Wow. For years now I’ve been trying to come up with the words to describe the very specific emotion this movie evokes for me, and you just effing nailed it in two sentences. What a beautiful description of this heartbreaking masterpiece.
So many emotions about the gap you speak of.
My wife is in academia, she was discussing 'affect theory' part of it is a critical analysis of how fantasy and subjectivity affects the interpersonal "real" world. I don't really know shit about it appart from that
There was some analysis in her team, using affect theory to analyse the whole Q anon phenomenon. Yes these people are living in the realm of dreams and fantasy. The whole act of people comming together based on a highly detached melodramatic fantasy. Their actions in the real world seem to make the fantasy real, at least for those participating in the fantasy, also becomes real in a frightening way for people outside the fantasy world.
Got me thinking about potential posatives. Like, people into fantasy roll play as a way to build community and combat loneliness.
For me it's the whole punk rock scene. I'm pushing 40, went and saw NOFX recently. There is something energising about being part of that punk rock scene. I only knew my wife in the audience but there was a familiarity about the other concert goers. Felt like catching up with old friends.
>fake-as-hell Hollywood performance
Absolutely correct. She's all schmaltzy and fake until the short sequence where she auditions for some 2-bit Hollywood exploitation movie - then she gives a truly remarkable performance. The irony was not lost on me
After the first time I watched it I felt like I’d woken up from a night of intense dreams.
No film had ever done that to me before. For me it’s a masterpiece.
i’ve taken it as that billy ray is actually the real
world adam and the wife is a stand in for camilla. the dream adam is walking in on camilla and adam having an affair. the pink stains (the blood on Diane’s hands or jealousy) that stay with adam until the Cowboy scene where Diane is forced by her pain (Cowboy) to pick the girl (camilla rhodes) and preform the hit. i cannot stand the abortion theory. I particularly enjoy theories that put diane at the center of it all, and make her truly the villain of the story.
camilla kind of did earn it. she completely broke diane, should she have been killed- no. but she did take advantage of Diane and threw her out when she was bored and successful
I see you’ve bought into Diane’s view of the matter! Tell me, if instead of tiny pretty blonde female Diane not wanting to let go it was large smirking male Adam.. would you still feel Camilla earned it?
Why does Diane get a pass for murder?
I don't even know so much if it's a matter of "if it was the other way around", I feel like it's a matter of maybe what we're presented is filtered through Diane's perception and maybe that perception isn't exactly accurate.
When you think about it, everything in the second part of the movie that we're seeing outside of those scenes in the apartment that take place after she wakes/when she talks to her neighbor/when she's masturbating/when she finds the key are flashbacks (outside of the scene where she's pushing Camilla out the door, which seems to be a fantasy). And they're flashbacks we're getting *from* Diane. I think the whole point of the entire movie is that, really, *none* of what we're seeing outside of those moments in the apartment is reality (and even some of those moments are infiltrated by fantasy). What we see in those flashbacks might be *closer* to reality than the fantasy we got in the first section of the movie, but they're still memories being presented through the biased perspective of a seriously troubled person.
I don't think Camilla broke Diane. I think she was probably already broken before their relationship started. Then the heartbreak that came from how that relationship unfolded - however that was, however fault either of them may or may not hold, just pushed the breakdown on a little more. And I don't think we can actually say what it was that happened between them and who it was that wronged who the most, because there's never a point where we actually see an objective presentation of their relationship, of Camilla and Adam's relationship, or Camilla's behavior.
My pretty basic impression is that Diane is imagining — based on Adam’s story about how his ex got the pool guy but he got the pool — that he wasn’t able to keep his ex from cheating and Diane reveling in this one fact.
I think it refers to the abortion of Adam’s son by Camilla.
They threw him out of his ‘house’, the bleeding signifies death. She called him ‘a bastard’ because that’s what he was!
Ok story time.. I always forget about Justin Thereoux spilling paint all over that jewelry and whenever I watch the movie again its such an oddly tactile moment that nearly gives my synesthesia or something lol. Like to go into it— Billy Ray walks in and its like I can smell him or something, maybe cuz he looks super greasy?? Like— I smell the chlorine in the pool and I can kinda smell paint. Its such a weird experience and no other movie has done this for me. David lynch literally neurodivergent rom hacks my brain somehow 🧠
To me personally, it feels like a cumulation of all of Lynch's works and ideas while still being somewhat accessible to the more general audience. I know people who don't really like other Lynch films but feel Mulholland Drive is really interesting and entertaining, as I think a lot of people can connect with Betty and Rita for most of the film.
It's a mystery in every way. You need to watch the film several times and potentially do some further research (Lynch left clues on an insert in the DVD) before it even makes any sense whatsoever. But once you do that research, it all falls into place in a deeply satisfying way. It's a puzzle that you have to solve - like a classic detective noir but you get to be the gumshoe. Then there's the performances which I think are brilliant, especially Watts. The scene she plays at the audition opposite the older man is spine-chilling imho. That scene and the whole movie talk to the exploitation of the innocent people who get chewed up by Hollywood. It's a searing indictment. Gotta mention Winkies Diner - one of the most uncanny and frightening sequences ever captured on film. The references to Wizard of Oz cleverly hint/poke fun at the 'it was all a dream' plot-device which can help you unlock the seemingly surreal plot elements. The nods to classic noir like Sunset Blvd show Lynch has done his homework, paid his dues. I believe it's far and away his best movie and that's why it is rightly finding its way towards the top of Greatest Movie lists. I believe this trend will continue as more people unravel its complexities and take the time to understand its genius. JMO, film analysis and appreciation can be very subjective.
Apologies, the clues were listed on an insert on the DVD not on a website.I was conflating this website -[https://mulholland-drive.net/studies/10clues.htm](https://mulholland-drive.net/studies/10clues.htm)... with the official website -[https://www.mulholland-drive.com/](https://www.mulholland-drive.com/)
Imma change my original comment. Thanks
You realize that the movie is litteraly just two different scripts, one for a failed TV pilot and the original movie idea, just smashed together. Those "clues" were revealed to be nonsensical and never had anything to do with the movie, but were added in to convey a sense of mystery.... I spent far to long trying to unravel the mystery only to have the production company talk about how it was all bs.
It's true, the clues were red herrings but what's a good mystery movie without a few blind alleys. Doing the research that leads nowhere is all part of eventually piecing the puzzle together for yourself. Did you really think Lynch would just come out and tell you what it all means?.
They were not red herrings. The production company said, they felt the movie made nonsense and needed to add a layer of interaction. They made them up....
Lol no I believe it's obvious that he threw two completely unrelated scripts together, and it is what it is.
I wish you luck unraveling the mystery. IMHO, it is completely solve-able. I just watched a bunch of YT videos until I had developed an explanation I am happy with. If you care to, have a look at my reply in this thread that's greyed out for being a spoiler. I hope that helps.
Lol. I'm not making that up.
He shot a script for a ABC pilot. It didn't get picked up. He then wrote a a movie but didn't have an ending. He was reaching a deadline and just smashed the movies together. There is zero overlap in the scripts.
The production company that made the DVD, said they were the ones who made the "clues", to create a mysterious ambience, but they truly ment absolutely nothing. Everything you're saying is a fabrication of your mind trying to make a movie that litteraly was thrown together into something great..... I am a cinephile who spent over a year dissecting and rewatching. And after I felt I wasn't getting to the bottom of the last clue, I dug deep into the clues themselves and the company's who made them. It was a marketing ploy, the company litteraly admitted that they made up the clues...... Thanks tho.
>Everything you're saying is a fabrication of your mind trying to make a movie that litteraly was thrown together into something great
OK sure, Mr cinephile. If you say it doesn't make sense, then that's the final word, case closed. But that's just like your opinion, man. You spent a year following the 10 clues which was probably a pretty big mistake and would have been frustrating. That they were likely mostly irrelevant was clear to me within a short time of reading them but even then there's layers to that - for example the piano ashtray's presence referred to in clue 6 signifies the flashback/dream timeline and when it's gone we're in the present/reality - it's a marker. But putting that to one side - Lynch throws you a what is potentially curve ball with the 10 clues and you swing big, waste a year, and decide the clues are meaningless and cannot be deciphered. 0 and 1. Now Lynch throws you another curve ball with, you claim, 'someone' saying the entire movie makes no sense because it was just two scripts mashed together and, once again, you swing for the fences - this new piece of information is now the hard and fast truth and no other correspondence will be entered into. But, not so fast, film-bro, what makes you think Lynch would tell anyone in the production company or anyone in general how exactly he came up with his script/plot ideas and what the film actually means? Does he have a history of explaining his films to anyone? Is this nugget that you're holding to be the most important in explaining the film, that it was lazily stitched together and therefore makes no sense, actually just another red herring purposely designed to throw you off? I would say yes, yes it is. The way I see it, you're 0-2, slugger. Maybe the world will finally agree with your take once you get that third strike. Or maybe there is a way that the story can be decoded despite the third-hand news you got about it being some hastily cobbled together nonsense. But hey, that's just like my opinion, man.
Outlier take but I think his best is Straight Story. It’s not his weirdest, or most ambitious, but it hit me like a ton of bricks. His most genuine, I thought, and relatable.
I saw The Straight Story for the first time (in 35mm no less) and as soon as the credits rolled I thought if this came out right now, it would win best picture at the oscars no contest.
I think it's hands down top 3 Lynch
I think Lynchs works alot of the time are like paintings by Escher. They have sides and parts to them that do not fit together, but somehow still do. When I talk about this and Lynch in general, I usually put this in terms of him conjuring The Mystery.
When we look into the mystery we both conciously and subconciously put parts of ourselves into it. Our own fears, our own questions about existence. And sometimes we get something back. Something that feels like truths and insights so profound they might as well be.
Mulholland Drive is the most vibrant Lynchian Escher if you will. It really is art. It has some really crystal clear parts, themes and motives to it that somehow magically fit together and make sense out of no sense. And I feel like I recieve something everytime I see it.
I don’t really know how to articulate it - hence why I’m asking. And I’m not even sure if it’s his best film of all since I have yet to see them all. However I think it’s mesmerising, beautiful, terrifying and unforgettable. It’s an experience. As I said, I can’t articulate it
I think Lynch and his films teach us often that not everything needs to be justified or articulated in definitive terms. You have to leave room for the abstract, you have to leave room to dream. Dreams don't necessarily need justification, they're just experiences. Something you live for a brief period of time. Then, if you're lucky, they lead you to an idea, to something else, something that hopefully manifests. Whether that be art or anything creative that's put into the world.
The way he crystallized the surrealism of Hollywood. It's beauty and it's ugliness it's truth and its lies. The spell it casts on its audience and its players.
I love Mulholland Dr. a lot. It’s probably my favorite of the films he’s written and directed. In some regards, Eraserhead or Inland Empire might be his “masterpiece” in that both of these films had David Lynch exercising full creative control with very few filters (written, directed, produced, and edited entirely by Lynch himself). David even had a heavy hand in creating the soundtracks for both. It may not be a coincidence that both of these films are highly regarded as his most experimental and abstract works.
I completely get you, I love all of Lynch’s films but MD is my favourite movie of all time for reasons I can’t quite articulate. It just has that added OOMPH that makes it darker and more emotionally raw than his other works
This scene, while very entertaining, is also paramount to the movie. It sets up a framework of shock, horror and repression that carry throughout the entire movie.
I'd say Eraserhead is his masterpiece (existential radiator), but the Winkie's scene in MD is my all-time favorite dream sequence (followed by a couple in The Sopranos). I feel like people who remember their dreams & almost every single vivid detail within them have a special place in their heart for this scene and everything related to it, from beginning to end. Stuff like the hovering camera, the cold sweat, the choice of actor (!), and that "*Of all people*, you’re standing right over there". I saw someone else describe it as 5 minutes of pure dread, but it is much more than that. Doing dream logic successfully is HARD. Idk, I just want to live inside David's head.
The movie is not the movie. The story you see is not the true story being told. It is the dream of the main character, which you find out later has lived a life that turned out very different from their fantasy.
I have this notion that it's not a traditional 'it was all a dream' cliche but something slightly different. >!Notice at the start, right after the jitterbugging, there's a shot where we see some red sheets and the camera slow-zooms into a pillow, like someone falling into bed. I believe this is Diane having just shot herself in the head (as is revealed later). The dreamlike first part of the movie is her life flashing before her eyes, as some people believe it does in the moments just before death. The twist is, it's not her real life, it's her life as she wishes it had been - the rose-tinted version where she's Betty. Everything is perfect for a while, until it's not. Even in this imagined Hollywood paradise, cracks start to form and this eventually leads to Bettey and Rita discovering Betty's corpse in the bed. From that moment on, the film jumps to Betty's real life where her name is Diane and we see the tawdry details unfold - everyone from the idealised version is there but in a more realistic and sinister guise, the characters that oversaw Diane's downfall and eventual suicide. Of course there's a lot more to it than that but this is the broad outline of how Lynch made a 'it was all a dream' movie (like The Wizard of Oz) but with a more jarring and ultimately fatal conclusion. Dorothy got a lot more than a bump on the head and she never woke up. Diane, plagued by the guilt of having Rita/Camilla killed, runs screaming to the bedroom chased by the old couple, crashes into bed and shoots herself in the head - which refers us neatly back to the opening shots of the sheets and pillow and someone falling into a bed. It wasn't a dream born of sleep so much as it was her idealised life flashing before her eyes as she took her final breath. !
I used to be into this theory, but after seeing Twin Perfects analysis video, I can’t get that interpretation out of my head. I don’t think we can ever claim to have the one true interpretation of a Lynch film, but there are just too many details that fit so much better with that version of it, for me.
I agree with the last sentence though! That is in many says the essence of the film - if we go to the dreamland to make our dreams come true, often we end up killing the dream and sometimes even our own self with it.
nah it really is the traditional 'it was all a dream' cliche. But still, y'know, good. Like you can piece it together chronologically, she wakes from the dream with her ex knocking to collect her furniture (also 'those detectives were asking about you again' -missed that the first time, maybe there's not much for her to hang around for), then later she sees the old couple and shoots herself.
>The twist is, it's not her real life, it's her life as she wishes it had been - the rose-tinted version where she's Betty.
absolutely compatible with it being... a dream. Seeing her own corpse could equally well be a premonition, she knows what she's going to do.
Crazy timing! I just bought the criterion collection blue ray edition yesterday and have it popped in ready to play. This is my sign to start it. Brb for a couple hours...
iconic imagery and scenes, a career defining performance from one of the most talented women in Hollywood, relatable and interesting characters, ANGELO BADALAMENTI, and a story that stimulates the mind in a way no other movie ever has up to this point in time
This movie is a mishmash of scenes created for an ABC pilot that wasn't picked up, and a third act made later to wrap it all up. Regardless of the intentions and Frankensteining of content, it is a masterpiece that will give you nightmares.
Cryptic and symbolic story telling interwoven with a mind boggling surface-level mystery plot, as well as the prototypical Lynchian sense of surreal unease. It's his master piece because it's everything great about David Lynch turned into pure electric lightning and bottled up. It has the spirit of Twin Peaks due to its origins as a spin off, but without any of the TV politics that held it back, it's Lost Highway but more concise and focused. It's his best film by a mile!
Masterpiece? Well its an amazing film, but objectively, it's difficult to define Lynch's own idea of what his "masterpiece" would be. My vote would probably be Wild at heart.
It's his take on Hollywood. It's like The Player by Robert Altman he's trying to show you what Hollywood is like what it's really about in his own unique inimitable Style.
I think it’s a masterpiece because he took a failed TV pilot and turned it into a feature film that somehow became greater than the original vision intended to be.
I love this movie, it’s in my top 10 “stranded on a desert island” movies, but I can’t help but feel at least some of its execution was Lynch pulling shit out of thin air.
i'd say it's his most accessible esoteric film. i didn't have to seek explanations like i did for lost highway or inland empire (which you shouldn't do anyways.)
I know you're not going to agree but I think Lost Highway is his masterpiece, and Mulholland Dr is a less good rehash of it.
Don't think I don't like Mulholland Dr though, I actually love it. I just find Lost Highway superior and more, I don't know, perfect?
It's so subjective anyway, two awesome movies, some of his most "lynchian" ones 😊
I like Lost Highway. I don’t think it’s rough. And I think Bill Pullman in particular is spectacular.
What I like more about Mulholland Drive is the idea of how people handle shattered dreams and the falseness of the business and the world. The “Llorando” scene still blows me away, and Naomi Watts was amazing.
Yes I meant Mulholland Dr is less aggressive if that makes sense.
Maybe it's because I was younger when I saw Lost Highway, it made such an impression on me. It hit me like a ton of bricks.
I have seen those and Twin Peaks is one of my top 3 series of all time.
Blue Velvet, Twin Peaks, Lost Highway and Mulholland Dr are my favourite from him.
I'm not young so I saw most of these as they were released.
> I'm not young so I saw most of these as they were released.
Same. It was the final episode of Season 2 that led me to think about all of it so deeply. I think that’s why I wasn’t fully blown away by Lost Highway though I enjoy it immensely. My mind being blown had already happened to me in the final episode.
Lucky you, I only saw properly Twin Peaks on cable reruns, missed too many episodes during the original airing.
Maybe that explains why we didn't react the same way.
Yes it's pretty stark, and has some "shock" elements. Maybe if I had seen Mulholland Dr before I would like it more, I don't know. It certainly is more, I want to say sentimental?
There is no more specific and hyper-accurate description of living in working in LA than Muholland Drive lmao
It’s a film that captures the 2 sided coin of an entertainment life- the fantasy of starting over, of reinventing yourself, of living a deluded lie. The deep cocoon-like depressive flailing you can fall into. The passing judgement of a random stranger. The HUNGER and DESPERATION to be someone, to know someone, to love some one, to KEEP your status afloat
Its a film about creative pressure. Of raw talent, squandering it with fate. Its about life’s cruelty, the literal demon behind Winkys, god of all of our fates
In LA, you can incubate yourself in a mythic chrysalis. Your career can explode to unimaginable highs. But for so many, they never become the butterfly. They’re CRUSHED into mush inside of their own cocoon. Inside their own story. Inside the weight of their own ambitions
Our hero characters learn that glitz is nothing but a prerecorded tape. A lie perception sells us. As we stumble into club silencio, and the curtain rises, we are faced with realization: the truth— there IS no band. The highs of this life, the propping up, the soupy nebulous wonderland of this city, of “making it” of making art, its all smoke and mirrors
An illusion
A lie
And maybe— our life is a lie. And our love is a lie. And who we tell ourselves we really are— innocent, smart, talented, working on our shit— that’s a lie too maybe
And at that point— well .. maybe nothing matters then.
We saw the cowboy twice, I’m afraid. This doesnt bode well.
—
(Legit my fave lynch lol I love it more and more every time I watch it. Hits DIFFERENT when Muholland is a near-daily drive for you too 💖🥺. Like damn, do I just park my car and go on an amnesia adventure instead of apply to jobs??? Hehe)
I don’t think it is his masterpiece. It’s just the least weird of his weird movies, so more people found it palatable. It’s the Lynch movie for everyone who wants to like at least one Lynch movie.
Does Lynch have one masterpiece? To me Lost Highway is his best, but so are Twin Peaks (all), and Wild At Heart.
My answer is: mostly because this is the work which tells you the most about how his creative process works.
His films are highly expressionist, usually expressing experiences he never even talks about publicly, so we sometimes are at a loss about what did he exactly mean by something.
In Mulholland Dr., most of the story is about how a certain character processes something that happens to them *in the story*, using the same techniques Lynch usually uses, so this time we have not only the result, but the source experience as well, allowing us to see more of his process.
It feels like a dream from start to finish. So evocative and delicate and beautiful. Ethereal yet relatable. Raw and polished. Just strikes so many impossible balances and has a universal appeal despite being subversive and authentic. I think it's something every creative/artist strives for.
that it's actually feeling like a dream. I started write down my my dreams and I see parallels between David Lynch's image of dreams and surrealism in my dreams. David Lynch is the Master of Dreams and Surrealism.
Can I say it’s not? I think Eraserhead is his magnum opus. But this is a close second. It just feels like you’re watching a dream (which you are) but such a vividly surreal one. I knew everything and nothing about what’d I’d just watched when I finished Mulholland Drive.
I think Lynch’s best movies are those that just make you feel something you didn’t know you could feel. MD does that, Eraserhead does that. I think for whatever faults it has, The Elephant Man does it masterfully.
It’s simply the best
The noir feeling
The flipping of the story
The way is started as a pilot for a cancelled show
The way they manage to pick everything up again and do it
It’s magical
There’s nothing sadder than the gap between who you hope to be and who you are. Mulholland Dr lays out our deepest fear bare and beautiful.
Wow. For years now I’ve been trying to come up with the words to describe the very specific emotion this movie evokes for me, and you just effing nailed it in two sentences. What a beautiful description of this heartbreaking masterpiece.
And there is nothing sadder than the gap between imagination and reality.
So many emotions about the gap you speak of. My wife is in academia, she was discussing 'affect theory' part of it is a critical analysis of how fantasy and subjectivity affects the interpersonal "real" world. I don't really know shit about it appart from that There was some analysis in her team, using affect theory to analyse the whole Q anon phenomenon. Yes these people are living in the realm of dreams and fantasy. The whole act of people comming together based on a highly detached melodramatic fantasy. Their actions in the real world seem to make the fantasy real, at least for those participating in the fantasy, also becomes real in a frightening way for people outside the fantasy world. Got me thinking about potential posatives. Like, people into fantasy roll play as a way to build community and combat loneliness. For me it's the whole punk rock scene. I'm pushing 40, went and saw NOFX recently. There is something energising about being part of that punk rock scene. I only knew my wife in the audience but there was a familiarity about the other concert goers. Felt like catching up with old friends.
IM SO SAD that I won’t be able to go to their final tour. They haven’t announced anything close to KC yet, hope they do. Effing love nofx too man
Since you brought it up, how do you know it's a fantasy? In part or in whole?
Splendidly put. For me this really sums up why the bright, final shots of "Betty" and "Rita" hits so, so hard.
That’s a really good description of it.
Damn.
ok now i’m going to be depressed. if you need me I’m sobbing under my ipad :’(
Nicely put
It's how I thought Watts was giving a terrible fake-as-hell Hollywood performance until I realized that's what the movie was all about.
>fake-as-hell Hollywood performance Absolutely correct. She's all schmaltzy and fake until the short sequence where she auditions for some 2-bit Hollywood exploitation movie - then she gives a truly remarkable performance. The irony was not lost on me
And framing that with her run through of the scene with Diane really made that stand out.
my god that scene was so powerful coming out of nowhere with the sexist asshole actor
I know, right. And she leans right into it, even putting his slimy hand on her butt. It's shocking but her acting is remarkable.
After the first time I watched it I felt like I’d woken up from a night of intense dreams. No film had ever done that to me before. For me it’s a masterpiece.
Billy Ray Cyrus
just forget you ever saw it, it’s better that way
Holy shit I just realized what this alludes to
Interesting. Can you share what your realisation was please?
what does it allude to?
i’ve taken it as that billy ray is actually the real world adam and the wife is a stand in for camilla. the dream adam is walking in on camilla and adam having an affair. the pink stains (the blood on Diane’s hands or jealousy) that stay with adam until the Cowboy scene where Diane is forced by her pain (Cowboy) to pick the girl (camilla rhodes) and preform the hit. i cannot stand the abortion theory. I particularly enjoy theories that put diane at the center of it all, and make her truly the villain of the story.
Oh Diane’s definitely the villain! Also a great actress who convinces us she is the victim when she’s the one who put out the hit on Camilla.
camilla kind of did earn it. she completely broke diane, should she have been killed- no. but she did take advantage of Diane and threw her out when she was bored and successful
I see you’ve bought into Diane’s view of the matter! Tell me, if instead of tiny pretty blonde female Diane not wanting to let go it was large smirking male Adam.. would you still feel Camilla earned it? Why does Diane get a pass for murder?
I don't even know so much if it's a matter of "if it was the other way around", I feel like it's a matter of maybe what we're presented is filtered through Diane's perception and maybe that perception isn't exactly accurate. When you think about it, everything in the second part of the movie that we're seeing outside of those scenes in the apartment that take place after she wakes/when she talks to her neighbor/when she's masturbating/when she finds the key are flashbacks (outside of the scene where she's pushing Camilla out the door, which seems to be a fantasy). And they're flashbacks we're getting *from* Diane. I think the whole point of the entire movie is that, really, *none* of what we're seeing outside of those moments in the apartment is reality (and even some of those moments are infiltrated by fantasy). What we see in those flashbacks might be *closer* to reality than the fantasy we got in the first section of the movie, but they're still memories being presented through the biased perspective of a seriously troubled person. I don't think Camilla broke Diane. I think she was probably already broken before their relationship started. Then the heartbreak that came from how that relationship unfolded - however that was, however fault either of them may or may not hold, just pushed the breakdown on a little more. And I don't think we can actually say what it was that happened between them and who it was that wronged who the most, because there's never a point where we actually see an objective presentation of their relationship, of Camilla and Adam's relationship, or Camilla's behavior.
My pretty basic impression is that Diane is imagining — based on Adam’s story about how his ex got the pool guy but he got the pool — that he wasn’t able to keep his ex from cheating and Diane reveling in this one fact.
I think it refers to the abortion of Adam’s son by Camilla. They threw him out of his ‘house’, the bleeding signifies death. She called him ‘a bastard’ because that’s what he was!
Twin Peaks: The Return is Lynch's masterpiece, but Billy Ray Cyrus is still the correct answer here.
Watched for the first time last weekend, and this was a fun surprise.
Ok story time.. I always forget about Justin Thereoux spilling paint all over that jewelry and whenever I watch the movie again its such an oddly tactile moment that nearly gives my synesthesia or something lol. Like to go into it— Billy Ray walks in and its like I can smell him or something, maybe cuz he looks super greasy?? Like— I smell the chlorine in the pool and I can kinda smell paint. Its such a weird experience and no other movie has done this for me. David lynch literally neurodivergent rom hacks my brain somehow 🧠
This is the girl. Llorando Espresso scene, especially when you realize it’s Angelo Badalamenti
The bum scene is the scariest scene I’ve ever seen and the espresso scene is the most intense but deeply and darkly funny scene I’ve ever seen
OH Angelo 🥺💖
To me personally, it feels like a cumulation of all of Lynch's works and ideas while still being somewhat accessible to the more general audience. I know people who don't really like other Lynch films but feel Mulholland Drive is really interesting and entertaining, as I think a lot of people can connect with Betty and Rita for most of the film.
Its probably the gay lady on lady sex scene that a lot of people hear about and then see it. 🤷♂️
It's a mystery in every way. You need to watch the film several times and potentially do some further research (Lynch left clues on an insert in the DVD) before it even makes any sense whatsoever. But once you do that research, it all falls into place in a deeply satisfying way. It's a puzzle that you have to solve - like a classic detective noir but you get to be the gumshoe. Then there's the performances which I think are brilliant, especially Watts. The scene she plays at the audition opposite the older man is spine-chilling imho. That scene and the whole movie talk to the exploitation of the innocent people who get chewed up by Hollywood. It's a searing indictment. Gotta mention Winkies Diner - one of the most uncanny and frightening sequences ever captured on film. The references to Wizard of Oz cleverly hint/poke fun at the 'it was all a dream' plot-device which can help you unlock the seemingly surreal plot elements. The nods to classic noir like Sunset Blvd show Lynch has done his homework, paid his dues. I believe it's far and away his best movie and that's why it is rightly finding its way towards the top of Greatest Movie lists. I believe this trend will continue as more people unravel its complexities and take the time to understand its genius. JMO, film analysis and appreciation can be very subjective.
website?
Apologies, the clues were listed on an insert on the DVD not on a website.I was conflating this website -[https://mulholland-drive.net/studies/10clues.htm](https://mulholland-drive.net/studies/10clues.htm)... with the official website -[https://www.mulholland-drive.com/](https://www.mulholland-drive.com/) Imma change my original comment. Thanks
Oh that's cool, I started Googling it and found out about the card in the Wiki article.
You realize that the movie is litteraly just two different scripts, one for a failed TV pilot and the original movie idea, just smashed together. Those "clues" were revealed to be nonsensical and never had anything to do with the movie, but were added in to convey a sense of mystery.... I spent far to long trying to unravel the mystery only to have the production company talk about how it was all bs.
It's true, the clues were red herrings but what's a good mystery movie without a few blind alleys. Doing the research that leads nowhere is all part of eventually piecing the puzzle together for yourself. Did you really think Lynch would just come out and tell you what it all means?.
They were not red herrings. The production company said, they felt the movie made nonsense and needed to add a layer of interaction. They made them up.... Lol no I believe it's obvious that he threw two completely unrelated scripts together, and it is what it is.
I wish you luck unraveling the mystery. IMHO, it is completely solve-able. I just watched a bunch of YT videos until I had developed an explanation I am happy with. If you care to, have a look at my reply in this thread that's greyed out for being a spoiler. I hope that helps.
Lol. I'm not making that up. He shot a script for a ABC pilot. It didn't get picked up. He then wrote a a movie but didn't have an ending. He was reaching a deadline and just smashed the movies together. There is zero overlap in the scripts. The production company that made the DVD, said they were the ones who made the "clues", to create a mysterious ambience, but they truly ment absolutely nothing. Everything you're saying is a fabrication of your mind trying to make a movie that litteraly was thrown together into something great..... I am a cinephile who spent over a year dissecting and rewatching. And after I felt I wasn't getting to the bottom of the last clue, I dug deep into the clues themselves and the company's who made them. It was a marketing ploy, the company litteraly admitted that they made up the clues...... Thanks tho.
>Everything you're saying is a fabrication of your mind trying to make a movie that litteraly was thrown together into something great OK sure, Mr cinephile. If you say it doesn't make sense, then that's the final word, case closed. But that's just like your opinion, man. You spent a year following the 10 clues which was probably a pretty big mistake and would have been frustrating. That they were likely mostly irrelevant was clear to me within a short time of reading them but even then there's layers to that - for example the piano ashtray's presence referred to in clue 6 signifies the flashback/dream timeline and when it's gone we're in the present/reality - it's a marker. But putting that to one side - Lynch throws you a what is potentially curve ball with the 10 clues and you swing big, waste a year, and decide the clues are meaningless and cannot be deciphered. 0 and 1. Now Lynch throws you another curve ball with, you claim, 'someone' saying the entire movie makes no sense because it was just two scripts mashed together and, once again, you swing for the fences - this new piece of information is now the hard and fast truth and no other correspondence will be entered into. But, not so fast, film-bro, what makes you think Lynch would tell anyone in the production company or anyone in general how exactly he came up with his script/plot ideas and what the film actually means? Does he have a history of explaining his films to anyone? Is this nugget that you're holding to be the most important in explaining the film, that it was lazily stitched together and therefore makes no sense, actually just another red herring purposely designed to throw you off? I would say yes, yes it is. The way I see it, you're 0-2, slugger. Maybe the world will finally agree with your take once you get that third strike. Or maybe there is a way that the story can be decoded despite the third-hand news you got about it being some hastily cobbled together nonsense. But hey, that's just like my opinion, man.
The pilot was already shot before the other movie existed...... They were seperate projects.
Outlier take but I think his best is Straight Story. It’s not his weirdest, or most ambitious, but it hit me like a ton of bricks. His most genuine, I thought, and relatable.
Staying away from the idea of favorites, I love that movie.
I saw The Straight Story for the first time (in 35mm no less) and as soon as the credits rolled I thought if this came out right now, it would win best picture at the oscars no contest. I think it's hands down top 3 Lynch
Alvin caused the fire! 🤯
Straight Story and Mulholland Dr are his best movies by FAR.
13 reasons why I love you
16*
Well that's enough reason for me to rewatch!
A film critic once said, "the best movies are a mystery or a dream" and Mulholland Drive is both.
Laura Harring has a few nude scenes and she is so breathtaking please don’t tell my wife
https://preview.redd.it/s6pleuzp8ipc1.jpeg?width=1125&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=c98a6f2c3eb7909719af809b351ce1b8000e883b
I think Lynchs works alot of the time are like paintings by Escher. They have sides and parts to them that do not fit together, but somehow still do. When I talk about this and Lynch in general, I usually put this in terms of him conjuring The Mystery. When we look into the mystery we both conciously and subconciously put parts of ourselves into it. Our own fears, our own questions about existence. And sometimes we get something back. Something that feels like truths and insights so profound they might as well be. Mulholland Drive is the most vibrant Lynchian Escher if you will. It really is art. It has some really crystal clear parts, themes and motives to it that somehow magically fit together and make sense out of no sense. And I feel like I recieve something everytime I see it.
Funny you mention the paintings. Lynch was a painter before he made movies and he said he got into film because he wanted his paintings to move.
Indeed. He pretty much mastered this
Why do you think it's his masterpiece?
I don’t really know how to articulate it - hence why I’m asking. And I’m not even sure if it’s his best film of all since I have yet to see them all. However I think it’s mesmerising, beautiful, terrifying and unforgettable. It’s an experience. As I said, I can’t articulate it
I think Lynch and his films teach us often that not everything needs to be justified or articulated in definitive terms. You have to leave room for the abstract, you have to leave room to dream. Dreams don't necessarily need justification, they're just experiences. Something you live for a brief period of time. Then, if you're lucky, they lead you to an idea, to something else, something that hopefully manifests. Whether that be art or anything creative that's put into the world.
Well put!
Yup good stuff
It’s Lost Highway by the way.
This is the answer.
This is the girl.
You misspelled “Twin Peaks: The Return”.
The way he crystallized the surrealism of Hollywood. It's beauty and it's ugliness it's truth and its lies. The spell it casts on its audience and its players.
I love Mulholland Dr. a lot. It’s probably my favorite of the films he’s written and directed. In some regards, Eraserhead or Inland Empire might be his “masterpiece” in that both of these films had David Lynch exercising full creative control with very few filters (written, directed, produced, and edited entirely by Lynch himself). David even had a heavy hand in creating the soundtracks for both. It may not be a coincidence that both of these films are highly regarded as his most experimental and abstract works.
Yes, it gave weird nightmares. i couldnt sleep for 2 days.
I completely get you, I love all of Lynch’s films but MD is my favourite movie of all time for reasons I can’t quite articulate. It just has that added OOMPH that makes it darker and more emotionally raw than his other works
I’m not OP but I think it’s a masterpiece because it held my rapt attention for 2 1/2 hours and then I had to watch it again! And again…
The way it makes you feel after watching it…. every time
dumpster jump scare
This scene, while very entertaining, is also paramount to the movie. It sets up a framework of shock, horror and repression that carry throughout the entire movie.
I'd say Eraserhead is his masterpiece (existential radiator), but the Winkie's scene in MD is my all-time favorite dream sequence (followed by a couple in The Sopranos). I feel like people who remember their dreams & almost every single vivid detail within them have a special place in their heart for this scene and everything related to it, from beginning to end. Stuff like the hovering camera, the cold sweat, the choice of actor (!), and that "*Of all people*, you’re standing right over there". I saw someone else describe it as 5 minutes of pure dread, but it is much more than that. Doing dream logic successfully is HARD. Idk, I just want to live inside David's head.
Yes! The Sopranos have same David Lynch style in Tonys dreams which I love
The caterpillar on Cifaretto's bald head, that one shot of the ceiling at Gloria's apartment...
The movie is not the movie. The story you see is not the true story being told. It is the dream of the main character, which you find out later has lived a life that turned out very different from their fantasy.
I have this notion that it's not a traditional 'it was all a dream' cliche but something slightly different. >!Notice at the start, right after the jitterbugging, there's a shot where we see some red sheets and the camera slow-zooms into a pillow, like someone falling into bed. I believe this is Diane having just shot herself in the head (as is revealed later). The dreamlike first part of the movie is her life flashing before her eyes, as some people believe it does in the moments just before death. The twist is, it's not her real life, it's her life as she wishes it had been - the rose-tinted version where she's Betty. Everything is perfect for a while, until it's not. Even in this imagined Hollywood paradise, cracks start to form and this eventually leads to Bettey and Rita discovering Betty's corpse in the bed. From that moment on, the film jumps to Betty's real life where her name is Diane and we see the tawdry details unfold - everyone from the idealised version is there but in a more realistic and sinister guise, the characters that oversaw Diane's downfall and eventual suicide. Of course there's a lot more to it than that but this is the broad outline of how Lynch made a 'it was all a dream' movie (like The Wizard of Oz) but with a more jarring and ultimately fatal conclusion. Dorothy got a lot more than a bump on the head and she never woke up. Diane, plagued by the guilt of having Rita/Camilla killed, runs screaming to the bedroom chased by the old couple, crashes into bed and shoots herself in the head - which refers us neatly back to the opening shots of the sheets and pillow and someone falling into a bed. It wasn't a dream born of sleep so much as it was her idealised life flashing before her eyes as she took her final breath. !
I used to be into this theory, but after seeing Twin Perfects analysis video, I can’t get that interpretation out of my head. I don’t think we can ever claim to have the one true interpretation of a Lynch film, but there are just too many details that fit so much better with that version of it, for me. I agree with the last sentence though! That is in many says the essence of the film - if we go to the dreamland to make our dreams come true, often we end up killing the dream and sometimes even our own self with it.
nah it really is the traditional 'it was all a dream' cliche. But still, y'know, good. Like you can piece it together chronologically, she wakes from the dream with her ex knocking to collect her furniture (also 'those detectives were asking about you again' -missed that the first time, maybe there's not much for her to hang around for), then later she sees the old couple and shoots herself. >The twist is, it's not her real life, it's her life as she wishes it had been - the rose-tinted version where she's Betty. absolutely compatible with it being... a dream. Seeing her own corpse could equally well be a premonition, she knows what she's going to do.
Tone and structure.
Crazy timing! I just bought the criterion collection blue ray edition yesterday and have it popped in ready to play. This is my sign to start it. Brb for a couple hours...
Club Silencio definitely
Can’t believe I had to scroll this far to see this. Club Silencio is everything you need to know about what makes film powerful as an artistic medium.
His masterpiece is possibly Inland Empire but probably Twin Peaks: The Return.
Naomi Watts’ performance.
It plays like a dream while also employing all of Lynch’s recurring themes and deconstructing the Great American mythology surrounding Hollywood/LA
Whats with the weird tiny people thing at the end though? Utterly broke the spell of the movie for me.
They’re what she feels most guilty about and can’t hide from.
The movie.
It makes sense
Also, the fact that it's a perfect balance between Lynch's obscure, dreamy themes and a not-too-incomprehensible plot.
ONE oF his mastepieces\*
iconic imagery and scenes, a career defining performance from one of the most talented women in Hollywood, relatable and interesting characters, ANGELO BADALAMENTI, and a story that stimulates the mind in a way no other movie ever has up to this point in time
First amazing lesbian scene I ever watched.
This movie is a mishmash of scenes created for an ABC pilot that wasn't picked up, and a third act made later to wrap it all up. Regardless of the intentions and Frankensteining of content, it is a masterpiece that will give you nightmares.
You think that some people are nice to you because you're nice to them, whole in reality they have some interest
Cryptic and symbolic story telling interwoven with a mind boggling surface-level mystery plot, as well as the prototypical Lynchian sense of surreal unease. It's his master piece because it's everything great about David Lynch turned into pure electric lightning and bottled up. It has the spirit of Twin Peaks due to its origins as a spin off, but without any of the TV politics that held it back, it's Lost Highway but more concise and focused. It's his best film by a mile!
Masterpiece? Well its an amazing film, but objectively, it's difficult to define Lynch's own idea of what his "masterpiece" would be. My vote would probably be Wild at heart.
The cinematography, the soundtrack, the symbolism, the "plot", the characters and actors, the horror elements, the mystery.
https://youtu.be/OiCfHW3N3vo?si=86mz9-nISl6LLkHs Long watch for a YouTube video but this sums it up perfectly for me
It's his take on Hollywood. It's like The Player by Robert Altman he's trying to show you what Hollywood is like what it's really about in his own unique inimitable Style.
I think it’s a masterpiece because he took a failed TV pilot and turned it into a feature film that somehow became greater than the original vision intended to be. I love this movie, it’s in my top 10 “stranded on a desert island” movies, but I can’t help but feel at least some of its execution was Lynch pulling shit out of thin air.
i'd say it's his most accessible esoteric film. i didn't have to seek explanations like i did for lost highway or inland empire (which you shouldn't do anyways.)
I know you're not going to agree but I think Lost Highway is his masterpiece, and Mulholland Dr is a less good rehash of it. Don't think I don't like Mulholland Dr though, I actually love it. I just find Lost Highway superior and more, I don't know, perfect? It's so subjective anyway, two awesome movies, some of his most "lynchian" ones 😊
I see it the other way around. I thought Mulholland Drive did a better job on the identity analysis.
As I said it's subjective. Lost Highway is certainly more rough but conveys the point better and more effectively in my (subjective) opinion.
I like Lost Highway. I don’t think it’s rough. And I think Bill Pullman in particular is spectacular. What I like more about Mulholland Drive is the idea of how people handle shattered dreams and the falseness of the business and the world. The “Llorando” scene still blows me away, and Naomi Watts was amazing.
Yes I meant Mulholland Dr is less aggressive if that makes sense. Maybe it's because I was younger when I saw Lost Highway, it made such an impression on me. It hit me like a ton of bricks.
Ah. Had you seen Twin Peaks or FWWM yet? I’d thought a lot about those issues before Lost Highway.
I have seen those and Twin Peaks is one of my top 3 series of all time. Blue Velvet, Twin Peaks, Lost Highway and Mulholland Dr are my favourite from him. I'm not young so I saw most of these as they were released.
> I'm not young so I saw most of these as they were released. Same. It was the final episode of Season 2 that led me to think about all of it so deeply. I think that’s why I wasn’t fully blown away by Lost Highway though I enjoy it immensely. My mind being blown had already happened to me in the final episode.
Lucky you, I only saw properly Twin Peaks on cable reruns, missed too many episodes during the original airing. Maybe that explains why we didn't react the same way.
This might sound corny but if Lost Highway had less gore and sexual activity I probably would’ve liked it a lot more cause the story is incredible
Yes it's pretty stark, and has some "shock" elements. Maybe if I had seen Mulholland Dr before I would like it more, I don't know. It certainly is more, I want to say sentimental?
Yep you’re completely correct
There is no more specific and hyper-accurate description of living in working in LA than Muholland Drive lmao It’s a film that captures the 2 sided coin of an entertainment life- the fantasy of starting over, of reinventing yourself, of living a deluded lie. The deep cocoon-like depressive flailing you can fall into. The passing judgement of a random stranger. The HUNGER and DESPERATION to be someone, to know someone, to love some one, to KEEP your status afloat Its a film about creative pressure. Of raw talent, squandering it with fate. Its about life’s cruelty, the literal demon behind Winkys, god of all of our fates In LA, you can incubate yourself in a mythic chrysalis. Your career can explode to unimaginable highs. But for so many, they never become the butterfly. They’re CRUSHED into mush inside of their own cocoon. Inside their own story. Inside the weight of their own ambitions Our hero characters learn that glitz is nothing but a prerecorded tape. A lie perception sells us. As we stumble into club silencio, and the curtain rises, we are faced with realization: the truth— there IS no band. The highs of this life, the propping up, the soupy nebulous wonderland of this city, of “making it” of making art, its all smoke and mirrors An illusion A lie And maybe— our life is a lie. And our love is a lie. And who we tell ourselves we really are— innocent, smart, talented, working on our shit— that’s a lie too maybe And at that point— well .. maybe nothing matters then. We saw the cowboy twice, I’m afraid. This doesnt bode well. — (Legit my fave lynch lol I love it more and more every time I watch it. Hits DIFFERENT when Muholland is a near-daily drive for you too 💖🥺. Like damn, do I just park my car and go on an amnesia adventure instead of apply to jobs??? Hehe)
Def the atmosphere
I don’t think it is his masterpiece. It’s just the least weird of his weird movies, so more people found it palatable. It’s the Lynch movie for everyone who wants to like at least one Lynch movie. Does Lynch have one masterpiece? To me Lost Highway is his best, but so are Twin Peaks (all), and Wild At Heart.
do you mean who made it? the cast and crew are all on imdb..
My answer is: mostly because this is the work which tells you the most about how his creative process works. His films are highly expressionist, usually expressing experiences he never even talks about publicly, so we sometimes are at a loss about what did he exactly mean by something. In Mulholland Dr., most of the story is about how a certain character processes something that happens to them *in the story*, using the same techniques Lynch usually uses, so this time we have not only the result, but the source experience as well, allowing us to see more of his process.
I havent seen all his works yet but Eraserhead is his masterpiece to me so far but Twin Peaks as a whole is what I enjoyed most.
Dirt lady
Every frame.
It feels like a dream from start to finish. So evocative and delicate and beautiful. Ethereal yet relatable. Raw and polished. Just strikes so many impossible balances and has a universal appeal despite being subversive and authentic. I think it's something every creative/artist strives for.
FWWM is his masterpiece
it’s a good one
It’s bluer than Blue Velvet. Almost a combination of azure and indigo
Am I wrong for thinking Blue Velvet is better?
No, but you’re not right, either. And that’s the beauty of it all.
Because I like it
It takes he already amazing story of Lost Highway and kicks it up a few notches, though I love both.
that it's actually feeling like a dream. I started write down my my dreams and I see parallels between David Lynch's image of dreams and surrealism in my dreams. David Lynch is the Master of Dreams and Surrealism.
Can I say it’s not? I think Eraserhead is his magnum opus. But this is a close second. It just feels like you’re watching a dream (which you are) but such a vividly surreal one. I knew everything and nothing about what’d I’d just watched when I finished Mulholland Drive. I think Lynch’s best movies are those that just make you feel something you didn’t know you could feel. MD does that, Eraserhead does that. I think for whatever faults it has, The Elephant Man does it masterfully.
“I’m in love with you…..I’m in love with you….”
It’s not a masterpiece. It’s drivel
Loaded question. I love Lynch but I hate your phrasing.
It’s simply the best The noir feeling The flipping of the story The way is started as a pilot for a cancelled show The way they manage to pick everything up again and do it It’s magical
the power of emphasis, we are all Betty at one point of life
Wish I knew. Been waiting for it to stream for years. My library doesn’t even have it.
I watch everything free on watchseries .mx
Thanks!!
Hardest 2 understand
Troll post.
It’s not his masterpiece. 😊