The Elephant Man (1980)
David Lynch is a director that you either love or don't like, as he does have a very distinct style and way of telling stories. However, this one is one of his most restrained and even beautiful films, in spite perhaps of its topic. Save for the very opening and a dreamsequence later on that are truly Lynchian, this beautiful piece focuses all on the humanity and character of a person who was afflicted with severe malformations, yet also was kind and intelligent. It's a tearjerker, alright. The setting is Victorian England, and a young and ambitious doctor by the name of Frederick Treves discovers that there is a man on a local fair who is so deformed, he has been dubbed 'The Elephant Man'. Treves wants to study this person and borrows/hires him from his owner Bytes. It turns out this young man by the name of John Merrick is indeed terribly disfigured through a number of diseases and genetical defects and this gives him the appearance of a monster. But through kindnes...
