Will you escape the
Dune
tidal wave
?
Or rather to the sandstorm?
Released this Wednesday on 892 French screens, the science fiction film by Quebecer Denis Villeneuve (director of
Blade Runner 2049
and
Premier Contact
) is one of the most anticipated of the year.
Initially announced on September 15, 2020, the release has been postponed for ten months due to the Covid-19 pandemic.
To discover
Digital event of the literary Figaro: "How to get published?"
In the secret of publishing houses ”
Read also
Dune
: at the Venice Film Festival, the great spectacle of Denis Villeneuve
To support this cinematographic event, journalist Lloyd Chéry led the design of a 256-page mook (magazine-book) on the world of
Dune,
the first version of which has sold 15,000 copies since November 2020.
“
Crowdfunding
was the only way to achieve this: I do not see any media or publisher who would have spent between 100,000 and 120,000 euros to design a review around a classic SF ”,
confides the journalist
.
A new version of the mook, renamed
Tout sur Dune,
was published on September 9 in a beautiful book format
,
with reworked images and around fifty additional pages.
See also
Dune
by Denis Villeneuve: a fair return to the origins
Lloyd Chéry, who is organizing a Dune Festival this weekend in Paris (84 Rue Mstislav Rostropovitch 75017, Paris), analyzes for
Le Figaro
the intact aura of Frank Herbert's literary masterpiece, behind the film
Dune .
LE FIGARO - How to explain the attraction that
Dune
continues to exert in 2021, more than 50 years after its publication?
(1965 in the United States, 1970 in France)
Lloyd CHÉRY -
It's a modern novel whose themes still resonate strongly in our time: we talk about ecology, fanaticism, power… In
Dune,
humanity evolves in a post-medieval world where they are large corporations who rule the universe.
It is not without reminding us of our Gafam which are as powerful as States.
This book discusses the importance of water on a desert planet, Arrakis, which can echo global warming, as well as technological decline: there are no computers because machines have been abolished.
It is also the first time that the Arab world has been integrated - and intelligently - in a work of SF.
Herbert is inspired by the prophet Muhammad and
Lawrence of Arabia
but he never had the will to criticize a religion or a people ... or to recover
Dune
for political ends, something that we will see, I am convinced, in the coming months, especially if a potential third film (probable adaptation of
Messiah of Dune,
Editor's note) is made.
One of the new items in
Tout sur Dune,
the collector's version of the mook directed by Lloyd Chéry.
Copyright 2021 Warner Bros.
Entertainment Inc. All Rights Reserved.
/ L'Atalante & Leha
As a literary object, what are the greatest qualities of Frank Herbert's cycle?
The first novel (the first part of which is adapted by Denis Villeneuve, Editor's note) is a great adventure story. We will follow the gesture of a young prince for 600 pages and the change is incredible since our hero, Paul Atréides, becomes a tyrant.
In terms of writing, we are in a tragedy: there is a lot of action but Herbert describes it very little, he has his characters told about it.
What is interesting, what the author did with syncretism: he mixed works from different eras (Shakespeare,
Lawrence of Arabia,
Greek myths ...) and designed an original story with this patchwork.
For me, if
Dune
continues to age well, it's because we ourselves are in a postmodern era where we love to multiply references, mix everything up, and that
Dune
already did.
The Fremen's "distillate", an armor that allows you to recycle water and survive in the desert, it's extraordinary!
Lloyd Chery
There is a lot of work on the language and a lot of very creative ideas like the "distillate" of the Fremen: an armor that allows you to recycle water and survive in the desert, it's extraordinary! The work also plays with symbolism: the sand worm, we remember. Many things remain imperishable like certain Arabic words: "Muad'dib", "Usul", "jihad" ... In 1964, when Herbert released the first part of the book on the magazine
Analog,
nobody had ever heard of the jihad! (which has a particular meaning in
Dune,
where the “Butler Jihad” designates
“the crusade launched against computers, thinking machines and conscious robots”
, Editor's note).
I find the cycle really impressive.
It is rather accessible in the first three volumes and then we go into something more philosophical, more profound, in the second part of the saga.
Read also Frank Herbert's Dune: discover the opinion of the Figaro Reading Club
What lessons can we learn from the saga in terms of politics and the exercise of power?
The great warning that Frank Herbert wants to convey is not to follow charismatic heroes who risk becoming tyrants.
The superhero is evil incarnate!
It's interesting when you come out of ten years of Marvel and DC.
For him, the most dangerous president of the United States was Kennedy, because too good-looking, too young, too glamorous… People followed him without asking questions.
Unlike Nixon whose real face you could see.
Herbert also said this:
"I fear that ecology will become the flag of demagogues, ambitious and other adrenaline junkies, anxious to start a new crusade."
Today it is enough to follow the political news to understand that ecology sometimes serves the ambition and the search for personal power of some.
Paul Atréides is embodied in the cinema by the Franco-American actor Timothée Chalamet.
Copyright 2021 Warner Bros.
Entertainment Inc. All Rights Reserved.
What I like about
Dune
is that Frank Herbert explains the problem of power well.
Paul Atréides wants to do good but he is overwhelmed by something larger than him: his visions caused by the Spice (an overpowering drug at the heart of the saga, Editor's note) and the legends put in people's heads by the Bene Gesserit (a very influential pseudo-religious matriarchal organization, Editor's note).
Dune
talks about propaganda and how myths can serve a political purpose.
Read alsoThe meteoric rise of Timothée Chalamet, icon of millennials
What was the impact of the different adaptations of
Dune
?
Dune
is a work that has attracted incredible artists with a rather astounding capacity for federation. Each adaptation will affect a generation of people. Jodorowsky and Moebius, for example, met on
Dune
in the 70s and, even if the film was not made (cf. documentary
Jodorowsky's Dune
released in 2013, Editor's note), it will give birth to one of the most great SF comics,
L'Incal
. The images published in
Hurling Metal
and the storyboard would also have inspired Hollywood studios:
Star Wars
is strongly imbued with
Dune
and part of Jodorowsky's team (in particular HG Giger, Editor's note) was recovered from
Alien.
A whole generation discovered Dune through video games from Cryo and Westwood Studios, which in turn were inspired by Lynch's film aesthetics.
Lloyd Chery
In France, the book really only took off when it went out in pocket in the 80s. When David Lynch's film arrived in 1984, a million books were sold!
Even though this is a big failed movie, all of the film's visual work, music, and actors are still quite unforgettable and are starting to be reconsidered right now.
In addition, a whole generation discovered
Dune
thanks to video games from Cryo and Westwood Studios, which themselves were inspired by the aesthetic of Lynch's film.
Read also Dune, the game of seven errors: what Denis Villeneuve owes to David Lynch
Finally, there is a TV series that is difficult to watch in France but is broadcast in the United States on SyFy. It worked well and allowed the emergence of a sci-fi masterpiece which is [the remake of]
Battlestar Galactica.
Today, Denis Villeneuve's film brings a new aesthetic. It will be interesting to see what he will bring to the new generation of spectators and artists who will perhaps then discover the book ...