Warning: Spoilers ahead
After its release was delayed due to the pandemic, Dune finally hit theaters on Oct. 22. The film is an adaptation of Frank Herbert’s 1965 novel, and the plot follows Paul Atreides (Timothée Chalamet) as his father, Duke Leto Atreides (Oscar Issac), becomes the temporary ruler of Arrakis, a desert planet that was previously ruled by a different group, House Harkonnen. From the beginning, director Denis Villeneuve and the team behind the film are able to create a stunning environment that captures the differences in settings and changes in characters as they each realize their places in the overarching plot.
As someone who is more often a fan of the book rather than the movie, I appreciate that the sequence of events aligns almost perfectly with the novel. The film does an incredible job of raising suspicions and foreshadowing various events without giving them away through an involved character’s perspective, which does happen in the novel. The betrayal of Dr. Wellington Yueh (Chang Chen), for example, is more devastating; the novel was written to include multiple perspectives, though, so the film does lack a certain level of character development achieved in the novel.
While Villeneuve does develop the most significant details to fit the time limit, Lady Jessica (Rebecca Ferguson), Paul’s mother, is a specific character I wish we had seen more of. In the novel, there’s an element of suspicion surrounding her, and minimally including this in the film makes certain scenes more confusing. She remains mostly unknown, and her intentions for Paul are debatable. The film does not directly define how Paul fits into the Bene Gesserit, but several scenes hint at him being their chosen one, the Kwisatz Haderach. Yet, these minimal discussions are the only scenes that give any clue to Lady Jessica’s motives.
Undoubtedly, the star of the film is Timothée Chalamet, and I’d argue this is his best work. I may or may not have binged most of his films over quarantine, and while Beautiful Boy never fails to make me cry, Chalamet’s portrayal of Paul is close to perfect. The novel portrays Paul as constantly collected; he handles the Bene Gesserit and other political groups with confidence. He seems to be capable of negotiating with these groups with greater skill than that of his father. However, he breaks down after experiencing visions he doesn’t necessarily understand and suffering the loss of his father. This leads to a scene in which he fully blames his mother, and Chalamet executes this flawlessly. The chapters in the novel related to these scenes do explore Paul’s emotions, but emotional scenes, in general, remain slightly detached from the characters. Chalamet was able to make the viewer truly understand Paul’s frustration and sadness in a way that the novel was unable to convey. This ability to connect the viewer to Paul is the largest reason I believe this to be his best film.
Zendaya’s seven minutes of screen time has also been a hot topic, as her character, Chani, does not make her true debut until closer to the end of the film. It was recently announced that Dune would be getting a sequel, Dune: Part Two, likely to be an adaptation of the other half of the novel, so hopefully, we’ll see more of Chani and Zendaya in the second film. Regardless, I cannot wait to see more of Paul and Chani’s development in the next film.