The Elephant Man dramatizes the true story of Joseph Merrick, named John in the film, a man suffering from a to-this-day undiagnosed combination of shocking physical deformities. Lynch’s film, his second feature following Eraserhead, tells of Merrick’s (John Hurt) discovery in a freak show by Dr. Frederick Treves (Anthony Hopkins) and Treves’s attempts to give the long-suffering Merrick a better life. Merrick’s story is possibly Lynch’s most straightforward and sentimental film, though the lovely black and white cinematography and surrealistic beginning and ending sequences featuring Merrick’s mother are typically Lynchian. It would be easy to attribute the role of mercy in the film to Treves’ consideration of the unfortunate Merrick, but mercy is significantly found in the actions of Merrick himself: in his love and his insistence on his own dignity among his fellow human beings despite his poor treatment at their hands. Merrick demonstrates mercy for the condition of a humanity that was not reciprocated, even unto his own death.
—Anders Bergstrom