The Elephant Man (1980)

The cruel people in The Elephant Man are drawn so broadly they could be twirling mustaches, and that’s the film’s one real weakness. Freddie Jones’s Bytes and the night porter who sells tickets to stare at Merrick are pure Victorian villains. Everything else is close to perfect. John Hurt plays John Merrick, based on the real Joseph Merrick, and he does it with his voice and his eyes: shy, polite, quietly hopeful. The moment he keeps reciting a psalm past where anyone taught him is when the hospital, and you, stop seeing a patient and start seeing a man. Anthony Hopkins is wonderful as Treves, a doctor who starts to wonder whether he’s any better than the showman. Anne Bancroft treats Merrick like a friend, and it’s devastating in the gentlest way. David Lynch shoots London in black and white. It made $26.1 million worldwide on a reported $5M. A 9.2 because it’s about dignity and never loses sight of it. $20.58 says you spot a church steeple this month and think of a little paper model.

What works: John Hurt gives Merrick a gentle, curious soul, and Anthony Hopkins makes Treves a good man who keeps questioning his own motives.

What doesn’t: The cruel characters, especially Bytes and the night porter, are drawn so broadly they feel like melodrama villains next to everyone else.

Who it’s for: Anyone ready for a quiet, moving black-and-white drama about kindness, and willing to sit with how hard parts of it are to watch.