David Lynch Tribute

We are concluding our four month David Lynch retrospective by presenting The Elephant Man, his haunting sophomore feature, now in a breathtaking new 4K restoration from Paramount Pictures. One of the most emotionally resonant and visually arresting films of the 20th century, this is the perfect way to pay our final tributes. Shot in stark, luminous black-and-white by the legendary Freddie Francis, and produced by Mel Brooks (yes, that Mel Brooks), this Victorian-era tragedy tells the true story of John Merrick (An unforgettable John Hurt), a severely deformed man exploited in a freak show before being taken under the wing of a sympathetic surgeon, Dr. Frederick Treves (a quietly commanding Anthony Hopkins). What follows is a delicate, devastating exploration of what it means to be human in a society obsessed with appearances. With The Elephant Man, Lynch (Eraserhead, Blue Velvet, Mulholland Drive) stepped into the mainstream without sacrificing a shred of his uncanny sensibility—crafting a deeply compassionate portrait of otherness that still stuns over four decades later.