between the surreal dystopia of eraserhead and the artistic immobility of dune and and before critic label him a the auteur of weird america with permanent marker and david lynch direct this strange but true story set in london and england during the late 1800 . be one of only two film of his to be base on fact it be far less of a personal work than those generate by the director himself . despite his sensibility be contain in a more formal framework his unique aural and visual style ( like the sound of blow wind or the peculiar emphasis of the industrial machinery of the period ) clearly come across and although it a far cry from the narrative conundrum that comprise eraserhead and lose highway and or mulholland dr. the year before this film be release bernard pomerance play open on broadway . this film be not base upon the former work and the latter take a dramatically divergent path with it namesake subject . one of the most substantial be merrick role in his adoptive society once his carnival career be truncate . pomerance tale be a tragic one show u how merrick becomes catch in the machinery of the repressive and hypocritical society that cultivate him and tempt him with the illusion of normality with the artificial world they erect around him and but ultimately imprison him within it . the film depict victorian society a a benevolent sanctuary for a man and who while give the prop to model himself after the normality he aspire to and be never deceive into think he can achieve it beyond his imagination . merrick own realization of this be clear in a scene ( hauntingly score by composer john morris ) where he ask his caretaker treeves if he can cure him . treeves reply be no . merrick response be of a man who know the answer all along but still allow himself the indulgence to dream . treeves struggle be similarly reduce . the close he come in the film to question his motif concern merrick be a brief scene where he ask his wife ( and audience ) if his seemingly charitable act of take merrick from his sideshow squalor be possibly something other than altruistic . pomerance have treeves question the artificial social fabric that be weave around merrick and his undeniable complicity in it . the screenwriter seem less concerned with tackle these victorian dilemma than focus on the beauty in the beast theme . consider lynch fascination with organic phenomenon this focus seem much more up his alley . in his word lynch have state that the eponymous title character be this beautiful soul trap in this horrible body and that what the whole film be about . yes siree bob . much less effective in the film be the role of the actress madge kendall who really nothing more than a walk on by anne bancroft . there be some ( even subtly sexual ) awkwardness between merrick and kendall at the beginning of their meeting together but it ultimately wind up with a scene that feel patronize towards merrick and mawkish . it doesn not fit with the early tension and kendall never become anything more than a well acted cameo . much more effective be merrick ability to retain the power to disturb the bourgeois society that flock to see him once he become that season fashionable curiosity . his transformation into a gentrified version of his erstwhile sawdust and calliope music carnival persona still have the same effect on others . in one scene he be serve tea to a noticeably unnerved aristocratic couple who be guest of his . their cups rattle against their saucer in barely restrain horror a he discuss his mother beauty in the context of his own deformity . his cherished portrait of his mother become an eerily recur visual motif . she remain a mysterious presence frozen in time . the conflation of merrick and his mother recall a line hear early in the film that life be full of surprise . merrick background remain equally enigmatic . the only glimpse we see of his past be some creepily abstract image during one of his nightmare . even his beginning be fictionalize a part of the sideshow spiel recite by his owner byte . treeves first view of the elephant man be in a private showing by byte . he be lead down a dark corridor to a room where the terrible freak be keep concealed behind a curtain . only the flame of a gas lamp illuminate the darkness . bytes spin a tale of a terrify encounter between woman and elephant while treeves stare and mouth agape . the scene have a strange lynchian spookiness about it . the costume and production design authentically breathe life into the victorian era while freddie francis expressionistic monochrome add both verisimilitude and a sense of an alternative world . these element together with lynch use of both nightmarish and chimerical image and an other worldly atmosphere and pathos and sentiment and make the film a sort of charles dickens tale wrap inside the twilight zone with the ethereal touch of a haunting dream . the past a la lynch .