Elephant

"An ordinary high school day. Except that it's not."

2003 1h 21m EN

👍

7.0

SOLID

★7.0TMDB · 2,180

CrimeDrama

Synopsis

Spoiler shield

Several ordinary high school students go through their daily routine as two others prepare for something more malevolent.

“An ordinary high school day. Except that it's not.”

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Cast

Alex Frost
Alex
Eric Deulen
Eric
John Robinson
John McFarland
Elias McConnell
Elias
Jordan Taylor
Jordan
Carrie Finklea
Carrie
Nicole George
Nicole
Brittany Mountain
Brittany

Credits

Behind the camera

Director: Gus Van Sant
Writers: Gus Van Sant
Languages: English
Countries: United States of America

Want more? Switch to Cinephile mode in the header for DP, composer, budget, box office, production companies, keywords, and release history.

Did you know?

Fun facts 🍿

1 / 8

RUNTIME

Did you know

81 minutes exactly — the "classic feature" runtime most directors aim for.

MoodPlayr · trivia#01

2 / 8

MONEY

Did you know

Shot for just $3.0M — micro-budget by Hollywood standards.

MoodPlayr · trivia#02

3 / 8

MONEY

Did you know

Made its money back 3.3× over at the box office.

MoodPlayr · trivia#03

4 / 8

ERA

Did you know

Released 23 years ago.

MoodPlayr · trivia#04

5 / 8

DIRECTOR

Did you know

Directed by Gus Van Sant, shot by Harris Savides. Note their partnership — DPs and directors often return to each other across a career.

MoodPlayr · trivia#05

6 / 8

DIRECTOR

Did you know

Editor Gus Van Sant shaped the rhythm. On an edit-heavy film, the editor does more to control your pulse than the director.

MoodPlayr · trivia#06

7 / 8

CAST

Did you know

Alex Frost and Eric Deulen and John Robinson carry the top of the cast.

MoodPlayr · trivia#07

8 / 8

FACT

Did you know

Marketing tagline: "An ordinary high school day. Except that it's not.".

MoodPlayr · trivia#08

Cinephile deep dive

The take

Gus Van Sant directs. Harris Savides behind the camera. Gus Van Sant cuts. Runs lean at under 100 minutes. Made its budget back several times over at the box office. Produced in United States of America. Dialogue in English.

Trivia

Things worth knowing

181 minutes exactly — the "classic feature" runtime most directors aim for.
2Shot for just $3.0M — micro-budget by Hollywood standards.
3Made its money back 3.3× over at the box office.
4Released 23 years ago.
5Directed by Gus Van Sant, shot by Harris Savides. Note their partnership — DPs and directors often return to each other across a career.
6Editor Gus Van Sant shaped the rhythm. On an edit-heavy film, the editor does more to control your pulse than the director.
7Alex Frost and Eric Deulen and John Robinson carry the top of the cast.
8Marketing tagline: "An ordinary high school day. Except that it's not.".
9IMDB entry: tt0363589 — still the authoritative cross-reference for credits and trivia.
10Classified under 14 themes, including "video game", "gun", "mass murder", "classroom".

The technical file

Cinematography: Harris Savides
Editing: Gus Van Sant
Sound: Leslie Shatz
Stunt coordinator: Thomas M. Ficke
Runtime: 81 min · 1h 21m
Aspect ratio (typical): 1.37:1 (Academy)
Status: Released
Budget: $3,000,000
Box office: $10,000,000
Return: 333% of budget
Original language: EN
Certification (US): R
IMDB: Elephant (2003)

Awards

Palme d'Or
Cannes Best Director Award

Individual records documented via Wikidata; the summary above may count more.

Also by

Gus Van Sant

Stills · wallpapers

Selected frames

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Wallpaper

Trailers & featurettes

Watch the pieces

Community reviews

What people are saying

CinemaSerf2026-07-02
★ 7/10
With the atrocity of the Columbine massacre still fresh in many American minds, Gus Van Sant has a go here at imagining some of the psychological and societal causes that drove two ostensibly ordinary college lads to arm themselves to the hilt and take to the corridors of their school with devastating effects. "Alex" (Alex Frost) and "Eric" (Eric Deulen) are unremarkable in almost every aspect of their teenage, angsty, lives and are surrounded by a flock of personalities which tick almost every box when it comes to that dreaded expression - "coming of age". There are even a group of girls who engaged in some synchronised post-lunch vomiting, but we mainly focus on the floppy haired "John" (John McFarland) whose alcoholic father (Timothy Bottoms) is constantly trying to rebuild a relationship with his increasingly distant son - a new arrival at this large and anonymous institution. The chronology doesn't help. Or does it? By watching two lads dressed in fatigues with fully stocked kit bags walk into the building near the start of the film - and recapped a few times thereafter - we know what is going to happen - albeit we don't see the faces of the perpetrators. Does that rob the film of jeopardy or does it rather bravely suggest that this film is more about investigating the causes of their behaviour than it's results? Large scale education has been likened to an ant-hill. People coming and going in an almost factorial procession with little opportunity for individuality or to stand out. What better way for two people to make their presence felt? Is it a cry for attention or is more the result of endless hours playing shoot 'em up video games where targets make points and points make... prizes? It's quite subtly ramming that disconnect down our throats disguised as teenage hormonal norms and there I felt it quite subliminally effective: with the geeks and nerds; the handsome and the less so; the popular and the shunned all subject to the same rather arbitrary "justice" of two guys whose connection with any sort of normal reality had been well and truly severed. On that front, I felt that Frost, especially, managed by a combination of an understated less-being-more style of characterisation and some disarmingly potent dialogue to exemplify the peculiarities of a friendship rooted in emotional and physical ambiguity and increasingly ambivalent to the effects of their actions on others. Revenge? Maybe. Or perhaps more a cry just to be noticed, valued, respected? It's divisive and controversial, and the refrains of the beautiful "Für Elise" on the piano add an extra dimension of calmness to the calculated nature of a denouement that is almost surreal and is this is probably my favourite feature from a director who is no stranger to quirky self-indulgence.

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