Spice of life Dune
We’ve waited over 50 years for Frank Herbert’s epic novel to receive the cinematic treatment it deserves – and Denis Villeneuve and his team have delivered the goods
Dir Denis Villeneuve, US 2021 On general release
The anticipation for French Canadian producer-director’s DenisVilleneuve’s Dune has been huge. I am delighted to say the film does not disappoint.
Frank Herbert’s widelyacclaimed novel of 1965 is a history of the future of mankind spanning several millennia, set out in six novels (see pp34-41). While ignored by the sentinels of highbrow literature, the series left an important and extensive cultural legacy, influencing countless films, games and stories up to the present. However, expectations for the 1984 film version by Alejandro Jodorowsky and David Lynch were dashed by the chaos of a production in which little of Jodorowsky’s promised vision survived.
Richard Rubinstein, who had owned the ultimate rights since 1996, licensed the use of its Lynch assets for use in TV versions of the second and third books – Frank Herbert’s Dune (2000) and Frank Herbert’s Children of Dune (2003) – which won favourable reviews and even awards, but are difficult to find and largely forgotten.
Work on the present Dune began back in 2016, when Villeneuve publicly stated his
Villeneuve has stated his admiration for Herbert’s novel
admiration for the novel and that it was “a longstanding dream” of his to adapt it. Although some principal photography had taken place in 2016, he had to wait until his existing projects – Arrival
(2016) and Blade Runner 2049
(2017) – were completed before immersing himself in the Dune
universe. In 2018, it became clear that the story needed to be told over two parts. This would allow more time to develop the characters and plot lines in satisfactory ways (thereby avoiding many of the pitfalls that doomed Lynch’s production; much the same reason was given for dividing up Stephen King’s It
and Peter Jackson’s version of The Lord of the Rings).
More importantly for SF fans, Villeneuve declared his appreciation for the spirit of Herbert’s original novel with its gigantic and complex story. His Dune has indeed surpassed by far its predecessors. This shows in the care taken to introduce the main factions – the warring houses, the semi-religious orders, and global institutions – only briefly, obviously with the intention of giving them more attention in the sequels. This also simplifies the opening story (especially important for those new to the Dune universe) and sharpens its dynamics. The same deft touch elevates most of the things fans hoped to see: the Holzmann energy shields, the dragonflylike ornithopters, the giant spice harvesters, the cityscape of Arakeen, the 20km-long Spacing Guild “heighliners” and, of course, the planet Arrakis itself with its notorious sandworms.
The production team are to be congratulated for bringing them to life, using all the arts, including high-end CGI graphics, in a way that seems ‘natural’ to the context of the story. In accordance with Arthur C Clarke’s dictum about the technology of the future, this all has the aura of magic about it. It looks amazing, much of it both mysterious and deadly.
The film is not without faults, but they are minor, dwarfed by the grand scale of the story itself, and certainly do not get in the way of our immersion and enjoyment. There are some differences to the Herbert canon, but only fans would notice… or care. The famous “Fear is the mind killer” prayer, and such human oddities as ‘Mentats’ and ‘Navigators’ are minimised. So too are the ‘spice’ visions of our Homeric young hero Paul Atreides (convincingly played by Timothée Chalamet).
Another example – telegraphed in the advance publicity – is that the important character of Keynes, the Imperially-appointed planetologist, is now female (Sharon Duncan-Brewster, familiar from Dr Who and Star Wars). It makes no difference to the story, but demonstrates Villeneuve’s support for female actors. There are a few references to contemporary ecological awareness, but this seems appropriate as it was the ‘dunification’ of the Oregon coast that inspired Herbert to write the saga in the first place. And Jessica, Paul’s mother (Rebecca Ferguson) is not so much Lynch’s “space nun” as a covert warrior with all the powers of the Bene Gesserit; and yet even she trembles in the presence of her order’s mysterious Mother Superior.
There are many memorable scenes: the disturbing conversations with Baron Harkonnen (a truly menacing Stellan Skarsgård), Paul’s interview with the Bene Gesserit Truthsayer (a sinister Charlotte Rampling), Paul’s weapon training with the Atreides Swordmaster (Josh Brolin), Jessica’s crucial encounter with the Fremen housekeeper Shadout Mapes, and the tragic heroism of Duncan Idaho (Jason Momoa).
The production team has brought a distinctly modern interpretation to the larger-thanlife plot. Even the CGI is carefully used. The cinematography is suitably heroic; alternating near and far shots with a painter’s eye for colour, texture, and pattern; moments of Zen-like stillness flashing into action as needed. The score is viscerally uplifting in awe-inspiring moments.
This film takes Paul’s story to its halfway point; the promised part two will lay the foundation for Paul’s descendants to become rulers of the ‘known Universe’ inhabited by humans in a variety of evolved forms, terrorised out of their stagnation by the tyranny of an immortal God-Emperor.
I really hope the success of these films will ensure the production of further instalments. We have waited 55 years for the Dune saga to be given the filmic interpretation it deserves. Here it is.
Bob Rickard
★★★★★