Director Report Card: David Lynch (1984)

3. Dune

In 1957, the sand dunes outside Frank Herbert's Oregon home inspired him to write a science fiction novel. This became “Dune,” widely regarded as one of the greatest novels ever published in the genre. In 1974, visionary madman Alejandro Jodorowsky attempted to make an insanely ambitious, loose adaptation of Herbert's book, too epic and mind-expanding to ever actually be made. In 1976, Dino De Laurentiis purchased the film rights to Herbert's book and Ridley Scott toiled on the project for seven months before abandoning it. In 1981, hot off the success of “The Elephant Man,” David Lynch was offered a chance to direct “Return of the Jedi.” Not being a fan of science fiction or understanding George Lucas' particular vision, he turned the project down. Soon afterwards, Laurentiis offered Lynch the chance to direct “Dune.” He took the job, despite not being a fan of science fiction or understanding Frank Herbert's particular vision. This strange combination would result in one of the most inexplicable big budget films of the eighties.

Let me attempt to summarize the plot of “Dune” in as few words as possible. The universe is controlled by two forces: The Empire, made up of squabbling royal houses, and the Spacing Guild. The Guild can only navigate space with the aid of melange, a mind-expanding spice only found on the desert planet of Arrakis. The noble house of Atreides – composed of Duke Leto, his concubine Jessica, and teenage son Paul – have recently been given the planet Arrakis to rule... As part of a conspiracy engineered by the Emperor and the vile Harkonnen house, led by the evil Baron Harkonnen. Soon, Leto has been killed. Paul and Jessica are left to die in the harsh deserts of Arrakis, where water is the most prized commodity and enormous worms traverse under the sands. They soon fall in with the desert-dwelling Freman, a race of resourceful survivors, and Paul must confront his engineered destiny as a superpowered being.

Hardcore “Dune”-heads often accuse Lynch's adaptation of taking too many liberties with their beloved source material. Speaking as someone who read the book strictly so he would understand the movie better, I believe the film hews fairly closely to Herbert's text. Lynch maintains most of the novel's plot points and almost all of its major characters. The movie greatly condenses the book's timeline and cuts down on the lore and backstory, yet the story progresses in much the same way. Which is exactly the problem.  “Dune” is a book most concerned with its elaborate mythology and world-building. Characters, their inner lives and personalities, are not so important. Both the film and the book are bogged down in ideas that are breathlessly explained but still leave the audience baffled. Phrases like Bene-Gesserit, Mentat, Kwisatz Haderach, weirding, Muad'Dib, thumper, and the names of planets and royal families are tossed around with abandon but no characters to actually grab a hold of are ever presented.

Lynch and his team were obviously all too aware of the denseness of Herbert's book. In a desperate attempt to make this stuff more accessible to a wide audience, voice-over narration is often added to the film... A lot of voice-over narration. “Dune” often makes the audience privy to the characters' thoughts. The camera gets close on their faces and the actor whispers out their dialogue. This is not limited to the protagonist. Almost every single character in “Dune” does this. It becomes laughable quickly, especially since the voice-overs are used almost exclusively to deliver clunky exposition about the world of 'Dune.” There's just so much to explain here and the film is at a loss of any way to do it, besides just having the characters' thoughts say as much.

More than once, David Lynch has expressed his indifference to the science fiction genre. And there's very little in the rest of his filmography that could be described as “action sequences.” So, unsurprisingly, Lynch's attempts at sci-fi action scenes in “Dune” come off as awkward, if not outright laughable. The use of body shields, created through extremely awkward animation, make melee fights difficult to follow. Combat scenes often involve bodies being tossed overhead and through the air in a goofy looking fashion. Another laughable moment involves green, poisonous gas being blown out of someone's mouth. The use of the Voice, a persuasive psychic power used by a few character involves pitching down and distorting the actor's speaking voices. Which also just comes off as goofy. Yet the film runs with this,  giving Paul and the Freman “Weirding Modules,” weapons that amplify their voices and shoot them out as destructive waves. It doesn't look cool or interesting, as action scenes should, but rather extremely dorky.

Lynch was supposedly attracted to “Dune” by the chance to create his own world. Like many big budget science fiction films made in the days before CGI and green-screen, “Dune” has fabulous production design. Huge, elaborate sets were built, full of meticulous detail. The black slate tunnels of the Freman underground, the industrial bronze of the Atreides home world, the art deco rooms and human-shaped buildings of the Harkonnen world; they all look great. The costumes are weird and memorable. Those giant worms, easily the best part of the book, are brought to life beautifully. Enormous, intimidating, and strangely fascinating, they are a highlight. The special photography effects have aged badly, the ships floating through the air in a very unconvincing way. Yet, for the most part, all of “Dune's” budget is up on the screen and it's one of the best parts of the film.

The world of “Dune” is not especially morally complicated. Herbert's Duke Leto is self-sacrificing, noble, brilliant, and a passionate lover. On the other hand, Baron Harkonnen is a totally devious, morbidly obese, incestuous, homosexual pedophile. Lynch's film makes the villain even more grotesque. The Baron is covered with pus-filled sores. He often floats into the air in an inflating suit. The Baron murders a boyish servant in an act of sadistic, graphic lust. Actor Kenneth McMillan screams almost all his dialogue, leaving all good taste behind in a display of totally monstrous overacting. The other villainous actors are similarly cartoonish. Paul Smith grunts and chuckles mindlessly as Raban and Sting glares psychotically as Feyd, two different antagonists that serve the exact same function in the story.

Though a film largely defined by other people's impulses, such as Frank Herbert's writing and Dino De Laurentiis' desire for a sci-fi action flick, you can still tell that “Dune” is a David Lynch movie occasionally. The disgusting, exaggerated evil of the Harkonnens has a hint of that Lynchian absurdity. The scene devoted to the Guildsman folding space, in which a bizarre humanoid creature floats through day-glo space and shoots light out of its openings, feels like it could've fit in during “Eraserhead.” There are other purely surreal moments, images tearing through people's memories or a fetus affected by magical rituals. Not to mention random appearances from purely inexplicable elements, like a cat being milked, a cow hanging upside down, or pugs showing up during a battle sequence.

Despite the miserable time he had making it, “Dune” would introduce David Lynch to a number of important collaborators. Everett McGill, Brad Dourif, Dean Stockwell, and Kyle MacLachlan would all be introduced to Lynch here, before appearing in his more important, later projects. MacLachlan's lead performance, as Paul, is very odd. Most of his delivery is stilted and unnatural. Considering Paul is a character utterly strangled by the destinies laid out for him years earlier by other forces, it's not an inappropriate choice. Yet it certainly doesn't make the film any easier to get into, when you have such an impenetrable lead character. He then falls in love with a character he's just met, Sean Young's Chani, who we learn even less about.

If MacLachlan's performance is hard to relate to but at least accurate to the source material, the rest of “Dune's” supporting cast seems visibly baffled by this ridiculous bullshit. Virginia Madsen blandly delivers exposition in her few scenes, as Princess Irulan. Jose Ferrer seems genuinely uncertain as the Emperor of the Universe. Patrick Stewart, as poet warrior Gurney Halleck, squints in confusion through most of his scenes. Freddie Jones can not hide the discomfort he feels while wearing goofy looking fake eyebrows. Though all the other villains gratuitously overact, Brad Dourif is weirdly restrained and non-sweaty as Pieter. A lot of the cast, such as Jurgen Prochnow as the Duke or Dean Stockwell, just kind of goes through the motions, clearly unable to get an emotional bead on the material. Only the ever-dignified Max Von Sydow seems to understand what the hell is happening here.

When Alejandro Jodorowsky was going to make his massive, spiritual “Dune” movie, the idea was that a different rock band would compose the music for each planet. Pink Floyd and Magma were two of the names considered. This idea sort of survived into Lynch's film, in the form of a rock band performing the score. Except it was Toto who actually agreed to do the music. Toto's music is largely composed of ambient synth sounds, pounding percussion, sweeping choir singing, tapping piano keys, and the occasional roaring guitar. It's repetitive and distracting, with the romantic end credits theme even coming off as deeply cheesy. Brian Eno also provides a piece of music, the Prophecy Theme, which is dreamier and a better fit for the movie's style.

Rumors have persisted for years that a four hour long director's cut of “Dune” exists. This is not true, as the two hour and 16 minute theatrical version is the only Lynch approved cut of “Dune.” However, an extended television cut of the film does exist. Running nearly three hours, it somehow manages to make “Dune” less coherent and more languidly paced. This cut begins with an extended prologue, in which a narrator explains the backstory of the universe against production artwork. This narrator chimes in throughout the cut, dropping yet more exposition on the viewer and only succeeding in overwhelming them more. A number of minor scenes – based on mildly interesting episodes from the book such as Doctor Kynes meeting with the Atreides, Paul's rivalry with a Freman upon joining them, and where the Water of Life comes from – are reinserted. Lynch had nothing to do with this cut, his name being removed from it, and that's pretty obvious.

Amusingly, there was hope that “Dune” would launch a franchise. Supposedly a script for “Dune Messiah” was worked on, with many of the actors being contracted for sequels. Action figures, coloring books, and other merchandise were produced, all treating this very odd film as if it was the next “Star Wars.” That's obviously what the producers wanted, which was clearly at odds with Lynch's goal of creating a more philosophical film. The film, of course, flopped and kids were not exactly eager to pick up toys of a milked cat or a fat floating pederast. Lynch, for the record, has distanced himself from the film. He considers it the only true failure of his career, referring to production as painful, and frequently refuses to discuss it. The film has attracted a cult following over the years, precisely because its so weird and tonally uneven. Yet it's hard for me to enjoy “Dune” too much. Lynch's surreal instincts have been leashed. He clearly has little aptitude for science fiction or action. Herbert's exhausting mythology and thin characters simply aren't cinematic. It's all rather miscalculated, resulting in a “Dune” that's more fiasco than fantastic. [Grade: C-]