Great Scene: “The Elephant Man”

It’s one of the most poignant, sad, and beautiful movie moments I can remember: The ending of The Elephant Man (1980). Directed by David Lynch from a screenplay he co-wrote with Christopher De Vore & Eric Bergren, the movie tells the story of John Merrick (John Hurt), known in Victorian England as “The Elephant Man” because of his grotesque physical features. After a life of cruelty, Merrick is befriended by Dr. Frederick Treves (Anthony Hopkins) who discovers that underneath the exterior of the ‘beast’ lies something truly remarkable as Merrick is possessed of keen intelligence and an appreciation for beauty.

In the final scene, he fulfills another wish: Simply to sleep lying down, as opposed to being propped up, how he’s had to sleep his entire life to keep from choking to death on his own saliva which pools in his lungs when his body his horizontal. In other words, Merrick’s final wish is to sleep like a ‘normal’ human being, even if it means his own demise:

The cathedral is a masterwork of detail and shading, as if it 
were St. Philips itself shrunk to a miniature. He goes to the 
table, dips the brush into the paint and carefully signs his 
name at the base of the main spire.

MERRICK
 John… Merrick!

He sighs deeply, lays the brush down on the table and pushes 
the model towards the window. The movement causes him pain. 
He puts his left hand up and feels the back of his head. 
Merrick turns out the lamp and goes to his bed. He looks at the 
cathedral again, then around at his room. We see in the dim 
light his books, his gallery of smiling women, his dressing 
bag, his cloak and hood, and finally his mother’s picture on 
the table. A slight breeze billows the curtains. We move in 
very close to them.

DISSOLVE TO:

High altitude… roiling clouds with lightning flashes and
low thunder. The sky is in turmoil.

MERRICK (V.0.)
 When will the stream be aweary of
 flowing under my eye?

Lightning flash… thunder roll. The clouds are mingling and
scattering.

MERRICK (V.O.)
 When will the wind be aweary of
 blowing over the sky?

The clouds erupt, pushed onward and onward… they slowly begin 
to calm as… they turn slowly into… elephants linked 
trunk to tail moving slowly away from us…

MERRICK (V.0.) 
 When will the clouds be aweary 
 of fleeting?

The elephants are calmer than the skies we saw… they keep
moving onward and onward …

MERRICK (V.O.)
 When will the heart be aweary of
 beating….

A lacy curtain has taken the place of the sky. The elephants
seem to be moving on it… into the distance.

MERRICK (V.0.)
 … and nature die?

Knock, knock sound — the curtain moves to one side wiping the 
elephants away with it. There is no terrified audience behind 
the curtain. There is only light and Merrick’s Mother smiling 
a calm and benign smile.

JOHN’S MUM
 Never, oh! Never, nothing will 
 die; the stream flows, 
 the wind blows, the cloud fleets, the 
 heart beats…

The light grows brighter and brighter until we cannot see John’s
Mother anymore. it almost blinds us.

JOHN’S MUM
 Nothing will die.

WHITE OUT

CUT TO BLACK

THE END

[Originally posted March 5, 2010]