Dune‘s Calculating Bene Gesserit Are a Most Precious Resource

ThoughDenis Villeneuve’sDunefocuses onPaul Atreidesas he and most everyone around him dance around the obvious fact that he is the long - prophesied chosen one destined to make for an end to the warfare between House Atreides and House Harkonnen , when we first cope with him , he ’s a far cry from the legendary messiah king he ’ll one day become . In Frank Herbert ’s novel — and itsvarious adaptations — Paul ’s ab initio framed as a precocious youth whose relationship to his founding father Leto , duke of planet Arrakis , and his female parent , Lady Jessica is what clear him notable in the eyes of those who do n’t amply recognize him .

What those outside of Paul ’s ( Timothée Chalamet ) prompt home do n’t know about him — but is made clear to readers of the novel and audiences of Villeneuve andDavid Lynch’srespective films — is how he ’s the end result of a class - long travail by the Bene Gesserit , asecretive order of bewitching womenwho direct the macrocosm of a sinewy political human body — a Kwisatz Haderach , with power capable to bridge space and time — under their control . Unlike Lynch ’s Dune , which spent a fair amount of meter diving into the more fantastical element of the franchise ’s traditional knowledge , Villeneuve ’s film is markedly more restrained by equivalence , particularly when it fall to its portrayal of the Bene Gesserit and Lady Jessica ( Rebecca Ferguson ) .

While Jessica enjoy her boy profoundly , as a penis of the Bene Gesserit herself , she ’s drop the volume of her spirit act on the organization ’s orders crafted to uphold a delicate grip on the minds of the coltsfoot ’s fundamental tycoon musician . But in key bit driven by her own determination and lovemaking for Leto , Jessica deviate from the Bene Gesserit ’s plan for her to give birth to a girl . What ’s alluded to Villeneuve ’s film , and explore more good throughout the Dune novels is how Jessica ’s conclusion to arouse Paul in the way of the Bene Gesserit — instruct him how to sharpen the focusing of his intellect , and use the compelling Voice — was an insult to Bene Gesserit all on its own . Awe - urge asDune ’s sandwormsand large - plate battle scenes are , the film ’s at its most fascinating when it ’s focusing on how Jessica and Paul are fundamentally upending the Bene Gesserit ’s well - laid plan for her to give parturition to a daughter who would then one day give birth to the Kwisatz Haderach .

Reverend Mother Gaius Helen Mohiam subjecting Paul Atreides to the gom jabbar.

Reverend Mother Gaius Helen Mohiam subjecting Paul Atreides to the gom jabbar.Screenshot: Warner Bros.

When the Reverend Mother Gaius Helen Mohiam ( Charlotte Rampling ) come on the satellite Caladan to run into Paul , her noesis of his apparently prophetical dreams is reasonableness enough for her to mistrust that he is the Kwisatz Haderach and , by extension , realize what Jessica ’s done . Dune would not be a right Dune adjustment without a spotlight on the moment when Mohaim displays a much more advanced used of the Voice on Paul before consecrate him to err his hand into an ominous boxful . The gom jabbar , a Bene Gesserit trial designed to determine a person ’s self - dominance , is Mohaim ’s fashion of getting a horse sense of who Paul is as a person . But as the excruciating pain radiating from the box overtakes Paul , in both the novel and in Villeneuve ’s Dune , there ’s also a pronounced sadism to the gom jabbar that can be read in the moment as Mohaim exacting a bit of revenge on Paul and Jessica .

The mother and Logos ’s emotional moral force is a vital view of Dune ’s larger story as Paul comes more into his mogul , and while Villeneuve ’s flick in spades explores that to a sure extent , it ’s only so much because of the amount of fourth dimension it instead pass focusing ( often just star into the distance ) on Paul . Jessica is much more than her link to the Bene Gesserit , but when we meet her , it ’s at a prison term when her defiance of the order is hail to a top dog in ways that she can no longer fully conceal from them . The Kwisatz Haderach being born a generation early on and without the Bene Gesserit knowing is the central reward for Jessica and Paul that Villeneuve ’s Dune touches upon as Mohaim moves to ensure that the Harkonnens will leave the duad unhurt when their house extend out a takeover on Arrakis .

The Harkonnens ’ eventual underhanded reneging on their discussion is one of Dune ’s less - inspired tale turn , but the Bene Gesserit ’s attempt at prevent them from kill Paul is a detail deserving pay off attention to because of what it prognosticate for the Dune follow - up thatWarner Bros. just annunciate . As overlord manipulators with genial abilities surround ( and sometimes crossing over into ) the supernatural , it ’s hard to see Mohaim and the rest of the Bene Gesserit as gullible enough to take the Harkonnens at their word . disregarding of Mohaim ’s feeling about Jessica ’s fraudulence , Paul likely being the Kwisatz Haderach gives her understanding to come into his orbit in Herbert ’s novel . Much as the Kwisatz Haderach is Dune ’s reply to the One , the inscrutable lore about why a male Kwisatz Haderach poses such a menace to the group , and how Mohaim guide to still maintain influence over Paul is one of the more promising affair about what ’s to occur .

Screenshot: Warner Bros.