It is a skilfully orchestrated campaign that the release of the second part of the film Dunes by Denis Villeneuve in the fall. Having brilliantly succeeded in bringing the very complex universe of Frank Herbert to the big screen, reputed to be unsuitable, and this, in a first film without a climax, the filmmaker promises to amaze us for the sequel. Didn’t the film end with these words from Chani (Zendaya) saying to Paul Atréides (Timothée Chalamet): “This is only the beginning”?
All die-hard fans of Frank Herbert’s novels know what’s to come, and are stamping their feet with impatience, while for the past week, the production has been distilling the images of Dune: Part Two, notably those of Florence Pugh as Princess Irulan and Austin Butler as Feyd-Rautha. We mobilized the fan base by making the reveal of the trailer an event. It had been presented exclusively to the lucky ones during the last CinemaCon in Las Vegas, and the details were reported in long articles of the HollywoodReporter or Vanity Fair which only raised expectations. A little hampered by the constraints of the pandemic in his first production, Denis Villeneuve had free rein to create an “epic war film” entirely shot on IMAX film. And we expect no less, since Dunes is an epic with mystical dimensions.
PHOTO CHRIS PIZZELLO, CHRIS PIZZELLO/INVISION/AP
Denis Villeneuve with Zendaya and Timothée Chalamet at CinemaCon 2023 on April 25 in Las Vegas
It is finally available, the trailer that gave me goosebumps and forces me to count the sleeps before November 3!
At the heart of this hors d’oeuvre which announces a masterpiece (I have so much faith in Villeneuve on this project that I have no doubts): the ride of the sandworm (Shai-Hulud) by Paul Atreides, now Muad’Dib. A necessary step to become the leader of the mysterious Fremen people who will help him in his revenge against those who wanted to eliminate his family. For centuries, the Fremen have lived with the dream of a prophet from elsewhere who will transform the arid planet Arrakis, also called Dune. But for that there will be a holy war and floods of blood. In the trailer, you can see the emotion in Chani and Stilgar’s faces as they watch the prophecy come true right before their eyes (and for fans of Dunestheir big cinematic dream).
Excited like a flea, I break the ears of those around me with my enthusiasm. That the young man who won the Europe-Asia Race in 1991 is there staggers me, when you think that Alejandro Jodorowsky and David Lynch were disappointed by the adventure. After seeing the first movie with my best science fiction friend, we had left the cinema in a state of extreme levitation, and he had fallen to his knees in the parking lot, shouting: “Denis Villeneuve! A Quebecer, Tabar… k! ! ! » Two crazy about DunesI swear.
What particularly moves me is that the adaptation of Dunes in film can’t come at a better time in contemporary culture, as its themes resonate even more today than when the novels were published. The story takes place around 20,000 years after our era, when humanity has colonized other planets, in a neo-feudal system where large families compete for power, and in particular the planet Dune, which is the only place where we find what is most precious for all: spice. Environment, politics and religion continue to shape the destiny of humanity which comes to a new crossroads with Paul Muad’Dib. If you have read the novels, you know that she is not at the end of her troubles.
This world imagined by Herbert was born of an atrocious war which is only mentioned in the novel: the Butlerian Jihad. Ten thousand years earlier, humanity revolted to annihilate the thinking machines that enslaved it. We are therefore in a world which respects this rule: “you shall not make a machine similar to the spirit of man”. Ten thousand years later, humanity has undergone a fascinating evolution, developing astounding mental and psychic abilities, without having lost all the passions and fears that make up human beings. This explains why the work of Frank Herbert stood out in the science fiction department: machines and computers eliminated (without excluding certain technologies), we are much more in the field of thought.
The adaptation of Dunes by Denis Villeneuve comes to us at the very moment when we fear the innumerable consequences of artificial intelligence on a planet threatened by climate change, while the GAFAM are beginning to have more power than the States. I dare to think that in this context where the dangers are numerous, we still have the transforming power of the imagination. that’s why Dunes is a story of our time. And as the trailer says: “long live the fighters”!
The output of Dune: Part Two is scheduled for November 3.