Film Mulholland Drive

[Catch-22]

Edit: I have merged all the Mulholland Drive threads into one massive thread! Yes, I was the first to post a review but the poster known as "evsid" does a much better job later on. I just really like this movie and wanted to organize all the posts into one coherant thread! I'd advise you skip my stuff and go to evsid's comments for some good analysis.


I have been encouraged to talk about movies here by at least a couple people. I posted something in Social a couple months ago about Mulholland Drive, and some people seemed to want to discuss/interpret/debate but were worried about spoiling it. So here is my interpretation. Help me out because this recollection is based on a single viewing several weeks ago.
Warning--Spoilers
Turn back now if you haven't seen it!
I think the initial scenes of a bed/pillow are of the blonde girl shooting herself in her trashy apartment. (Trashy? It is actually 10x nicer than my place!) As she is fading out, she starts thinking about the hit she ordered on the brunette girl. This is when the brunette is in the limo and how she escapes because of the crash.
I think the brunette had dumped the blonde, so in the blonde's lucid dream state she imagines the brunette now being the lost one who needs help. I don't know what to make of the odd way the cops are talking at the crash scene of the limousine. I also missed any meaning behind the scene at the diner where the guy is afraid of something in the back alley.
Likewise, I thought the scene with the director being told by the mob who would be the leading lady in his movie was funny but couldn't really fit it into the story. (I missed it, but was the brunette girl the one they wanted to be the star? I was distracted by something during that scene.) Maybe Lynch is making fun of someone or it's an inside joke? And how about the director finding his wife cheatin with Billy Ray Cyrus? LOL Maybe it is just setting up how the director would meet the brunette girl (more later).
Not to be a misogynist about it, but I really liked the building tension between the blonde and brunette women. And the blonde girl really was on fire during her audition. There was also a scene where the director is auditioning people and first sees (?) the brunette girl.
I don't know what is going on when the director meets the cowboy up in the hills. I figure the scene where the hitman (who is later hired by the blonde girl) is humorously killing people must be how that hitman got the brunette girl's address. Other than that, I didn't catch any purpose behind that whole sequence.
Things start turning upside down when the ladies go to investigate the apartment of Diane Sellwyn (was that the name?). Maybe I am jumping the gun, but perhaps the brunette lady in the first apartment was actually the blonde girl's actual lover?
The body they find in the second apartment is the blonde girl's decaying body. Things start changing after that. I don't know about going to Silencio (sp?), but clearly the blue box is where the break is made. I was again distracted from the screen, but one of the girls disappeared while the other was opening the blue box with the key from the brunette girl's purse.
So, now the blonde girl is a scrubby struggling actress and the brunette girl is a big star who is the dating the director. The brunette girl was using the blonde girl as a sexual plaything but has apparently gotten tired of her.
I don't know about the odd replay of the limousine scene, or how the blonde girl goes to the party. (I would need to study the strange sequence of telephones earlier where the message is relayed as to who was doing what.) I think the conversation and atmosphere of the party was how things actually were. The brunette girl had gotten the blonde a few minor parts, and basically was just pushing the buttons of her discarded fuck buddy. I guess the landlady was actually the director's mother (?), but I still need some help as to what the cowboy was doing the party.
Because her treatment at the party was the final straw, the blonde girl orders a hit with the money from her dead aunt (which ties to the money in the brunette's purse) and they agree about the blue key. I guess some of the scenes show the deteriorating condition of the blonde girl's life. Again, what was with the weird friction with the apartment brunette (really the lover?) when she came back to get her stuff and the ashtray.
When she sees the blue key, the blonde realizes the hit has been completed. She starts to flash back to the ambitious beginning of her time in California with the old people from the plane. I wonder who was actually knocking on her door? Anyway, then the blonde girl goes and kills herself on the pillow shown at the beginning.
...And the movie would begin from that point. As she dies, she would begin imagining the hit and how she would be the dominant person in their relationship....until the holes appeared in that version of the story and she would again realize the truth.
Opinions? A better explanation? Important details I have missed or forgotten?
[ 18 December 2001: Message edited by: Catch-22 ]

 

[Mr Pink]

David Lynch would be very humored that somebody thought that much into it. He's very visual and like to make memorable snippets, not necessarily a cohesive film. The thing about that movie is that there really could be no reason for part or all of it. It's just a strange alter universe. The blonde (Naomi Watts) should be nominated for an oscar, she was awesome..my two fave parts? the audition scene where she totally rips it up and the spanish version of roy orbison's "crying". crazy movie

 

[Brainrape]

Originally posted by Mr Pink:
The thing about that movie is that there really could be no reason for part or all of it.
This could be said of every film Lynch has done...
(Outside of The Straight Story and The Elephant Man, he must have been on drugs when he did those )
I'll stick a short interpretation of Mullholland Drive on here after I see it again, a single viewing isn't enough to piece together an opinion on this film, or any of Lynch's films. I am not above calling a Lynch film pretentious art house shit, but something tells me this one had more to it, we'll see...

 

[Catch-22]

Nevermind me. Sometimes I just go on a typing spree and punch out a long post. I agree with Mr Purplee when he said that the movie is not made to make sense. And Naomi Watts is indeed sizzling in that audition scene!
I typed all this up just because the movie stayed with me and I wanted to think it through chronologically. Still, any discussion is welcome because I am not supposed to post in a vacuum. LOL!

 

[Ariela]

I have to say that I did love this movie. It's kinda great how Lynch is able to make a movie completely feel like a dream - dysfunctional and the same people playing different parts. No way I could ever begin to break this movie down at all. And the audition scene is probably one of the best acted scenes ever. Damn.

 

[Caine]

mulholland dr

sorry if this has already been posted, but me and startripper and josh125a, all smart people, recently watched the latest david lynch film: mulholland dr........and not a one of us know what the hell happened. can someone please explain the plot and the ooutcome?

 

[simply_rhythmatik]

You know how at about 3/4 of the way through the movie and the blonde girl wakes up as the other girl--everything before that was her dreaming. In that last half hour of the movie everything she comes across ends up slipping into her dream(she sees the cowboy at a party, the waitresses nametag, etc.) When (if) you watch the film again there is a line pretty early on that gives it all away--when Naomi first gets to LA she's talking about how unreal everything feels--that it feels like a dream. There's a lot more to it but I have to go to school right now.

 

[Pander Bear]

the whole thing is a dream, and the man behind winkies is behind it all.
there, doesnt that make sense.

 

[Trancendance]

This movie made less sense to me than anything I've ever seen before.

 

[Gamecat]

The moral of the film was: If the guy who controls EVERYTHING is living in a dumpster behind the diner... DON'T GO THERE!

 

[evsid]

In a nutshell: The key to the film is the 25 second scene just after the opening scene (with the jitterbug dancers) & right before the credits. You hear breathing & see a bed, then the camera plunges into a pillow. The next 90 inutes or so are a dream. Near the end of the film we learn what has happened:
Diane Selwyn (or "Betty" as she imagines herself in the first part) came to Hollywood after winning a jitterbug contest, thinking this would propel her to stardom. She learned reality the hard way. Along the way she hooks up with a beautiful up & coming actress, Camilla Rhodes (or "Rita", the amnesiac in the beginng of the film) & has a love affair with her. Camilla ends up dumping Diane on her way to the top, perhaps for the director Adam Kesher. You will remember in the first part of the film Diane/Betty dreams that a woman named "Camilla Rhodes" got the "big part" only becasue shady Mafia-esque figures threatened the director.
Diane is at the end of her rope. Out of luck in love & in her profession she uses the money that her recently deceased aunt left her to hire a hit man to kill Camilla. She meets the hit man at aplace called Winkies. It is at Winkies that she sees the guy at the cash register who she dreams had a conversation about dreams in the dream portion of the film. The hit man tells her that when he has done the deed he will let her know by leaving the blue key on her coffee table.
Diane then goes to sleep & dreams the first part of the film. The dream is made up of people that she has seen in much differnent roles. The dream is also all about wish fufillment: that the hit would go wrong, that she will come to Hollywood as a fresh faced innocent & win that big audition by her sheer brilliance (remember at the party scene she reveals that her audition actually was a bust). In her dream Camilla--now named Rita is back with her & totally dependent on her. The director, who in the waking part of the film ends up being Camilla's lover, is a low level little snot who is forced to cast his leading lady at gunpoint--an actress named Camilla Rhodes.
Diane/Betty wakes up & discovers the blue key on the coffee table. Guilt--represented by the elderly couple (parents?)--drives her to commit suicide.
I've only begun to crack the surface of this brilliant film & havent even begun to talk about the significance if the "Club Silencio" sequence,the cowboy, the aunt & the setting. Let me say that I am not usually a big David Lynch fan & I feel that usually (with the exception of the first 7 episodes of "Twin Peaks") he is all style over substance. "Muholland Drive" however is a demanding, difficult but ultimatley brilliant & rewarding masterpiece. I've gone on for a bit so I'll end now, but if you've more questions I'd be happy to engage you some more. This is a one of a kind film that deserves extended debate & dialogue.
[ 10 May 2002: Message edited by: evsid ]

 

[Gamecat]

eh, this one didn't impress me that much actually. I liked it, but it seemed like he was trying to hard to be weird, rather then just being weird because thats how he is... It could have been because it was originaly skated to be a TV series though.

 

[DJSethNichols]

Great movie IMO...
very thought provoking and lurring of my attention.
I think there are multiple (or maybe no true one) meanings/interpretations to this movie...
I like that...its all up to the viewer really, what you get from it is what it is...
I need to see it again before I can really asses my thoughts.

 

[Tsunami One]

David Lynch never ceases to amaze me.....

 

[Beagle]

Does this movie have anything to do with mulholland dr here in los angeles? heh
-poste

 

[evolxbluxheven]

Mulholland Drive (Spelling?) Opinions

Did anyone get this movie? i didnt. if someone could break it down what they thought it is about please let me know. -chris

 

[evsid]

See the "God Bless David Lynch" thread for a discussion on MD.
********SPOILER ALERT**************
Here is the basic plot:
An actress named Diane Selwyn came to Hollywood with big dreams after winning a jitterbug contest & obtaining an inheritance from her aunt [we learn this at the party]. She auditioned for a movie but the director was unimpressed--however it was at the audition that she meets & falls in love with another actress named Camilla Rhodes, who ended up getting the part.
At some point Camilla has decided to end the realationship. She goes the extra (cruel) mile by inviting Diane to a party where she not only announces her marrige to the director Adam Kesher, she openly flirts with another woman. This is the breaking point for the fragile Diane. She hires a hitman & meets him at a diner called "Winkies". She gives him a purse filled with money & slides him an 8x10 of Camilla & tells him "this is the girl". She glances around the restaurant & happens to see a Nervous Looking Guy at the cash register. She also notices that the waitress is named "Betty". The hitman tells her that when the deed is done he will place a blue key on her coffee table. She asks him what the blue key opens, which just makes the hitman laugh.
Diane then goes home & dreams--the first 2 hours of the film are her dreams. She dreams that the hit goes badly & that Camilla now has amnesia. In her dream the Nervous Looking Guy is in the same booth at Winkies that she ordered the hit in, only now it is HE who notices someone at the cash register looking nervous--his shrink. He tells his shrink that he's dreamed of this place & that that in his dream there is some evil being behind the Winkies. "He's the one doing it, controlling everything" They go to check it out & indeed a monsterous looking man steps from beind the dupster. The monstor symbolizes a trasferrence of Diane's guilt. After all dreams are wish fufillment--so far Camilla is safe & it is a monster that has conducted evil at Winkies, not Diane.
Diane dreams of herself as a sweet & talented young actress named Betty, freshly off the plane from Canada. She finds Camilla--at this point a nameless amnesiac at her aunts apartment (remember that Camilla stumbles away from the accident & wanders into a vacant apt). Camilla cannot remember her name so she takes the name "Rita" from a movie poster. "Betty" & "Rita" then go on a search for "Ritas" identity & to find out why "Rita" has a purse full of cash and a blue key.
In Diane's dream everything is reversed. Adam Kesher is a smalltime director who is forced by Mafiosi to cast a girl as the lead in his film--the girl is physically Camilla's new girlfriend (from the party scene), but in Diane's dream HER name is "Camilla Rhodes". Adam is shown her picture & is told "this is the girl". [as I'm pressed for time I won't go into the whole Cowboy/Mafiosi thing now, but will later if you want me to elaborate].
"Betty" auditions brilliantly for a part in a film. Success is at her feet. She then remembers she has a date with "Rita" to continue the search. Theygo to Winkies for coffee & it is there that they see a waitress named "Diane". Suddenly "Rita" blurts out the name "Diane Selwyn". "Rita" wonders if perhaps SHE is Diane Selwyn. They look up her phone number & call--as she dials the # "Betty" says: "Its seems strange to call yourself". They get only the answering machine so they go over to the apt, only to find the rotting corpse of "Diane" on the bed. "Rita" is numb with fear so they go home, "Rita" sutting her hair. "Betty" stops her & gives her a blonde wig instead. The 2 now have the same hairdo & look similar. They also discover that they are in love & have sex.
Just after the sex "Rita" begins to repeat the line "Silencio". She is agitated & frightened. She drags "Betty" to a club called "Silencio", a dark blue hued place which is emceed by a strange man who claims "it is all an illusion". They hear a woman sing Roy Orbison's "Crying" in Spanish. They both begin to weep--the dream is coming to an end. "Betty" convulses with realization. She reaches into her purse for a tissue but pulls out a blue box. Both women leave the club, "Rita" looking more frightened & "Betty" silent & solem. When they get to the apt "Betty" puts the box onto the bed & just disappears. "Rita" picks up the blue box & then takes the blue key & opens the box. She is then sucked into the box & also disappears.
Then Diane wakes up. Its here that we realize the past 2 hours were her dreams. She also notices the blue key on the coffee table. She masturbates & fantasizes that Camilla has come back to her, but her fantasies are failing her. She then remembers the party, the catalyst for her actions, & she reflects on her hiring of the hitman. Consumed with grief & horror at her actions she imagines that the "monster" behind the Winkies has the blue box but throws it away--the blue box is her guilt & the monster throws it away in essence saying "its not MY guilt". From the blue box emerge the elderly couple that we first met as "Betty"'s travelling companions (most likely they represent Dianes past & are probobly her parents or grandparents).
Diane hallucinates that the couple are ant sized & creep under her door, then grow to normal size, screaming at her & menacing her, chasing her to her bed. Consumed with grief & guilt Diane pulls a gun out of her night table & shoots herself.
I have left out a lot of stuff but thats the basic plot. If you want more details explained just ask & I'll post a reply tomorrow.

 

[Exx_head]

I'm glad you understood the movie, because I couldn't figure out wtf was going on. I think I'd have to read that again about 3 times to fully get it. If you want a head-fuck, rent the movie.

 

[The Neoracle]

What was the whole Cowboy, mobster thing. I didn't get that.

 

[evsid]

Originally posted by The Neoracle:
What was the whole Cowboy, mobster thing. I didn't get that.
See the "God Bless David Lynch" thread for an explanation of The Cowboy.
The Mobsters are similar. Diane sees two men at the party at Adam Kesher's house who look vaguely like mobsters. She incorporates them into her dream during the "Betty" portion of the film. Remember that Adam Kesher is a source of humiliation for her in that he steals her girlfriend. In her dream he is humiliated by his wife (with the poolman) & has pink paint thrown on him**. Professionally he is castrated & humiliated by the mobsters.
**interesting note: at the party Kesher laughingly tells his guests about his hapless former wife who screwed around on him with the pool man. He brags about his great lawyer & says "so I got the house & all the bitch got was the pool man!". In Diane's dream the pool man beats him up & throws him out of the house before rolling him in pink paint.