[Movies] Mulholland Drive just fucked up my brain.

You know, if Milo has said "lesbians" in his first post, I might've taken more interest.

 

I was going to show how incredibly intelligent I am by explaining here how it all makes sense to me. However, I haven't seen the movie (you bastards are making me want to see it though), so it would've just been a copy and paste of this:

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While I believe that "Mulholland Drive" was an excellent film and offered some of the best visual imagery of the year, there is no doubt that it left me with many questions and few answers upon my first viewing. Since it was released on DVD last week, I thought I would devote a column to (hopefully) untying many of David Lynch's knots. Many people on the web have already attempted to do this, I know, but this time the director's own "clues" will be dissected. They can be found inside the DVD box, and are as follows:

I will try to explain each clue as best I can, but remember, I am confident there are dozens of different explanations -- which are probably all different from the one intended by Mr. Lynch. So with that in mind...

1. Pay attention in the beginning of the film: at least 2 clues are revealed before the credits.
I would be pretty hard to predict that the few minutes before the opening credits would be so crucial the first time seeing the film, but they are. And there are probably 3 clues, not just 2. But before I divulge them, let me cover the surrounding plot premise for anyone who was really lost.

The first two hours of the film are, in a sense, a fantasy. They are a dream created by Betty (actually Diane) to rationalize more horrific events in her life, which we see in the last act of the film. In reality, Diane came to LA from Canada in search of fame. During an audition, she met and fell in love with Camilla (Rita in the dream), who ended up getting the part, marrying the director, and becoming wealthy and famous. Feeling jealous and scorned, Diane takes a hit out on her girlfriend -- but feels so racked with guilt and remorse that she ends up killing herself as well. But right before she dies, she imagines a saner world (the first part of the film) where Rita is the helpless one (from amnesia), where Betty is a decent actress (the fantastic audition), where the mob causes her to lose a movie role (through no fault of her own), and where Lynch serves up several jabs at the Hollywood lifestyle.

Now the clues. We see a jitterbug dancers in a Gap commercial-esque sequences that appears to have no initial relevance. We later learn that Betty/Diane came to LA after winning a jitterbug contest in Deep River, Ontario. To make this point more blunt, a semi-clue revealed at the same time is a superimposition of Betty with a crown on at the end of the sequence. The other clue is hard to make out if you aren't paying very close attention. A woman writhing under bed covers is briefly shown; this is Diane imagining her fantasy moments before the suicide.

For the purposes of this discussion, I will refer to Betty/Diane (played by Naomi Watts) as Betty when referring to her in the dream and as Diane when referring to her in reality. Ditto for Rita/Camilla (Laura Harring).

2. Notice appearances of the red lampshade.
I looked hard and didn't pick out many noticeable red lampshades. Even if I had, I can't imagine what their significance would be. But I am fairly confident that near the end of the film, when Camilla calls Diance to meet her at the mansion, she is lit by light within a red lampshade. A still image of this scene is also on the cover of the video/DVD box. I can only assume that a red lampshade symbolizes passion, heat, or intensity -- and it is at the subsequent dinner party where Diance becomes enraged enough to later want Camilla killed.

3. Can you hear the title of the film that Adam is auditioning actresses for? It is mentioned again?
The title of the film is "The Sylvia North Story." Again, I did not remember hearing this multiple times in the film. I also did some internet research and there is no real person named Syliva North so this must be one of the real unsolveable mysteries of "Mulholland Drive."

4. An accident is a terrible event... notice the location of the accident.
This appears to be a real easy clue that Lynch is handing us. The accident occurs on "Mulholland Drive," a windy, mountainside road that travels from the San Fernando Valley down into Greater LA and Hollywood. Metaphorically, the road to fame is long, twisty, and dark with danger around every corner -- evidenced by the violent car wreck that begins the film.

Mulholland Drive is also a popular scenic route. Built in 1924, it was sometimes referred to as the "road to the studios." The road to stardom is indeed what our blonde protagonist was in search for throughout the movie.

5. Who gives a key, and why?
In one of the final scenes of the film, the man that Diane hires to kill Camilla gives her a blue key -- which she is confused by. It confused me as well. What I can make out is that the unlocking of Rita's mysterious box by a key is the segway between the dream and reality. Likewise, the audience is initially pulled into the cube, and then taken out. Pandora's Box -- a gateway to evil and the truthful but terrible things Diane has done -- has been opened. The audience will no longer be surrounded by Diane's fantasy but by actual events which took place.

Perhaps the hitman gave Diane the key because his actions (attempting to murder Camilla) are a gateway to her evil. She wants something horrible done, and is allowing it to occur. Hence, she is being handed a "key" to a darker side of her personality that eventually takes control.

6. Notice the robe, the ashtray, the coffee cup.
I am almost sure that these are the items Diane's neighbor left behind when the two switched apartments. Remember at the end of the film when she picks them up and remarks that "two detectives came by looking for you." Obviously, the authorities had learned of the hit Diane had paid for, but had come to the wrong apartment.

But back to the objects. In the fantasy portion of the film, Betty and Rita had also stumbled upon the wrong apartment. When they snuck into the right one, they saw a decomposing body in bed -- Diane envisioning what would ultimately happen after the dream played itself out. She was imagining her own death, and a more innocent figment of her personality (Betty) was horrified at what she had discovered. The robe, ashtray, and coffee cup were simple signs that what was being seen in the dream had a link to reality.

7. What is felt, realized and gathered at the club Silencio?
The 'Silencio' sequence occurred just before we left Diane's imagination and viewed the real events of her life. This timing was very appropriate, as the unknowing audience was about to be shown that everything it had witnessed for the past two hours was, in fact, a fantasy of the Betty/Diane character. And what better place to end the dream than at a strange nightclub where everything you see and hear is not to be believed. We are told several times by the ringmaster that it's all fake. Don't believe what you see. Even the Spanish performance of Roy Orbison's "Crying" (probably the most chilling scene of the movie) had me convinced that the woman was actually singing. Not so. This whole charade -- the acts at the club and the film's events up to that point -- were warped creations (by Diane) and not real.

8. Did talent alone help Camilla?
To answer this question, we must acknowledge that there are two Camillas. There is the real Camilla, who takes the form of Rita in the fantasy, and some random actress Camilla, who takes the part in "The Sylvia North Story" that Betty auditioned for. Keep in mind that when we dream, we often incorporate random pieces of our everyday lives into our imaginations, even if they have no significance. Thus the cowboy whom Diane actually only sees momentarily from a distance makes a large showing in her dream. Additionally, the name Camilla finds a place in the fantasy, albeit on a different character.

The real Camilla might have gotten the role Diane wanted due to talent, although Diance clearly feels that she did so by sleeping with the director. The Camilla of the film's first portion (a blonde Betty lookalike) received the part becuase the mob wanted it that way. Remember the director throwing a fit at the board meeting? He didn't want Camilla in his movie, but higher powers (the bald wheelchair man) did.

Diane used this false belief as a rationalization for why she never became famous in real life. Instead of properly blaming herself, she blames the mob, the cowboy, and the bald wheelchair man for casting her aside. It wasn't her fault, it was everybody else's. In her mind she was perfect, but couldn't control the malicious acts of the others.

9. Notice the occurrences surrounding the man behind Winkie's.
One of the beginning scenes with two men discussing nightmares and then finding a dirty homeless man behind a dumpster is an allegory of the entire film. The nervous man describes his dream and then confronts it, only to discover that it is indeed true -- there was a "monster" at the back of the restaurant. The same is true for Diane; her extended fantasy gradually segues into horror before reality hits.

We see this scary bum again near the film's end as he "unleashes" the elderly couple who preoceed to "attack" Diane. The couple, representing innocence, are chasing a woman who has committed a vile act. Her innocence has been lost, violently discharged within the evil dream (represented by the man behind Winkie's) that comprises most of the film.

10. Where is Aunt Ruth?
We are told at the outset that she went to film a movie in Canda and is letting Betty stay at her apartment. After she leaves we don't see her again until the movie's second hour when the dream ends. I'm not quite sure where we are supposed to think she is... Perhaps locked in a hotel room somewhere trying to solve the rest of the mysteries surrounding "Mulholland Drive" -- Why did the crazy woman knock on Betty and Rita's door? Who is Sylvia North? What is with the cowboy's cryptic message? And why did Betty leave on the top level of LAX when arrivals are on the bottom?

I hope this analysis has been helpful in unlocking the film. I'm sure I'm not alone in eagerly anticipating David Lynch's next mobius strip.
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Of course, I could've just linked to the website: http://www.geocities.com/sftola400/mulhollanddrive.html but I was jealous by Milo's long post about the movie, and decided to reply with something even longer, in a lame attempt to masturbate my ego.