An Appreciation – Mulholland Drive

Lynch constantly does this, setting expectations one way and then completely turning around and going in a different direction. He keeps us on our toes, always surprising us at any given moment. The most disturbing example of this is the “bum” (Bonnie Aarons) living behind the Winkies café. Lynch sets up the moment by having two random men converse in the café, describing a dream where they are in the exact same place, with the bum behind the café waiting for them. When the two men go to look to ease their fears, the bum appears around the corner of a wall in a traditional “jump scare.” But the moment happens so abruptly, so shockingly, and in broad daylight, that the effect reverberates. From that moment on, every time the camera creeps around a corner, we start to tense up anticipating what could possibly happen. This is a scene that gets to me even after seeing it multiple times.

Two recurring tropes of film noir is the criminal on the run and a character caught in a scheme beyond their control. Lynch shows his skill portraying both. First with Rita, a woman who unknowingly is on the run from a crime scene, and then with Adam (Justin Theroux) a film director who falls into a plot involving corrupt studio bosses, the mafia, an unfaithful wife, and – of all things – a cowboy. Studio bosses pressure Adam to cast an actress named Camilla Rhodes (Melissa George) into his latest production. Adam refuses initially, but after a strange sequence of events, he soon finds himself almost unable to escape the closing walls.

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What does it all mean? How are the plights of Betty, Rita, and Adam connected? Why do Betty and Rita all of sudden change personalities two thirds of the way in, changing their names to “Diane” and “Camilla” respectively? To dig through and analyze every specific detail is a task for another day, but there are aspects that point us in the right direction. The centerpiece is Betty/Diane. Film noir is known for characters with complex moralities. Often, they are wracked with guilt over doing something terrible, or are so over the edge that they can’t decipher what morality even is. We can see that in the Betty/Diane character. When we meet Diane, she carries a heavy burden: the realization that her dreams of fame are not materializing, and the discovery that the person she loves – Rita/Camilla – has left her for Adam the director. So are the first two acts a representation of Diane’s fantasy, where she is a successful artist named Betty and in a happy relationship with Rita/Camilla? Does Diane’s guilt have something to do with the car crash we witnessed earlier on? There are two explicit sex scenes between Betty/Diane and Rita/Camilla. The first one is passionate, the other fueled by disappointment and anger. The contrast between the two speaks volumes for how the film can be interpreted. Betty/Diane was so obsessed with the glamour of Hollywood only to be swallowed up, another sad tale of an actress lost in her own twisted ambitions.

Reality and fantasy, truth and lies. Through the secrets, romance, and danger, Lynch seems to be commenting on the nature of Hollywood’s appeal. In a business where people pretend to be other people, and writers and directors conjure up environments in their minds, Lynch wants us to search behind the veneer. We associate so much with art and beauty that sometimes we aren’t able to step back and look at what it is that we love so much about them. Film is a powerful medium, causing us to laugh, cry, experience empathy, fear, and all of the above. In the end though, movies are just light and sound emanating from a screen. After the movie is over, all that’s left is a dark room.

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This is encapsulated during the scene at Club Silencio, where Betty and Rita go to watch a unique kind of “performance.” An announcer steps on stage, tells the crowd there is “no band” and that everything they hear is “on tape.” A trumpet player is introduced, yet we discover he is not actually playing music, that it is also a recording. The announcer himself disappears into thin air. Finally, a singer (Rebekah Del Rio) comes on to sing an acapella version of Llorando, a song about a person crying over a lost love. But the singer too is only a mirage, collapsing on stage even though we can still hear her voice singing on. Does knowing this make what we see any less authentic or moving? Can any pathos or catharsis be drawn from art that is artificial?

Delving into Mulholland Drive can be like falling into a rabbit hole. Yet it’s a journey that has kept me fascinated, perplexed, and enthralled with every visit. Whatever David Lynch’s intentions were is of little consequence compared to what our experiences are with it, and that’s what makes it so vital and important. Cinema can provoke our sensibilities and stir our souls, but that’s only a part of the whole. The joy of this film isn’t just about what’s on screen, but what we bring to it as well.

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Allen is a moviegoer based out of Seattle, Washington. His hobbies include dancing, playing the guitar, and, of course, watching movies.

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