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Dune (1984) Revisited
Since the 1984 Dune directed by David Lynch is on Netflix, I rewatched it for the first time since being a teenager. Incidentally, back then I saw the film before I read the novel. I was intrigued without loving it, and it surprised me that it was considered a flop. Once I had read the novel plus the two following after that (I stopped afterChildren of Dune), I could see some of the complaints, but I still thought it was a valiant attempt at tackling the story and that several of the flaws complained about were in fact inherent in the source material. However, I didn't have the urge to rewatch it, so this now has been the first time since decades, and also the first time since I watched two other takes on the novel, the early 2000s tv series, and the latest movie, and of course I've seen various David Lynch movies (and Twin Peaks) since, so my perspective is necessarily different.
In both movie versions and the novel, Jessica is my favourite character. (In the miniseries and its sequel, it's Irulan, not least because I dig all the changes from the novel to allow her her own subplot.) This didn't change, and Francesca Annis is great to watch. However, her essentially having nothing to do in the last third is frustrating me far more.
Lynch does lean into the weirdness far more than the latest version. Sometimes, this works to great and disturbing effect, as in his decision to include the Space Navigators and in fact position the Guild as the ultimate string pullers, when in the novels they don't get page presence until Dune Messiah. The mutated navigator does look like a cross between a human embryo and a worm, and not only is this echoed later when we see the look at embryo Alia altered by her mother drinking the water of life, but if you're familiar with the novels, it foreshadows the ultimate fate of Paul's son Leto II. Even within this movie, it's a heavy hint towards the question Paul periodically asks himself, what the connection between the worms and the spice is.
...on the other hand, there are the Harkonnen, also a product of Lynch leaning into the weird. The Baron, Raban and Pieter de Vries are so hopelessly over the top disgusting and grotesque that rewatching, it's hard to take them serious. Now, this is mostly more Frank Herbert's fault than it is David Lynch's, but Herbert did convey the Baron was intelligent in addition to being grotesque and evil on page, whereas the movie version doesn't manage that. (The latest movie cut the "gay" out of Evil Fat Sadist (tm), which is an improvement, but otoh by reserving Feyd-Rautha for part II it leans into the Evil = Ugly, Good = Pretty equation that the 1984 barely avoids with its Sting casting. Of course, neither movie includes the reveal from the novel that comes to Paul once he's able to trace back all his genetic ancestors, that Jessica (unknown to herself until that point) is in fact the illegitimate daughter of the Baron and a Bene Gesserit. This not only complicates the "Atreides = good, Harkonnen = evil" (seeming) equation some more but is key to Alia's ultimate fate in Children of Dune. Rewatching with the knowledge of the novels in mind, the Lynch movie hints at it more than the Vlleneuve one does, by several visual cues - all the Harkonnen are shown to be redheaded, as is Jessica, as is Alia, which you see for the first time when her headdress is slipping back a bit after she's killed the Baron. Since no one else has red hair in this film, this was presumably intentional. Same for Alia's brief ecstatic look/twirl after having killed the Baron which echoes the Baron's expression from way earlier in the movie.
If Timothee Chalamet looks young but definitely not 15, Kyle MachLachlan looks like he's in his mid 20s at the very least, which makes for a dissonance with everyone treating Paul as a teenager until he's joined the Fremen that I did not pick up on as a teenager in the 80s, perhaps because I was used back then to adult actors playing teenagers on screen, plus they never say out loud how old Paul is supposed to be. (Villeneuve's movie pointedly avoids that, too.) MacLachlan's Paul is more shielded well meaning prince than anything else, and the script doesn't have him tormented by his increasing looks at the future, just curious and intrigued, though when he finally has drunk the water, MacLachlan seems to go for a certain alien quality. Still, the 1984 movie avoids all the novel's passages about Paul knowing that winning will not result in a happy ending for him or anyone else, and that he'll lead a bloody jihad across the universe, and instead comes up with what's perhaps the greatest flaw, wanting to provide the audience with a conventional happy end by letting little Alia and Irulan's voice declare that Mua'dib will bring peace and love where there has been war and hate (even without knowledge of the novels - this is not a goal he's voiced at any point in the film), plus Paul magically makes it rain for the first time on Arrakis. Granted, the novel's ending - Paul wins his duel, tells the Emperor he'll abdicate in Paul's favour and that he, Paul, will marry Irulan to seal the deal, and then Jessica comforts Chani by telling her Paul will never love Irulan anyway and that history will call women like Chani and herself "wives", not concubines - would probably have been a hard sale even in the 1980s, and I remain curious how Villeneuve and his scriptwriters will cope. As I said, I wholeheartedly enjoyed the big change the miniseries made by giving its version of Irulan her own subplot which not only establishes her as a character but shows her growing and learning in parallel to what's going on on Arrrakis, plus by giving her an early encounter with Paul where they get along well there is a remaining sense of "might have been" about the relationship in this and the subsequent miniseries - i.e. had Paul not becomine Muad'ib but remained Paul Atreides from Caladan, they could have worked out well as a sensible arranged marriage match.
Lynch's multiple voice overs - he actually lets the actors recite the thoughts of various characters - contributes to the sense of weirdness which fits with the tone of the movie, and I actually miss them in the last third or so when it's action showdown time and the special effects take over, which are by necessity really dated.
Back in the 1980s, I did not notice that basically none of the Fremen are given a discernable personality in this film. They get lines - Shadou Mapes delivers her warning, Stilgar is The Noble Tribe Leader, Chani is the The Love Interest - but the audience doesn't get to know them as people. Villeneuve does better via the Stilgar and Leto scene (and attempts to via letting Chani introduce the overall story in the Fremen pov, but since the rest of the film then, like the book, remains in that of the non-Fremen characters....), and Herbert at least gives his readers additional individualized Fremen like Harar or Jessica's predecessor as Reverend Mother, but Lynch sticks with "mysterious cool warrior people". Considering his film lacks all the foreshadowing that Paul leading the Fremen to victory will not be blissful happiness but that they will be for him what the Saudakar were for Emperor Shaddam, this unfortunately means the white savior narrative is undeniable there.
Otoh: A plus for making the desert suits worn by the Fremen and Kynes look old and used in comparison to the ones Leto and Paul, and later Paul and Jessica get into, and for making all the equipment look used, not new as well. Speaking of the general costuming, the 1984 goes for early 20th century with the uniforms and for the dresses Jessica wears, but not for Irulan's vaguely 18th century dresses in the opening and closing scenes. The Bene Gesserit's robes come across as a mixture between chador and medieval scholar look, while the space guild goes for a vaguely monk-like outfit. I don't remember how I felt about this in the 80s, but this time around the emphasis seemed to me on evoking a very briefly before WWI early 20th century atmosphere, which in turn gave me a sense of a doomed society.
Lynch's film does a better job than Villeneuve's with Doctor Yueh and his motivations, not least because it introduces him before he's outed as the traitor. Granted, the entire "hunt the mole" subplot complete with Jessica suspected by Thufir and this being an intentional ploy by the Harkonnen (something that does show the Baron and Pieter aren't just evil sadists, but actually smart) is mostly gone from this movie, too, but Yueh himself actually gets to be a character and makes sense.
Otoh, Lynch's Duncan Idaho makes no impression and doesn't have much screen time. Now this is true of the novel as well for me, btw - to the point that when I read Dune Messiah, I had to pause and wreck my head as to what I recalled about Duncan Idaho - , and it's not a problem within the Lynch movie, but it would have become one for any sequel. Whereas Villeneuve's take on Duncan would make the audience understand Paul's actions re: him in Dune Messiah if that film gets made.
Patrick Stewart's brief appearance as Gurney Halleck makes me wish the film would have included some more of the novel's Gurney scenes, but alas.
Missing in both movies: Countess Margot and her husband. I can understand why, but in the novel, Jessica finding Margot's message in the garden is a scene that neatly illustrates Bene Gesserit communication other than the one between Jessica and the Reverend Mother Gaius Monaham.
Speaking of whom: Sian Philipps. That is all. You cannot beat Sian Philipps in this type of role, and there's an end to it.
In both movie versions and the novel, Jessica is my favourite character. (In the miniseries and its sequel, it's Irulan, not least because I dig all the changes from the novel to allow her her own subplot.) This didn't change, and Francesca Annis is great to watch. However, her essentially having nothing to do in the last third is frustrating me far more.
Lynch does lean into the weirdness far more than the latest version. Sometimes, this works to great and disturbing effect, as in his decision to include the Space Navigators and in fact position the Guild as the ultimate string pullers, when in the novels they don't get page presence until Dune Messiah. The mutated navigator does look like a cross between a human embryo and a worm, and not only is this echoed later when we see the look at embryo Alia altered by her mother drinking the water of life, but if you're familiar with the novels, it foreshadows the ultimate fate of Paul's son Leto II. Even within this movie, it's a heavy hint towards the question Paul periodically asks himself, what the connection between the worms and the spice is.
...on the other hand, there are the Harkonnen, also a product of Lynch leaning into the weird. The Baron, Raban and Pieter de Vries are so hopelessly over the top disgusting and grotesque that rewatching, it's hard to take them serious. Now, this is mostly more Frank Herbert's fault than it is David Lynch's, but Herbert did convey the Baron was intelligent in addition to being grotesque and evil on page, whereas the movie version doesn't manage that. (The latest movie cut the "gay" out of Evil Fat Sadist (tm), which is an improvement, but otoh by reserving Feyd-Rautha for part II it leans into the Evil = Ugly, Good = Pretty equation that the 1984 barely avoids with its Sting casting. Of course, neither movie includes the reveal from the novel that comes to Paul once he's able to trace back all his genetic ancestors, that Jessica (unknown to herself until that point) is in fact the illegitimate daughter of the Baron and a Bene Gesserit. This not only complicates the "Atreides = good, Harkonnen = evil" (seeming) equation some more but is key to Alia's ultimate fate in Children of Dune. Rewatching with the knowledge of the novels in mind, the Lynch movie hints at it more than the Vlleneuve one does, by several visual cues - all the Harkonnen are shown to be redheaded, as is Jessica, as is Alia, which you see for the first time when her headdress is slipping back a bit after she's killed the Baron. Since no one else has red hair in this film, this was presumably intentional. Same for Alia's brief ecstatic look/twirl after having killed the Baron which echoes the Baron's expression from way earlier in the movie.
If Timothee Chalamet looks young but definitely not 15, Kyle MachLachlan looks like he's in his mid 20s at the very least, which makes for a dissonance with everyone treating Paul as a teenager until he's joined the Fremen that I did not pick up on as a teenager in the 80s, perhaps because I was used back then to adult actors playing teenagers on screen, plus they never say out loud how old Paul is supposed to be. (Villeneuve's movie pointedly avoids that, too.) MacLachlan's Paul is more shielded well meaning prince than anything else, and the script doesn't have him tormented by his increasing looks at the future, just curious and intrigued, though when he finally has drunk the water, MacLachlan seems to go for a certain alien quality. Still, the 1984 movie avoids all the novel's passages about Paul knowing that winning will not result in a happy ending for him or anyone else, and that he'll lead a bloody jihad across the universe, and instead comes up with what's perhaps the greatest flaw, wanting to provide the audience with a conventional happy end by letting little Alia and Irulan's voice declare that Mua'dib will bring peace and love where there has been war and hate (even without knowledge of the novels - this is not a goal he's voiced at any point in the film), plus Paul magically makes it rain for the first time on Arrakis. Granted, the novel's ending - Paul wins his duel, tells the Emperor he'll abdicate in Paul's favour and that he, Paul, will marry Irulan to seal the deal, and then Jessica comforts Chani by telling her Paul will never love Irulan anyway and that history will call women like Chani and herself "wives", not concubines - would probably have been a hard sale even in the 1980s, and I remain curious how Villeneuve and his scriptwriters will cope. As I said, I wholeheartedly enjoyed the big change the miniseries made by giving its version of Irulan her own subplot which not only establishes her as a character but shows her growing and learning in parallel to what's going on on Arrrakis, plus by giving her an early encounter with Paul where they get along well there is a remaining sense of "might have been" about the relationship in this and the subsequent miniseries - i.e. had Paul not becomine Muad'ib but remained Paul Atreides from Caladan, they could have worked out well as a sensible arranged marriage match.
Lynch's multiple voice overs - he actually lets the actors recite the thoughts of various characters - contributes to the sense of weirdness which fits with the tone of the movie, and I actually miss them in the last third or so when it's action showdown time and the special effects take over, which are by necessity really dated.
Back in the 1980s, I did not notice that basically none of the Fremen are given a discernable personality in this film. They get lines - Shadou Mapes delivers her warning, Stilgar is The Noble Tribe Leader, Chani is the The Love Interest - but the audience doesn't get to know them as people. Villeneuve does better via the Stilgar and Leto scene (and attempts to via letting Chani introduce the overall story in the Fremen pov, but since the rest of the film then, like the book, remains in that of the non-Fremen characters....), and Herbert at least gives his readers additional individualized Fremen like Harar or Jessica's predecessor as Reverend Mother, but Lynch sticks with "mysterious cool warrior people". Considering his film lacks all the foreshadowing that Paul leading the Fremen to victory will not be blissful happiness but that they will be for him what the Saudakar were for Emperor Shaddam, this unfortunately means the white savior narrative is undeniable there.
Otoh: A plus for making the desert suits worn by the Fremen and Kynes look old and used in comparison to the ones Leto and Paul, and later Paul and Jessica get into, and for making all the equipment look used, not new as well. Speaking of the general costuming, the 1984 goes for early 20th century with the uniforms and for the dresses Jessica wears, but not for Irulan's vaguely 18th century dresses in the opening and closing scenes. The Bene Gesserit's robes come across as a mixture between chador and medieval scholar look, while the space guild goes for a vaguely monk-like outfit. I don't remember how I felt about this in the 80s, but this time around the emphasis seemed to me on evoking a very briefly before WWI early 20th century atmosphere, which in turn gave me a sense of a doomed society.
Lynch's film does a better job than Villeneuve's with Doctor Yueh and his motivations, not least because it introduces him before he's outed as the traitor. Granted, the entire "hunt the mole" subplot complete with Jessica suspected by Thufir and this being an intentional ploy by the Harkonnen (something that does show the Baron and Pieter aren't just evil sadists, but actually smart) is mostly gone from this movie, too, but Yueh himself actually gets to be a character and makes sense.
Otoh, Lynch's Duncan Idaho makes no impression and doesn't have much screen time. Now this is true of the novel as well for me, btw - to the point that when I read Dune Messiah, I had to pause and wreck my head as to what I recalled about Duncan Idaho - , and it's not a problem within the Lynch movie, but it would have become one for any sequel. Whereas Villeneuve's take on Duncan would make the audience understand Paul's actions re: him in Dune Messiah if that film gets made.
Patrick Stewart's brief appearance as Gurney Halleck makes me wish the film would have included some more of the novel's Gurney scenes, but alas.
Missing in both movies: Countess Margot and her husband. I can understand why, but in the novel, Jessica finding Margot's message in the garden is a scene that neatly illustrates Bene Gesserit communication other than the one between Jessica and the Reverend Mother Gaius Monaham.
Speaking of whom: Sian Philipps. That is all. You cannot beat Sian Philipps in this type of role, and there's an end to it.
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The books made a huge impression on me as a teenager and I didn't like them as much when I reread them in my forties, but they were certainly hugely influential and I enjoyed this new movie very much.
(Though it made me sad that John Carter of Mars didn't get this kind of marketing.)
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I dunno, I have learned to like Lynch, but I read the first four books first and was in a puritanical This Is Not Like The Book stage when I first saw it. My husband saw the movie first, loved it, and then read the books and really liked them.
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My only quibble with this is that, whatever the director's intentions, I bet plenty of ppl find Dave Bautista hot as Rabban :)
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Anyhow, something I recently learned about the 1984 film that I'd not known - and explains a lot:
Upon release, Lynch disowned the final film, stating that pressure from both producers and financiers restrained his artistic control and denied him final cut privilege. At least three versions have been released worldwide.
The film was a box-office bomb, grossing $30.9 million from a $40 million budget, and was negatively reviewed by critics. Upon release, Lynch disowned the final film, stating that pressure from both producers and financiers restrained his artistic control and denied him final cut privilege. At least three versions have been released worldwide. In some cuts, Lynch's name is replaced in the credits with the name Alan Smithee, a pseudonym used by directors who wish not to be associated with a film for which they would normally be credited. The extended and television versions additionally credit writer Lynch as Judas Booth. The film has developed a cult following over time, but opinion varies among fans of the novel and fans of Lynch's films.
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