The Feyd-Rautha Report
Dune: Part 2 came out on March 1, but not unusually I have kept to my own schedule regarding culture and commenting on it. In a horrifically bad mood I finally dragged myself to see it at a regional theater chain just minutes after the end of a Midwestern spring blizzard last Friday, hoping it would cheer me up. Things weren’t looking good; it was cold outside, I was pissed the off, and perhaps most importantly, I did not like Dune 1. I bought a million dollar extra large soda cup anyway, only to realize the theater had Diet Dr. Pepper: things were looking up. Before the movie they played the trailer for “The Bikeriders,” which I hadn’t yet seen: another step in the right direction. Then the movie started, and I locked in like no one has ever locked in since I myself did on June 23, 2022.
I didn’t see the original VillenDune theatrically because of some COVID-related issue–who can recall which–so I watched it in the middle of the day on what was then, I think, HBO Max. I entered that experience with 3 dueling discursive contexts: 1) it is too dark, 2) it is the best movie ever made, 3) it is certainly made by a Québécois. As stated recently and sloppily, I do not think Dune 1 is too dark or the best movie ever made, and I don’t know what aesthetically constitutes being from Quebec, though I can guess it’s precocious faux-Europeanness, in which case, sure.1 I don’t hate it or like it, it just mildly frustrates me, and I’ve struggled to articulate how and why. Well, I figured it out: it just simply was not made for me. Dune Part 2, however, was seemingly made with me, specifically, in mind.
After Part 2 got delayed by the strikes, I made a promise to talk more about Austin Butler “wearing a Celine wife beater [in original-Dune-release-date promotion in Interview Magazine] (sorry, not calling it a “white tank top” as if “wife beater” isn’t a hilariously iconographic way to describe a white tank top)” once I learned more about Na-Baron Feyd-Rautha Harkonnen. Well, I’ve learned. Mama, they put him in the bald corner!
First: Timothée Chalamet. An obstacle for me with Dune 1 is that I have failed to fully buy into Timmy’s moviestardom post-Call Me By Your Name. I have always thought he is talented and dresses well, but he has never once looked older than 19-years-old, which just really isn’t any fun for me; pensive boyishness does not constitute an ascension beyond Bones-and-All-level leading-man-ness.2 One of my fears going into Part 2 was that there was going to be too many sluggish minutes of Timmy and Zendaya–a true psyop of an actor and celebrity–before I got to Feyd, and the entire thing would turn into a waiting game, not unlike waiting for Bradley Cooper to show up in Licorice Pizza and then getting wistful and mad when his cameo is over. While Dune 2 did turn out to be the Timmy show, however, I was delighted to learn that wouldn’t be a problem at all.
Part 2 Paul is funny and sexy, athletic and suave. When he put his arm around Zendaya, it all finally clicked into place for me, also not unlike when Bradley Cooper puts on those drag eyebrows in A Star is Born: a feeling so acute of, it’s all happening, to and for me… I have underestimated how insane this movie is going to make me–what other joy and charm is in store?. I loved when Paul got insecure and asked the pretty girls what they’re talking about, I loved when he went crazy and started waving his hands around slowly, and I loved when he was hyping himself up to ride that worm. In the first one, I didn’t love that he wanted to have sex with his mother, but in this one I did: what will he do next!
I also liked other non-Feyd stuff. The Captain Salazar levels were borderline dangerous, and basically every time Javier Bardem spoke I stifled a genuine, hardy laugh. I also loved Lady Jessica and her yapping fetus that turned into Furiosa at the rate and frequency with which Barbie Ferreira is in Nope. I especially loved when the Reverend Mother (this is something that Lady Jessica “becomes” early in the film, doubling the amount of names she has) was transported in a Cult Gaia Born this Way egg. This is how I imagine Jenna Lyons is transported on vacation!
Everyone also under-sold Christopher Walken as “The Emperor,” who plays Christopher Walken as one would expect, but dressed as Chris Pine. I found great comfort in Florence Pugh’s Princess Irulan, who Jacqueline West seemingly adorned in custom Rabanne for H&M (compliment) and what I believe to be the most ingeniously “futuristic” hairstyle I’ve ever seen in my whole life. Finally, I simply could not get enough of “The Baron.” Stellan Skarsgård was my favorite part of Dune 1, because he’s fat and turns into a floating worm with a gooey hot tub. In the second one, though, I got an even better look at his floating backpack, which is severed in the final set piece after he gets half-heartedly scolded by Christopher Walken, sending him to roll around on the ground for a while. That was simply one of the most affecting scenes I’ve seen in the last 5 years.
Nothing was more affecting, however, after who knows how many minutes–hours–I spent realizing I am newly attracted to Timothée Chalamet and that Dune 2 has entered the Pirates of the Caribbean canon of blockbusters I am overly attached to due to my chronic boredom, than when Florence Pugh and Charlotte Rampling started saying the words “Feyd-Rautha.” I thought I knew what to expect when it came to this 32-year-old career Nickelodeon and Disney Channel extra who was randomly launched into blockbuster Oscar buzz by Denzel Washington and has since cameo’d opposite Selena Gomez a Jim Jarmusch movie everyone hated, played Elvis Presley because Vanessa Hudgens told him to, and done an impression of Stellan Skarsgård in a bald cap, but when Feyd appeared, bald and buff, it surprised even me. People have been making fun of and/or celebrating Feyd’s silliest moments all month–when he kisses The Baron, when he mockingly says “may thy knife chip and shatter,” when he does a weird thrashing tick in the midst of battle–but I don’t think those moments are the best of it. What charmed me the most was the drooling and the screaming. I don’t mean my heart was still at the appearance (though perhaps it was…), I mean it was intentionally funny and genuinely fascinating to watch.
We simply cannot discount, however, the other much-discussed Austin Butler plot point: Léa Seydoux collects his seed! Na-Baron Feyd-Rautha didn’t seem particularly pleased that this happened; as “Margot Fenring” explains, he is “sexually vulnerable” and mostly motivated by “humiliation.” I, however, was quite happy about the whole ordeal. I do wish there would have been more of it, in terms of nudity and narrative, but in this case I am taking what I got in stride.
To end where we started, in Butler’s Interview profile, Josh Brolin says:
“This doesn’t happen very often, especially in this day and age, but a whole series of people told me, ‘You have to meet Austin.’ You take it personally, like, ‘They’re all saying it to me.’ But it turns out they were saying it to everybody, because everybody was getting off on you.”
I must reiterate that this is simply true. As mentally ill as I am about this celebrity, in the case of Dune: Part 2 his weird wonder is part of something greater: an over-choreographed and affectively physical blockbuster sequel slick with sex appeal that everyone seems to agree is good, old fashioned fun. When is the last time monoculture let us steep in something so wild and loud for so long, and when will it happen again?
Anyway, do you guys think this is true:
I think everyone should read Max Read’s annotated guide to Dune: Part 2, in which he describes the first Feyd-Rautha battle as “only a few degrees removed from a massive Cirque du Soleil production.” That is so true! While you’re at it, check this out.
By now we are all aware that Jacob Elordi previously dated Kaia Gerber who is now dating Austin Butler, and fake-dated Zendaya, who is now in Dune with Austin Butler. I find it equally interesting, though, that I believe Timothée Chalamet had a crush on his Bones and All co-star Taylor Russell, who is now dating Harry Styles, the sworn nemesis of Timothée Chalamet’s frequent co-star and Dune contemporary Florence Pugh. If you would like more information on any of that I fear it’s too late for you to understand or care about it, anyway. Sorry.
Clare- I have to admit, the first time I saw Butler's Feyd-Rautha on screen I froze. It was freaky and alluring at the same time. What a great depiction. Thanks for sharing this. Now considering watching the movie (again)! :)