Jodorowsky's Dune Uncovered
Scene 116-120 : The Water of Life
With the Fremen Sietch a ceremony is taking place. Jessica and the Fremen Reverend Mother are brought into a large cave, and Stilgar explains that with Dune back in control of Rabban they must leave the sietch to a secret location and that the Reverend Mother would not survive the trip. She will try to pass on her knowledge to Jessica.
A baby worm and a basin filled with water are brought in and the worm is dropped into the it, dissolving in the water.
The Reverend Mother administers the Water of Life to Jessica in a strange fashion!
As Jessica suffers an epileptic fit, the old Reverend Mother leans over and tells her "The poison is in your blood. If you are HER, transform it or die."
We then see Jessica's vision of atoms and molecules changing within her to neutralise the poison
Jessica opens her eyes and the Reverend Mother proclaims that the poison has been transformed.
As the Reverend Mother passes her knowledge to Jessica we see another of Jessica's visions, a red sphere (Jessica) and a green sphere (the Reverend Mother) are coming together, but a blue sphere appears. Realising that Jessica is pregnant the Revered Mother instructs Jessica to unite with her and calm her fears, and then they combine with the green sphere as the 400 years of knowledge spent as the Missionaria Protectiva, as well as the memories she carried are transferred to Jessica.
Back in the cave Jessica awakens, next to the corpse of the Reverend Mother. Jessica spits into the basin containing the poison, changing it, and the water is passed around in flasks to the Fremen who drink in celebration.
The various Moebius storyboards shows many aspects of the script, which in turn reflects much of original novel. It is interesting that the script has Kynes and the Missionaria Protectiva Reverend Mother arriving on Dune at the same time, only to die minutes apart 400 years later.
This is a long sequence, and the storyboard numbers suggest that the order had be rearranged. The David Lynch script also had a long sequence for the Water of Life, although in the final film it was edited down to just a few seconds with a voice over.
