The Big Picture
-
Dune: Part One
prepares the audience for an incomplete story, avoiding a disappointing conclusion that leaves loose ends. - Paul’s emotional arc is not anticlimactic; the ending serves as a payoff for his dreams and unveils his deepest fear of becoming a tyrant.
- The conclusion of
Dune
marks the beginning of Paul’s destiny, where he must face his fear and embrace the darkness required to bring peace to Arrakis.
Denis Villeneuve was adamant that his title card for Dune would actually read Dune: Part One. It kept the audience aware Dune: Part Two was on the way, and as such, when the conclusion of Dune did come, fans were not simply thinking, “Wait, that’s it?” At first glance, it would feel like an unsatisyfing conclusion. Paul (Timotheé Chalamet) and Jessica (Rebecca Ferguson) have been driven from their home, the evil House Harkonnen is on the rise, the Empire has pulled its strings, and heroic characters like Duke Leto (Oscar Isaac) and Duncan Idaho (Jason Momoa) are left dead. Paul simply wanting to walk off with the Fremen isn’t much of an ending, and that’s because, from a story perspective, it’s not the end. The upcoming Dune: Part Two is set to continue Villeneuve’s epic saga.
And yet the first part of Dune is not anticlimactic in terms of Paul’s emotional arc. The conclusion of Part One serves as a payoff for Paul’s dreams of the Fremen and a sign of what he must do. So why does he have to fight a Fremen to the death? And why doesn’t he agree with Jessica that they should try to strike back immediately against the Imperium? The ending explains that by showing that Paul is coming into his own and learning to understand his deepest fear of becoming a tyrant.
Dune
A noble family becomes embroiled in a war for control over the galaxy’s most valuable asset while its heir becomes troubled by visions of a dark future.
- Release Date
- September 15, 2021
- Director
- Denis Villeneuve
- Runtime
- 155
- Main Genre
- Sci-Fi
- Writers
- Frank Herbert , Eric Roth , Denis Villeneuve , Jon Spaihts
- Studio
- Paramount Pictures
What Happens to House Atreides and Paul in ‘Dune’?
When Duke Leto and House Atreides are sent to Arrakis, it isn’t long before the replaced Baron Harkonnen (Stellan Skarsgård) plots his revenge on the family. Harkonnen uses Dr. Yueh (Chang Chen), who betrays Leto by pushing past his shields and incapacitating him. Although Yueh is loyal to the family, he betrays House Atreides in hopes of freeing his wife who is kept as a prisoner by Baron Harkonnen. He replaces one of Leto’s teeth with a capsule that Leto then cracks open when Harkonnen arrives at Arrakeen. The poison gas that releases from his mouth kills nearly everyone in the room except Baron Harkonnen.
With the coup continuing, Paul and Jessica are taken away by the Harkonnen men with the intent on being left to die in the desert. Te two of them manage to get away with Jessica using the Voice on their captors and the two of them use Paul’s abilities to survive in the deserts of Arrakis. They eventually are reunited with Duncan Idaho and Dr. Liet Kynes (Sharon Duncan-Brewster), but when they are found by the Sardaukar, the Imperial warriors, Duncan sacrifices himself for Paul and Jessica, and Kynes is nearly killed before she summons one of the monstrous sandworms to fight for them. On their own again, Paul and Jessica soon come across the Fremen. They meet Stilgar (Javier Bardem), the leader of the Fremen tribe, and Paul finally meets Chani (Zendaya), the mysterious girl that he continues to see in his visions. After killing one of the Fremen who challenges him to a fight to the death, Paul and Jessica are brought into the fold of the tribe. The film ends with Paul determined to bring peace to Arrakis.
What Does the End of ‘Dune’ Mean for Paul’s Future?
For a movie where a repeated mantra is “fear is the mind-killer,” we’re left wondering what it is Paul truly fears. At the conclusion of the film, we get our answer as there’s a vision of him conquering worlds to bring peace, and it’s a destiny that tears at the young man who doesn’t particularly want to fight or cause harm to others. We know that Paul doesn’t seek to rule, but now that mantle has been thrust upon him with the death of his father, and in order to bring peace to Arrakis, he also needs to ally with the Fremen, which in turn will mean more fighting against the Harkonnen.
Oscar Isaac Almost Went Without a Beard for ‘Dune,’ and We Dune-Not Want to Even Think About That
“It’s an important beard.”
The conclusion of Dune is also a beginning in a lot of ways. It’s Paul coming to his destiny in the desert, starting to become his own man (it’s notable that most of the film has Paul in the company of an authority or mentor figure of some kind), and that he can only realize that destiny among the Fremen. From an emotional standpoint, Paul is facing his fear, a fear he couldn’t even completely acknowledge before because it wasn’t totally clear. Paul’s battle with the Fremen and being forced to kill the man foreshadows the larger theme of Dune, which is that there is no bloodless peace, and no one rises to power without getting his hands dirty. But for Paul, the question is whether that darkness that’s required to rule will consume him.
Dune is available to watch on Max in the U.S.
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