DUNE (1984)
Directed by David Lynch
Starring: Kyle MacLachlan, Viriginia Madsen, Francesca Annis, Jurgen Prochnow, Kenneth McMillan, Sting, José Ferrer, Brad Dourif, Freddie Jones, Patrick Stewart, Jack Nance, Everett McGill, Paul Smith
I love David Lynch. His films are strange, off-putting, visually stunning, beautiful, disturbing, funny, scary, noisy and just plain weird. And all of these elements are in every film he does. He is probably the most original director working in movies today.
But in the early 80's, Lynch was the hottest new director in town. Coming hot off the heels of his genre-defying student film Eraserhead and the Oscar nominated The Elephant Man, Lynch was in high demand. He was even on George Lucas' short list of directors he wanted for the conclusion of the Star Wars saga, Return of the Jedi. Lynch turned it down, however, claiming that the film would be more Lucas' vision than his own.
A few years earlier, an equally experimental director named Alejandro Jodorowsky (El Topo, Santa Sangre) was planning a big-screen version of Frank Herbert's epic sci-fi novel Dune. The film was to be designed by H.R. Geiger, the music was to be by Pink Floyd, and the film would star Salvador Dali, Orson Welles, Gloria Swanson, David Carradine and Mick Jagger, among others. The idea was scrapped in pre-production. As years went by, other directors (such as Ridley Scott) were attached and detached from the project. Producer Dino De Laurentiis sat on the project for a few years, until he heard that David Lynch was interested.
Now, for those of us from the Lord of the Rings generation, we've seen this formula work: Epic Novel + Hot Young Director + Built-In Fanbase = Box Office Gold. And yet, Dune was one of the biggest flops of the 80's. What went wrong?
As a first-time viewer of Dune - and as one who has never read the novel - all I can do is offer my first impression of the film. The story is long and complicated, and almost Shakespearean in scope. There is so much to this story about spice mining, warring houses, a Messianic prophecy and political intrigue that it's almost impossible to fit it all into a two-hour film. As such, the film opens with a lengthy back story, telling the viewer where we are and why this world is the way it is. Lynch apparently is assuming that 90% of the people in the theater hadn't read the book, so he gives us the Cliffs Notes version up front. Also, throughout the film, any questions as to what the characters are thinking are cleared up immediately, as we are treated to the inmost thoughts and reflections of nearly all of the "good guys."
Our hero Paul Atreides (MacLachlan) comes from a long line of clairvoyants, and may be the most clairvoyant-y of them all. This makes the Spacing Guild very nervous, as he may grow to threaten the production of "Spice," a sort of drug that allows the user to "fold time" and "travel without moving." Already, most of the audience is confused. Even I'm probably getting it wrong, and I just watched this thing today.
Anyway, the Emperor of the Known Universe (Ferrer) is ordered to kill Paul, so he calls on the rival House of Harkonnen, where the Baron (McMillan) plans to ambush the House of Atreides on the spice mining planet of Arrakis, aka DUNE, a desert planet, and the only known place where spice can be found. Two assassins - Rabban (Smith) and Feyd-Rautha (Sting) - accompany him. But once the House of Atreides falls, Paul and his mother fall in with a nomadic tribe called the Fremen, who share their prophecy about how their Messiah will come. Together, they decide to take down both the House of Harkonnen and the Empire and the entire spice mining industry.
I probably left some stuff out. But give me a break; that's a lot to keep up with. Hamlet doesn't have this many story lines and plot twists. But as obtuse and impenetrable as the story is, the film is a visual treat; I would expect nothing less from David Lynch. He does a fantastic job visualizing this Universe, and the concepts that are too strange to actually explain, he shows us, using every cinematic trick in the book. The effect of the spice on Paul's mind is a pretty trippy thing to watch. And even though some of the visual effects look pretty dated by today's standards, they're still pretty amazing.
And as if all this wasn't enough, it turns out that this is the only film on which David Lynch didn't get "final cut" (that is, the final authorization of the print that gets shipped to theaters). As such, it's hard to tell what parts of this movie were Lynch's and which parts were the studio's. But having been a fan of Lynch for some years, I think it's a safe bet that the "all knowing" voices we hear weren't his idea. He really does subscribe to the "Show, don't tell" philosophy. Besides, if you've ever seen Eraserhead or Mulholland Drive, you know that Lynch doesn't feel he has to explain anything.
This movie is definitely a mixed bag. It has some wonderful moments, but there is a ton of stuff to remember and some pretty hammy dialogue. However, it does make me want to read the novel, so I guess the film isn't a total failure. Dune purists insist the book is about a thousand times better than the film, but purists are always that way. It's probably the most mainstream of any film Lynch has ever done, and as such, isn't a very good primer for what he's all about.
NEXT WEEK: Forbidden Planet
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