Film Mulholland Drive

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[lee214]

Mulholland Drive-My interpretation

was reading the old archive thread on Mulholland Drive earlier and decided I'd throw my .02c at those that give a damn. This is rather long and is littered full of spoilers. There are a few things I'd like to add to it but I really cant be bothered to edit them into the body text at the mintue so I'll add them as follow ups later....

Mulholland Dr
Diane Selwyn came to L.A. from Deep River, Ontario - as she sad it was a “small town”, not an ideal location for the artistic ambitions of a young lesbian actress to flourish. Indeed its highly likely that her parents opposed her pursuit of Hollywood stardom. Diane explained to CoCo how she used her aunt’s legacy(who also was in the movie industry) to make the move from Deep River to L.A.
In LA Diane auditioned for the lead in a movie called The Sylvia North Story. Directed by Bob Brooker, this was a musical movie set the 1950’s. Diane “really wanted the lead part” - With her success in a Jiterbug contest behind her, Diane probably felt that she was the most well equipped candidate for the lead role. However the director “didn’t like her very much” and cast Laura Harring’s character, Camilla Rhodes, in the leading role. It was on the set of the Sylvia North Story that Diane & Camilla met and became lovers. Diane’s modest lifestyle would indicate that she struggled somewhat in getting parts in movies and Camilla eventually “helped her get parts in some of her movies”. Unfortunately for Diane, Camilla met Adam Kesher, a successful young director, and fell in love with him. This resulted in Camilla gradually casting Diane out of her life. Diane is invited to a party at Adam's house on Mulholland Drive....her journey to the house is interrupted by Camilla who guides her to the house. Diane is repulsed at Camilla's behaviour throughout the party, she frolics with Adam and kisses another woman before her very eyes. Her alienation his heightened by Adam's mother, CoCo - Coco questions Diane on her life and background and Diane answers tese questions awkwardly, evidently these questions have made Diane all the more conscious of her failure in attaining stardom its at his point that we can sense great deal of resentment in diane towards Camilla, Adam and the Hollywood system as a whole. As Adam and Camilla announce their engagement Diane struggles to maintain her self-control and her eyes dart around the room catching glimpses of the more visually striking figures around her such as a cowboy, a heavy-set mobster type, the attractive blonde and CoCo.
Seething with rage, Diane hires an assassin to in Winkie's Cafe on Sunset Blvd. She wants him to kill Camilla Rhodes. There are six important elements in this scene:
1. Winkie's cafe itself and what it will come to represent
2. The hitman
3. The photograph of Camilla(which in this instance is Laura Harring) accompanied by the phrase: "This is the girl"
4. The bag of money
5. The blue key
6. The dark-haired man by the counter.
Following this encounter Diane returns to her home and falls asleep.....The beginning of her dream is in fact the beginning of the movie....
The first images that occur to us are those Diane's success in jitterbug contest - these images are fretted with her standing alongside an old couple(these figures recur throughout the movie and are highly relevant to Diane's mindset) whom I believe to be Diane's parents. Certainly they exude the happiness of proud parents as they stand alongside Diane following her win.
We now receive a quick flash of reality with a camera scanning over Diane's bed in close-up as she sleeps, the rapid breathing is amplified indicating that she is in the midst of a dream.
We return to the dream with the scene in which Laura Harring(Camilla in reality) is being chauffeured along the same route to Mulholland Drive that Diane took in going to the party. The journey is interrupted at the same point and Camilla's reaction reflects that of Diane: "We don't stop here" Now Diane's employment of a hitman manifests itself for the first time in the dream as the driver attempts to kill Camilla. But Diane's fantasy doesn't permit it....a freak car accident occurs, killing the assassins and leaving Camilla to stagger away from the wreckage.
A series of long shots follow, amplifying Camila's disorientation and fear with her environment. Camilla finds her way to a house where a ginger haired woman is preparing to go on a long trip(we later discover that this woman is Diane's aunt Ruth, who is dead in reality).
The next scene takes place in Winkies and is the source of much confusion in the movie. The dark- haired man who stood by the counter as Diane hired he assassin is telling his friend of a nightmare he experienced. The nightmare took place in that very restaurant and revolved around a horrific figure, a man behind the restaurant. The dark-haired man came to Winkie's to see if he was also there in 'his waking-life'. The two men walk outside and discover that the grotesque figure is actually there. This scene is the first indication in the movie that reality is inescapable - the horror existed for the dark-haired man regardless of dreams or reality. The same applies to Diane- her reality is failure, and even her fantasy will be plagued by this failure as it is our reality that forges our fantasy...the vagrant symbolises this. The scenes that take place in Winkie's are catalysts for reality in the movie.
The scene with Diane arriving in LA follows this. Only this is an idealisation for Diane illustrated by the bright light, soft music and cheerful dialogue - she has renamed herself as Betty and is accompanied by the old couple(her parents though in this scene they are merely people she encountered en route to LA) who lovingly offer their blessing as she sets out to seek her fortune in Hollywood. Yet even this scene is peppered with elements of reality - we see the old couple laughing together once out of Betty's company. Presumably they feel that she is doomed to failure in tinseltown and cannot help but find her dreams comical - it's likely that Diane's ambitions were met with similar scorn by her parents.
Lynch now gives us a panning shot of the famous 'HOLLYWOOD' sign, highlighting another aspect of his agenda in this movie - to criticise, or even ridicule the 'star system' in the movie industry and to illustrate that 'fame's a fickle friend, Harry'.
We are taken to the apartment block in which Camilla is hiding, Betty arrives and is warmly welcomed by CoCo(who appears as a caring, maternal character in Diane's dream). Betty wanders around her "unbelievable" apartment and stumbles upon Camilla in the bathroom. Camilla explains that she was in an accident but discovers that she remembers nothing else besides this. Camilla adopts the name 'Rita' from a poster of the movie Gilda(starring Rita Hayworth & Glenn Ford). At this point Betty hands us a major clue regading the nature of the events unfolding on screen - "I'm so excited to be here" she explains to Rita, "I mean I just came here from Deep River, Ontario and now I find myself in this dream place". Rita feels weak and Betty tenderly offers assistance. Clearly Diane is trying to right the wrongs of her reality in fantasy: She has created new identities for both herself and the woman she loves and she is about embark on a promising career in acting - furthermore she is also about to dream ill of those people she felt played major parts in the her downfall in reality - namely Adam Kesher and Bob Brooker.
She conjures up a meeting between Adam, his production team and the gangster-like figure who attended Adam's party. In this bizarre scene the gangsters hand over a photograph of the attractive blonde(who is now named Camilla Rhodes) and tell the crew that "this is the girl"(again this is redolent of the scene between Diane and the assassin in Winkie's). Adam refuses to cast her and storms out of the meeting. Adam's refusal prompts the gangsters to close his project, causing Adam to return home where he finds his wife in bed with the Pool cleaner(in reality Adam is divorced but for the purpose of destriying his life Diane has created this image from the line "so she go the pool man and I got the pool, I wanted to buy that judge a Rolls Royce).
Adam's downfall is broken up by a comic sequence in which the assassin botches a 'hit' - this is Diane creating hopes in her fantasy taht the hitman will fail in his task....we also see him asking a prostitute if she has seen "a beat up brunette" this reassures Diane that he is looking in all the wrong places for Rita/Camilla.
Meanwhile Betty has realised that Rita is unknown to her aunt and discovers that the accident has caused 'Rita' to lose her identity. In a bid to discover who she is they open Rita's purse, hoping to find some form of identification - they are stunned to find that the only objects in the bag are bundles of money and an oddly shaped blue key.
The images that manifested themselves in those scenes within Diane's dream are increasing realitys presence in her fantasy. The images dredged up memories her placing a contract on Camilla's head in Winkie's: We had the assassin himself, the photo accompanied by the phrase "this is the girl", the bundles of money, the blue key and Betty's realisation that Rita's name is not Rita.
Diane quickly regains control of the fantasy and hides Rita's purse in a hat-box(effectively stashing the mementos out of her fantasy). Rita suddenly recalls that she was travelling to Mulholland Drive on the evening of the accident. Betty wants to learn more and decides to "call the police anonynously...just like in the movies...we'll pretend to be someone else" thus handing the audience another clue regarding the movies structure. They call the police from the kiosk outside Winkies before stepping inside. Again Winkies causes reality to collide with the dream when the waitress, Diane, prompts Rita to remember the name "Diane Selwyn"(which of course is Betty's name in reality). Believing that Diane Selwyn may be Rita's true identity they seek her out in the telephone directory...when they call the number by her name neither woman recognises the voice that responds. Undeterred they decide to go to the address the following day.
Meanwhile Diane's thoughts of Adam Kesher have his life spiralling ever downward - He has taken up residence in a dingy hotel in a rundown area of town and Cookie, the landlord, informs him that he is bankrupt. Furthermore Adam's PA calls him and advises him to meet with a mysterious man called 'The Cowboy'(again an image from the party). It's clear that Diane relishes having Adam's life manipulated by forces that are beyond his control. Adam meets with the cowboy in a state of complete confusion - he's anxious to know "what the hell's going on", much like the audience - the cowboy tells him that he has to think(possibly an aside by David Lynch) and hands him an ultimatum on the casting of his lead actress. The convoluted chain of command that seems to stretch from the gangsters up to the cowboy merely emphasises how little control Adam has over his life in this fantasy.
Again we get a flash of the 'HOLLYWOOD' sign - with reference to the last scene its an allusion to the corruption and favouratism that plagues the movie-making process.
Reality again intrudes on Diane's fantasy he evening before Betty and Rita visit Diane Selwyn's apartment. It comes in the form of Louise Bonner who claims "that someone is in trouble", a bemused Betty tries to be polite saying: "I don't know you - I'm Betty, Ruth's niece" to which Louise responds "No you're not..." They are interrupted by CoCo who presents Betty with a screenplay for an audition(I think this is an allusion to the manner in which parents protect their children from nightmares and present them with reassurances - CoCo does come across as a very motherly figure) but before the scene ends Louise says "No she said it was someone else who was in trouble". This is a reference to the fact that its actually Rita who is in trouble because Betty's real-life character, Diane has placed a contract on the head of Rita's real character, Camilla.
In the next scene Betty & Rita are acting together before Betty's audition again this is an idealisation on Betty's part - Rita is wooden while she is superb in the rehearsal(elements of her bitterness over being passed over in favour of Camilla on The Sylvia North Story).
Betty goes to her audition, here we see her perception of Bob Brooker, the man "who didn' like her very much" in reality. He is directing a third-rate T.V. show and comes across and a bumbling, pretentious idiot. Again Betty delivers a stellar performance in rehearsal and has the 'unbelievable' good fortune to be spotted by a casting agent who whisks her off for an audition on The Sylvia North Story(which is in the fantasy being directed by Adam Kesher). En route to the audition we learn that the producer of the TV Show was a friend of Betty's aunt....this reveals that Diane would have wished her aunt to have been live helping her make her breaks in Hollywood, which further indicates the lack of support she had from others in her family. At the audition Betty realises she needs to return to Rita, but the menacing background music and the lingering stares between herself and Adam suggest that the situation is futlile anyway. Despite her credentials for the role in this movie(acting ability that we've just seen-yes its fantasy but its irrelevant here- and dancing talent) the corruption within the industry prevents her from attaining stardom.....again her real-life failure makes itself present in her dream.
She returns to Rita and they travel to Diane Selwyn's apartment and discover that Diane and her neighbour swapped apartments. They enter Diane's new home and discover a corpse in the bedroom(a premonition of what is to come in the movies finale). The corpse causes Rita to freak...Betty remains relatively calm and tries to reassure her. When they return to Ruth's apartment Rita begins hacking at her hair....Betty agains trys to sooth her calmly saying: "I know what you have to do let me do it". Betty then remodels Ritas hair and gives her a blonde wig. At this point Diane's is doing everything in her power to maintain the fiction by hiding the realities within the dream. Unfortunately for Diane the fantasy's most emotional scene, the love scene between Betty & Rita, which immediately follows this causes the guilt of her actions in reality to come flooding to the surface, giving rise to the scene in Club Silencio - the film's pivotal scene.
Silencio is a dingy Midnight club in a dirty area of LA and within its walls Lync drives home the fictitious nature of the events on screen with lines such as: "There is no band", "If we want to hear a clarinet, listen.." and "It is all an illusion". He cements it off with the rendition of 'Crying' in Spanish. The shots of the lovers that we see throughout this scene show them to be holding each other tightly as tears stream sown their faces. They like the audience are realising that they are in a fantasy and that the fiction is about to end. The scene also serves to further indict the Hollywood system with the Spanish singer, whose immense talent is only received by the audience of a grotty Midnight Club. She herself is cheaply dressed and made up and moreso resembles the ashes of a star than an actual star.
Betty then discovers a blue box(again much is made of it but its merely a portal or representation of the world of dreams) and it appears that the key from Rita's purse would fit its lock. They return to Ruth's apartment and Betty disappears(Diane's fantasy is disintegrating), Rita opens the box and the camera zooms through the box. We fade into the same room but Rita has also disappeared...Aunt Ruth pokes her head into the room and surveys a room that has not been lived in - Diane has realised that none of the fantasy occurred but she is still dreaming because Aunt Ruth is dead in reality. It is fitting that Diane ends her dream with Aunt Ruth because in reality it was Aunt Ruth's legacy that afforded Diane the opportunity to live her dream and it was also Aunt Ruth in the fantasy whose generosity and contact within the industry aided Betty as she pursued her ambitions. The dream ends completely with the cowboy(figure of command in the fantasy) telling Betty to wake up "hey pretty girl, time to wake up". There is a knocking at the door Betty's neighbour has come to collect her belongings, as she lifts her ashtray from the table we notice a blue key on the edge of the table. Betty then fantasises about Camilla while masturbating(I don't think she even made the coffee) but in this too the reality emerges with Camilla's rejection - she notices the key and the events leading up to her hiring of the assassin come rushing back to her...it takes a moment for the enormity of the situation to hit home but when it does she loses control, she visualises the vagrant with the box - a representation of failure and dreams, with failure the more dominant of the two and the a horrifying hallucination of her parents haunts her as she rushes to her room and kills herself, leaving a corpse similar of that which was foreshadowed iln her dream.

 

[L2R]

Sorry i haven't read you post. But here's the original thread.

great film btw

edit: maybe i should've read at least the first line in your post