Canada’s own Denis Villeneuve attacks the legendary source material with his signature intellectual grandiosity
By: Thomas Publow
Logo for Dune
Denis Villeneuve is a filmmaker that Canada holds dear. The French Canadian director is a four-time recipient of the Canadian Screen Award and has taken his talents all the way to an Academy Award nomination. His career is marked by dips into the realm of science fiction, and with films like Arrival (2016) and Blade Runner 2049 (2017), he has established himself as an accomplished lover of highbrow storytelling juxtaposed with accessible action. It is this exact juxtaposition that makes his take on Frank Herbert’s seminal sci-fi novel, Dune, stand out amongst this year’s crop of blockbusters.
Dune was one of this year’s most anticipated films, especially following the pandemic delays of 2020 that pushed the film’s release back by an entire year. Amidst these changes in release time came some controversial changes in the film’s distribution. In late 2020, Warner Bros. announced they would be releasing the entirety of their 2021 slate of blockbusters (17 films in total) not only in theatres, but also on the streaming service HBO Max. Films such as Wonder Woman 1984, The Matrix 4 and, yes, Dune were included in this “shocking” release strategy, one that Villeneuve is adamantly against.
In an article Villeneuve penned for Variety, he accused Warner Bros. of no longer being a team player, saying “there is absolutely no love for cinema, nor the audience here.” He noted that streaming services are positive additions to the entertainment industry, but they “alone can’t sustain the film industry as we knew it before COVID-19.” Villeneuve said he believes the future of cinema is no different than its past and that movie theatres will always be vital to enjoying film because human beings need the communal nature they bring.
Dune “is by far the best movie I’ve ever made,” wrote Villeneuve. “My team and I devoted more than three years of our lives to make it a unique big screen experience. Our movie’s image and sound were meticulously designed to be seen in theatres.”
The film is one to experience on the biggest screen possible. Its scope is far too large to be enjoyed properly from home, and Hans Zimmer’s score is a soon-to-be classic piece of cinema music that must be heard at the volume that a movie theatre permits. It sounds like nothing before it, and I truly see it going down in the history books alongside the likes of Star Wars and The Lord of the Rings. It is also a film that would be best enjoyed, especially if you have not previously read the novel, knowing as little as possible beforehand, so this review will be spoiler-free.
The cast of “Dune” at the 78th Venice International Film Festival on Friday, Sept. 3, 2021 in Venice, Italy. (Daniele Venturelli/WireImage)
Dune comes equipped with a star-studded cast including Timothée Chalamet, Rebecca Ferguson, Oscar Isaac, Zendaya, and many more. It follows Chalamet as Paul Atreides, son of Duke Leto Atreides (Isaac) and Lady Jessica (Ferguson), as they take the rule of the planet Arrakis. Arrakis is a desert planet, and the only source of “spice,” a substance that boosts human health and is essential for interstellar travel. Throughout the film, Paul is coming into his own, largely due to the psychic training of his mother, and is having visions of a girl from Arrakis named Chani (Zendaya) that give way to his potential true identity.
Ferguson’s performance gives the film humanity. Lady Jessica is both a loving mother and a woman with power possessed by very few. Ferguson perfectly balances these two facets of her character, often in one scene. This is not to detract from the performances of the rest of the cast, however, as the entire ensemble demonstrates the immense complexities of their unique characters.
The production design functions like another character in the film. Perhaps nowhere better can the scope of the film be understood than through its creation of whole other planets that simultaneously feel completely familiar and also like nothing the world has seen before. The sets are grand while also being muted, uniquely shaped while also seeming in place. Some weapons feel like ancient artifacts while others feel like they are from a distant future. The old technology seamlessly mixes with the new technology, seeming like they simply function in tandem. It is the sandworms, however, that are the true production accomplishment. They were terrifying yet did not at all look out of place. From the way they moved through the sand, to the way they created vortexes to consume what walked over them, they further elevate the film to masterpiece territory.
Greig Fraser’s cinematography is brilliant. It felt almost jarringly bland at first; there was a lack of vibrancy that is usually expected in blockbuster films like this. It becomes more and more apparent, however, that this was an intentional form of subversion. The desert looked exactly like that, a desert. From the way the interior scenes were lit, to the instances of a sandy blur blocking the audience’s vision of the events on screen; everything was muted in a way that helped ground this fantastical world in reality.
Alongside Jon Spaihts and Eric Roth, Villeneuve helped craft the screenplay. It is filled with detailed exposition and Villeneuve only succeeds in crafting another world so successfully due to this. The screenplay and direction alike function through the balancing of some of 2021’s most intimate, almost mundane scenes coupled with some of the year’s most spectacular. One could not work without the other, as they each play into giving everything the audience experiences meaning and justification. It is Villeneuve’s perfect tethering act of an intellectual spectacle that serves as his greatest success across his filmography, Dune being no exception.
The film is a vital addition to his catalogue, a passion project he has been yearning to craft since he was 13. In an interview with The Atlantic, Villeneuve stated that he kept the book beside him while filming. He said that he “made this movie for himself” and that everything that the audience experiences is there because he loves it. Watching this movie, the level of effort put into every second seen on screen is a demonstration of a man’s love for a seminal piece of fiction in his life, something vital in the creation of a classic.
Herbert’s novel is notoriously dense, and the film benefits greatly from not compromising this for the sake of accessibility. With a nearly 156-minute runtime, it is for the best that the film is left on a cliffhanger. With conflicts explored to great measure, it deserves a second part that brings these conflicts to rest, making 2023’s Dune Part 2 an anticipation hotbed like its predecessor. Villeneuve’s passion that has been brewing since early adolescence coupled with the film’s staggering reported $165 million budget lifted a novel that Hollywood feared adapting into one of the year’s best. In the words of Chani, “this is only the beginning.”