The Elephant Man (1980)
94%RT Audience Score: 93%
Awards & Nominations: Nominated for 8 Oscars
10 wins & 22 nominations total
David Lynch’s relatively straight second feature finds an admirable synthesis of compassion and restraint in treating its subject, and features outstanding performances by John Hurt and Anthony Hopkins.
The Elephant Man is a movie that will make you feel all the feels. From revulsion to empathy, this film takes you on a rollercoaster of emotions. John Hurt’s portrayal of Merrick is nothing short of powerful, and David Lynch’s unique brand of storytelling is on full display. It’s a scary and sad story, but one that also has moments of beauty and hope. Plus, who doesn’t love a good Beauty and the Beast tale? Overall, The Elephant Man is a must-watch for anyone who wants to experience a truly moving cinematic experience.
Production Company(ies)
Brooksfilms
Distributor
Paramount Pictures
Release Type
Theatrical, Theatrical (Wide)
Filming Location(s)
Butler’s Wharf, Shad Thames, Southwark, London, England, UK
MPAA / Certificate
PG
Year of Release
1980
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Color:Color
Black and White -
Sound mix:Dolby Stereo
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Aspect ratio:2.35 : 1
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Runtime:2h 5m
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Language(s):English, French
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Country of origin:United States
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Release date:Release Date (Theaters): Oct 3, 1980 Original
Release Date (Streaming): Mar 9, 2010
Genre(s)
Biography/Drama
Keyword(s)
starring John Hurt, Anthony Hopkins, Anne Bancroft, John Gielgud, Wendy Hiller, Freddie Jones, directed by David Lynch, written by Sir Frederick Treves, Ashley Montagu, Christopher De Vore, Eric Bergren, David Lynch, biography, drama, box office performance, budget, reviewed by Peter Bradshaw, Ed Potton, Adam Nayman, Richard Corliss, Richard Brody, Dave Kehr, Kenneth Turan, Sean Mulvihill, Matt Brunson, Mike Massie, Grant Watson, Leigh Paatsch, PG rating, produced by Jonathan Sanger, Dolby, Surround, Scope (2.35:1), Joseph Merrick, Elephant Man, congenital disorder, sideshow, disfigurement, refined soul, stodgy British upper class, dignity, London, caring actress, death at 27, Cool Hand Luke, Harold and Maude, Rebel Without a Cause, The Hustler, Shine
Worldwide gross: $26,023,860
Worldwide gross (inflation-adjusted): $97,806,491
Worldwide gross ranking (inflation-adjusted): 1,031
Worldwide tickets sold (est.): 10,665,920
US/Canada gross: $26,010,864
US/Canada gross (inflation-adjusted): NA
US/Canada gross ranking (inflation-adjusted): NA
US/Canada opening weekend:
US/Canada opening weekend (inflation-adjusted): NA
US/Canada opening weekend ranking (inflation-adjusted): NA
Budget and Earnings Details
Production budget (est.): $5,000,000
Production budget (inflation-adjusted): $18,791,696
Production budget ranking: 1,394
Marketing and distribution budget (inflation-adjusted est.): $10,119,328
Box office net earnings to date (inflation-adjusted est.): $68,895,467
ROI to date (est.): 238%
ROI ranking: 553
Anthony Hopkins – Dr. Frederick ‘Freddie’ Treves
Anne Bancroft – Mrs. Kendal
John Gielgud – Carr Gomm
Wendy Hiller – Mothershead
Freddie Jones – Bytes
Director(s)
David Lynch
Writer(s)
Sir Frederick Treves, Ashley Montagu, Christopher De Vore, Eric Bergren, David Lynch
Producer(s)
Jonathan Sanger
Film Festivals
Awards & Nominations
Nominated for 8 Oscars
10 wins & 22 nominations total
Academy Awards
Oscar Nominees
All Critics (54) | Top Critics (13) | Fresh (50) | Rotten (4)
It is an absorbing and satisfying drama, and Hurt’s Merrick is very powerful.
March 12, 2020 | Rating: 5/5
Peter Bradshaw
Guardian
TOP CRITIC
Many Lynchian tropes are here, from a sense of foreboding to a fascination with the grotesque, in terms of Merrick and outsiders’ reactions to him.
June 14, 2019 | Rating: 4/5
Ed Potton
Times (UK)
TOP CRITIC
From deep beneath layers of latex makeup, Hurt inhabits a highly specific physical and behavioral characterization, while also conveying the essential, universal loneliness of the human soul.
April 15, 2019
Adam Nayman
The Ringer
TOP CRITIC
This is a tale of redemption and transcendence, of the hunchback of London Hospital, of the noble phantom who wanted to go to the opera, of Beauty and the Beast.
April 22, 2014
Richard Corliss
TIME Magazine
TOP CRITIC
Lynch’s powerful depiction of Merrick (played by John Hurt) moves a viewer from revulsion and fear to empathy and tenderness. That’s the very movement of the story itself.
April 22, 2014
Richard Brody
New Yorker
TOP CRITIC
The picture itself is a strange trade-off between Lynch’s personal themes — the night world of obscure, disturbing sexual obsessions — and the requirements of a middlebrow message movie.
April 30, 2008
Dave Kehr
Chicago Reader
TOP CRITIC
Lynch has a dead-on feel for the shivery intangibles that crawl under the skin and into the subconscious.
November 4, 2021
Kenneth Turan
New West/California
With The Elephant Man, Lynch asserts his unique brand of empathetic storytelling – one that always balances the light with the dark, the good with the evil.
October 13, 2020 | Rating: 5/5
Sean Mulvihill
FanboyNation.com
Following his startling debut with Eraserhead, David Lynch retained that picture’s industrial imagery, unnerving sound design, and oddball atmosphere and layered them over this rich story.
October 13, 2020 | Rating: 3.5/4
Matt Brunson
Film Frenzy
It’s equal parts scary and sad – a Frankenstein’s monster that can garner both fright and sympathy.
September 6, 2020 | Rating: 8/10
Mike Massie
Gone With The Twins
This is by far the most conventional of David Lynch’s films, and thus perhaps it is the easiest with which to demonstrate his immense skill at narrative story-telling.
July 4, 2020 | Rating: 10/10
Grant Watson
Fiction Machine
Flawless interpretation of the hit stage play about a Victorian Era gent living with a confronting physical affliction.
April 17, 2020
Leigh Paatsch
Herald Sun (Australia)…
Plot
In Victorian London, Dr. Frederick Treves with the London Hospital comes across a circus sideshow attraction run by a man named Bytes called “The Elephant Man”. In actuality, the creature on display is indeed a man, twenty-one-year-old Joseph “John” Merrick, who has several physical deformities, including an oversized and disfigured skull, and an oversized and disfigured right shoulder. Brutish Bytes, his “owner”, only wants whatever he can get economically by presenting Merrick as a freak. Treves manages to bring Merrick under his care at the hospital, not without several of its own obstacles, including being questioned by those in authority since Merrick cannot be cured. Treves initially believes Bytes’ assertion that mute Merrick is an imbecile, but ultimately learns that Merrick can speak and is a well-read and articulate man. As news of Merrick hits the London newspapers, he becomes a celebrated curiosity amongst London’s upper class, including with Mrs. Kendal, a famed actress. Despite treated much more humanely, the question becomes whether Treves’ actions are a further exploitation of Merrick. And as Merrick becomes more famous, others try to get their two-cents worth from who still remains a curiosity and a freak to most, including to Bytes, who has since lost his meal ticket.
Trivia
Goofs / Tidbits
John Hurt’s portrayal of Joseph Merrick in The Elephant Man is described as “very powerful” by critics.
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