difficult for us to understand those that do not swim in the mainstream of society’s waters. At the beginning, Bytes says he “owns” Merrick and Treves calls him “it,” which shows that others do not think of Merrick as a human being. Bytes does a private viewing for Treves after being paid. He says that the mother met her fate in her fourth month of pregnancy on an “uncharted” African Island in an encounter with an elephant. This strange tale creates a fiction for the audience to escape into and to indulge human curiosity into what is considered the deviant aspect of the world. (According to IMDb, many parts of the film do not represent the actual story. For Instance, Merrick was not mistreated as described and could not speak as clearly as depicted).

Treves’s initial motivation in seeing Merrick is selfish as he wants to grow his reputation by also exploiting the man. However, when Treves sees Merrick he neither laughs nor is frightened. Instead, he shows some empathy by shedding a single tear. The first viewing of Merrick is in shadows, so Lynch does not present his physical appearance right away.

 When Merrick appears at Treves’s office, he wears a bag over his head and a bulky coat. It’s one thing for some to pay for a temporary viewing of the grotesque but it’s quite a shock to watch it circulate freely among society. Merrick initially will not respond to Treves and appears frightened of him, probably because of the harsh way others have treated him. It is interesting that his appearance should frighten others, but it is Merrick who is scared.

Treves displays him at The Pathological Society as a specimen, not a person, centering his talk on the extreme deviations from normal appearance. Again, we do not view Merrick yet as the camera shoots an outline of him behind a projection screen. The delayed revealing builds the audience’s suspense but also paves the way for us to get used to the idea of his deformity and accept him as a victim instead of as a monster.

Treves assumes that Merrick was deformed since birth and based on the man being unresponsive assumes he is an imbecile, adding he hopes so since being conscious of his condition would be unbearable. Treves is not exactly being empirically scientific in his conclusions here.

A drunken Bytes beats Merrick upon his return. Merrick has asthma and is suffering after the beating. The youth, who is Bytes’s assistant (Dexter Fletcher), shows concern for Merrick and goes to Treves who admits Merrick to the hospital. It is a young boy, possibly because he maintains some innocence in this depraved situation, who seeks help for Merrick.

Carr Gomm (Sir John Gielgud), the head of the hospital, tells Treves that Merrick should be in a place that deals with “incurables” and not in the hospital. The relegation of those that suffer without hope of being herded into an asylum shows the lack of compassion that existed toward society’s outcasts.

An unsuspecting female aid brings breakfast to Merrick and witnesses his deformed body. She screams in horror. We finally see what she does, but the audience has been somewhat prepared, and the shock is less for us. Treves begins to show more humanity as he attempts to treat and shelter Merrick.

In addition to the background humming there is mechanistic thumping heard. Along with those sounds are the highlighted ticking of a clock, the tapping of shoes on the floor, the striking of a match, and the hiss of gaslights. These become ominous noises, especially to the vulnerable Merrick. He is immediately in jeopardy of becoming exploited by the night porter, Sunny Jim (Michael Elphick), quite an ironic name, who wants to make money off a freak just like Bytes.

Bytes shows up at the hospital and confronts Treves, saying he wants Merrick back. Treves is now in protective mode and says that he knows Bytes beat him and that he is capitalizing on Merrick’s suffering. However, Bytes argues that is exactly what Treves was doing when he wanted to display him for his own betterment. At this point Gomm appears and supports Treves, implying that the police would not look kindly at how Bytes treated Merrick. We have a more humane side appearing on the part of the doctor and Gomm. Treves also gets Merrick to start to talk with him, which shows that if given a chance society’s shunned can be heard.

Treves rehearses Merrick to make a good impression on Gomm, but Merrick is nervous and is not used to conversing. Treves taught Merrick part of Psalm 23 from the Bible, and as Merrick says how “goodness and mercy” shall be part of his life, it seems ironic since that is not what others have shown him. Gomm feels that if his bronchitis gets better and he has recovered from his beating, the hospital is no longer a place for Merrick as he concludes that no further progress is obtainable. But, Merrick continues to recite the psalm beyond the part they rehearsed. Merrick reveals to Treves and Gomm that he read the Bible and The Book of Common Prayer when he was young. He is actually intelligent and knowledgeable. Gomm implies that it must have been horrible for someone the world would not allow to reach his full potential because of the way he looked.

When Merrick’s story becomes known there are two different responses. An actress, Mrs. Kendal (Ann Bancroft, Brooks’s wife) is interested in his mind. Sunny Jim wants to capitalize on his deformed body and charges others to witness the shock of seeing him. Thus, we have the two aspects of the world toward what is aberrant.

Treves has a well-dressed Merrick at his house for tea, and his wife, (Hannah Gordon), treats him with sensitivity. He is overwhelmed that a beautiful woman would treat him so nicely, so alien it is to his experience. They look at each other’s family pictures. The doctor and his wife display photos of their parents and children, showing a connected family. Merrick has a picture of his beautiful mother who has been absent from his life, and says he would be a disappointment to her, which, of course, is no fault of his own. His appearance has deprived him of any sense of family.

Merrick reveals artistic ability as he constructs a paper replica of a cathedral and draws accomplished pictures. One displays what it would be like to be able to lie down like others and have the luxury of sleep without the threat of suffocation due to the weight of an oversized head. The actress, Mrs. Kendal, visits, and she gives Merrick the works of Shakespeare. They read a section of Romeo and Juliet. She is moved by his reading and plays the role of Juliet, and he is Romeo, with the scene ending with a kiss on his cheek. She sees beyond his superficial covering and declares that he is not The Elephant Man. He is Romeo, she says, because she sees he is a romantic at heart. The audience understands society has not nourished the possibilities for this man and has decided that he should not be allowed to flourish.

Because Mrs. Kendal accepts him, and she is regarded as a person of excellent taste, she, in essence, gives Merrick the stamp of approval, and other refined people seek him out. He says that “people are frightened by what they don’t understand.” That is so in his case, because our first impressions are by way of our senses, and we judge by what we see, the packaging, and not what the wrapping envelops beneath the surface.

Mothershed (Wendy Hiller), who supervises the hospital support staff, tells Treves that she does not believe that these sophisticated visitors should meet Merrick. She was resistant at first about caring for Merrick, but now she calls him John, and says that she and her nurses have “bathed,” “fed,” and “cleaned up” after Merrick, which shows “loving kindness.” She claims that the visitors only see Merrick to show that they are providing the appearance of caring so as to be accepted by their peers. She says that Merrick is now on display to be looked at again, only in a different context. She is implying that these upper-class citizens are not appreciating Merrick for his true worth. He admits that he may be like Bytes because he has used Merrick as a curiosity. Although his wife says Merrick is living better than he ever did, Treves still questions his motives. Despite what happens in the daytime, the nighttime (symbolically a demonic part of the day here) allows Sunny Jim to use Merrick as a sideshow freak.

The hospital governing committee meets to determine Merrick’s status. One member says that the man is an abomination and that the hospital is not a zoo which houses animals. That rant contrasts with a shot of Merrick using his imagination to complete the model of the cathedral he has only seen part of. However, Gomm has enlisted the support of the royal family, and the Princess of Wales reads a letter from Queen Victoria that urges a Christian attitude toward Merrick. Gomm gets the hospital to grant a permanent home for Merrick.

This benevolent act contrasts with the cruel actions of Sunny Jim and those who pay him to abuse Merrick, laughing at him, manhandling him, forcing women to kiss him, pouring whiskey down his throat, and making him look at himself in a mirror. Bytes is part of the crowd and kidnaps Merrick. (One could criticize the representation of lower-class individuals as the ones who primarily exploit Merrick).

The steeple that Merrick put on his model is knocked over, signifying the un-Christian-like activity that occurred. When Treves discovers what happened, he is enraged, and confronts Sunny Jim, who is ready to attack the doctor until Mothershed knocks him out from behind.

Bytes takes Merrick to France and puts him in another freak show. He continues to abuse Merrick, beating him and placing him in a cage next to violent baboons. After experiencing a taste of decency, it seems Merrick continues to be the victim of the depraved aspects of people. It takes the other carnival freaks to save him, helping one of their own. They place him on a ship to England. But again, he cannot escape the cruelty of others. Boys harass him, and in his escape, he knocks over a girl. Pursued by a gang he stands up for himself and others like him as he declares, “I am not an elephant! I am not an animal! I am a human being. I am a man!”

The police return Merrick to Treves. Merrick’s health is in decline after all that he has been through. He tells Treves that he has been able to experience happiness because he finally has felt love. After all that has happened to him, he somehow is not an angry, bitter individual, but remains a gentle, sensitive person. He is finally able to go to the theater, a place that Mrs. Kendal said was a beautiful spot to visit. He can experience the beauty of an evening of art, which he can appreciate since he himself is an artist. The show is a fantasy, an escape from the harshness of what most of his life has been. Kendal dedicates the performance to Merrick, and he receives a standing ovation as everyone there sees him, possibly acknowledging his inner beauty.

In his room, alone, he says his model is done, which may also refer to his life being completed. He looks at his drawing of someone who lays down to sleep. He removes the stacked pillows from his bed and lies down for his last mortal rest. It appears that he has finally received what he always wanted, the love of others, and is ready to leave this life in that state. We hear his mother say, “nothing dies,” and it appears his spirit travels down a tunnel to her. The film ends as it began, with an image of her, as Merrick is reborn, free of his mortal coil.