This is a true and sad story of the life of a person who actually existed in the 19th century, John Merrick, who suffered from a rare disease that caused terrible deformations of the body.

The young surgeon Trives, having seen this unfortunate and clogged creature in a booth, buys it from the owner out of purely scientific interest, but is surprised to find in him an intellectually developed and spiritual person. Professional interest is replaced by compassion, the phenomenon becomes fashionable in high society, the queen herself blesses to leave him in the hospital forever …

4k movies reviews
I sit and write a review with tears in my eyes.

Human cruelty is something that everyone has experienced to a greater or lesser extent. Living in a selfish world, people cease to sympathize with each other and simply do not notice the problems of others. Internal beauty is replaced by external.

Joseph Merrick was not born like the others. The ugliness prevented him from living the way he wants, like everyone else. The tale of the ugly duckling, familiar to everyone, becomes a real human story.

For Joseph, there is a master – a cruel man, hungry for profit. He beats his “treasure” and puts it on display in the “Freak Show”. What would have happened to Joseph’s life if a surgeon by the name of Trives had never met him, one can only guess. But do the tests end there? Next to him are people who are not able to understand the grief of others, who are not able to empathize. When looking at him, it becomes either funny or scary: they must think that they consider themselves better, higher. But what would happen if the assessment was made not by appearance, but by spiritual qualities? Wherever the scoffers would turn out to be, these villains, and where is Joseph himself — a man who managed not to become embittered, to be grateful, to cry from a good relationship, to value friendship, to love his mother who betrayed him and to deserve her love, to understand art, to enjoy trifles; a man with a capital letter is a man, not an elephant! The wonderful spiritual qualities found a response in the hearts of other people who sincerely tried to help him. Caring, sympathy, empathy change them and make them unusually beautiful and worthy. I involuntarily recall the lines of Nikolai Zabolotsky:

And if so, then what is beauty

And why do people deify her?

A vessel in which there is emptiness

Or a fire flickering in a vessel?

The great director David Lynch, who had a hand in the script of the film, is a creator with his own special vision. It helped him to convey all the courage, strength and dignity inherent in the main character.

The wonderful actors Anthony Hopkins, Anne Bancroft, John Gilgud and, of course, John Hurt, who endured a daily make-up overlay for 12 hours, showed the actor’s play of the highest degree: first of all with eyes, and then with facial expressions, gestures, movements.

Piercing music – especially “Adagio by the talented American composer Samuel Barber, which accompanies the last minutes of the film, does not let tears stop and makes the final scene very strong, but at the same time touching and unforgettable.

All this together creates such a masterpiece that it is difficult to find words to describe.

The story of Joseph Merrick cannot be appreciated. But I donÂ’t doubt how much to put on the film.

Info Blu-ray
Video
Codec: HEVC / H.265 (76.52 Mbps)
Resolution: Native 4K (2160p)
HDR: Dolby Vision, HDR10
Original aspect ratio: 2.39:1

Audio
English: DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0 (48kHz, 24-bit)
German: DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0 (48kHz, 24-bit)
French: DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0 (48kHz, 24-bit)

Subtitles
English SDH, French, German