Dune Dune DUNE!

Dune Dune DUNE!

Three adaptations of the 1965 novel,
three different takes on a classic scene.

raffish

It's been 56 years since Frank Herbert wrote "Dune," and people just keep trying to film it. We're guessing that this has slightly more to do with its status as the world's best-selling science fiction novel than it does with the bondage scene. But let's hear it for the bondage scene!

A quick recap: the good Lady Jessica and her son Paul are trouble and need to be fed to the sandworms. Her witchy voice can talk you into almost anything, though, so it's lucky for the evil Baron and his lecherous aide Piter that they've remembered to bind and especially gag her. Now if only they'd realized that Paul has learned a bit of the magic as well. Cue the sad trombone for their henchmen.

The original theatrical version goes all in and outfits Francesca Annis with a kinky panel gag. Not bad for 1984!

The 2000 miniseries omits the escape sequence entirely, because William Hurt's character is dying, and honestly who cares what his wife and kid are up to because William Hurt. At least we get a decent cleave gag scene for Saskia Reeves in the setup.

The new film restores the sequence in its entirety. It's very yellow, followed by very green, but we enjoy what Rebecca Ferguson, Timothée Chalamet, Denis Villeneuve, and everyone else concerned did with it...and the film as a whole is stunning.
 

Dune Dune DUNE!

  • Dune (1984)
    Francesca Annis
  • Dune (2000)
    Dune
    Saskia Reeves
  • Dune (2021)
    Rebecca Ferguson

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