Dune: This Overlooked Water Of Life Detail Is Super Gross
There's a lot of wild stuff that goes down on Arrakis in "Dune: Part Two," which is understandable given just how many strange concepts unfolded in Frank Herbert's original book. For the uninitiated, there are plenty of small details you might have missed in "Dune: Part Two," and that's not including the disgusting Fremen details the movie tries to ignore, revealing how they go to the bathroom.
Besides that little issue, though, there's also the planet's sought-after soda mix, also known as the Water of Life. The potentially poisonous blue liquid certainly makes an impact on Lady Jessica (Rebecca Ferguson) and her son, Paul (Timothée Chalamet), but what's interesting is the substance's gross origins and the alternative uses that don't make it into the film, which may have impacted its rating if they were. As explained in Herbert's tale, the "water" isn't water at all, but a bile excreted from sandworms that, if it doesn't kill the Bene Gesserit or Sayyadina (low-level priestess) when ingested, is converted into an awareness spectrum narcotic that is passed around the Fremen and can lead to a good old-fashioned spice orgy.
In Villeneuve's otherworldly masterpiece, we see how the brilliantly blue liquid is made when a baby sandworm is drowned, with the flat-out nasty excretion left unnamed. It's all pretty grim and leaves a massive effect on both Jessica and Paul when they take a swig, but it only skims over its origins and after-effects revealed in the book.
The spice orgies could've caused issues for Dune: Part Two
Just like in the book, Lady Jessica takes over as the Fremen's Reverend Mother when Mother Ramallo (Giusi Merli) reaches the end of her time in the position. The difference in the original story, however, is that it lowers the inhibitions of those who ingested it. Things get a little raunchy, and an almost wild rave breaks out, leading to the aforementioned spice orgy. Imagine the after-party of Morpheus' (Laurence Fishburne) speech in "The Matrix Reloaded," but sand presumably getting in all sorts of uncomfortable places.
It makes sense that the scene didn't make it into Villeneuve's epic, as it would've bumped the MPAA rating up from its PG-13 and, quite frankly, would've felt out of place in this interpretation of Herbert's world that's a little more suitable for general audiences (knife fights and planet invasions aside). There were plenty of "Dune" scenes that were left on the cutting room floor, but maybe it's better that getting into the gooey details of the bile and its sensual usage didn't even make it there.
Perhaps, given the love triangle that will inevitably cause problems for the universe in "Dune Messiah," Villeneuve might turn up the heat if any more Water of Life gets served, but for now, let's keep the Fremen activity a family-friendly environment, shall we?
