Mulholland Drive (Studio Canal)

Starring: Naomi Watts, Laura Harring, Justin Theroux

Synopsis:

After a car-crash on Mulholland Drive, a young amnesiac called Rita stumbles away, eventually meeting Betty, a young Hollywood Hopeful, and together they try to piece together the mystery of Rita’s past…

Review:

Going back over what has been said and written about David Lynch's Mulholland Drive, you’d be forgiven for thinking that it would only appeal to film scholars, poets and philosophers, and full time dreamers. Whilst it might not appeal to your average Blockbusters visitor, it has much to offer a viewer without any misconceptions. It is a dream like journey that requires the audience to allow the movie to seep into their consciousness, whilst following the seemingly scant narrative.

The road that lends itself to the title - “Mulholland Drive” - overlooks LA and in turn, Hollywood. It shows us a great overview of the place. So, it’s no accident that Lynch focuses on this as a totem aspect of the plot. The movie internally views Hollywood and gives us glimpses of the good and the bad, the joy and the despair, and mixing dream with reality. The latter is of most importance.

There have been many interpretations of the movie but I believe that the most important one is the one that the individual viewer comes up with. I have come up with my own, after being given a little help and will explain that later in this article. Lynch asks the viewer to interpret his work. This is very rare in Hollywood and will, of course, put a casual viewer off, but if the idea of a movie straying from the norm appeals to you then embrace its rarity. If it doesn’t, then I submit this; The movie is a guilt trip. The reality is that Diane (played by Naomi Watts) has killed her ex-lover, Camilla (played by Laura Harring) in a jealous despair. She cannot cope with the events that she has put in motion and retreats into a dream world where she reinvents her story. In this dream, Diane is called Betty and Camilla is an amnesiac called Rita. Diane fantasises that she was an up and coming actress who befriends the vulnerable Camilla. In turn the pair fall in love. When the pair venture to Silencio and the blue box is opened the dream ends. The Blue box signifies a return to the brutal reality that Diane has managed to escape from. After the dream is abruptly ended, Diane kills herself.

This is a simple narrative that is hard to glean from an initial viewing. The experience watching the movie should be the way in which it makes the viewer feel. Lynch employs a number of techniques to run the audience through a range of emotions; from fear, to desire, to despair and humour, to ultimately a bitter-sweet ending. The Morricone-esque main theme from Angelo Badalamenti acts as the voice of Diane; not so much of a cry for help as a dirge signifying a dying woman. The movie ends with the broken destinies of the two women.

(Incidentally, I liked one person’s analysis of the movie that stated that the whole film was Diane’s final seconds; her confused life flashing before her eyes; a jumble of dream and reality.)

Within the dream is a twisted view of Hollywood, from an initial joy at arriving in a city full of energy and light to the bitter disappointments that plague the place; just ask Joss Whedon about Firefly. The dream shows us the horror of anxiety in an almost crude way; the scene at the diner being an overt way of illustrating it.

Blu-Ray verdict:

Why buy the Blu-Ray release? I have to say that the picture quality does not appear much better than an upscaled DVD of the release but is a great transfer overall. The DTS HD sound is also good but can be a bit overwhelming at times. The collection of features is exhaustive with a number of new additions. The features are interesting and help the viewer come to an understanding of the movie, some of which is replicated in my article (see below). Overall, I believe that it’s worth replacing your DVD if you’re a fan of the film.

The Ten Clues

1) Pay particular attention to the beginning of the film: At least two clues are revealed before the credits.

Diane wins a dance competition, the glory of which is shared with her family. The shape breathing under the red sheet is Diane reinventing her journey to Hollywood, through a drug fuelled, dreamy sleep. Just before, the camera appears to focus at the exact point that the box will appear later in the movie, indicating that the movie picks up again, in reality after Silencio: More evidence backs this up later.

2) Notice appearances of the Red Lampshade.

Both appearances are linked to the phone ringing. In the dream it is the Mafia ringing to announce the failed murder of Camilla on Mulholland Drive. In reality the phone call proves that Diane commissioned the murder. The dream skews reality. In reality Diane doesn’t know when Camilla is killed. In the dream she imagines it was on Mulholland Drive, where her friend met her by surprise and proceeded to unravel her world. The red lampshade marks the first interference, by reality, in Diane’s dream. She may think of herself as Betty but on the phone a killer is talking about Camilla’s murder.

3) Can you hear the title of the film that Adam Kesher is auditioning actresses for? Is it mentioned again?

In the dream, Adam is auditioning actresses for The Sylvia North Story. The Mafia forces him to hire Camilla for the lead role. In reality the movie made Camilla a huge star. The Sylvia North Story plays an important part in reality, for Diane, as it launched Camilla’s career, and in turn, got her together with Adam, ending the relationship that she had with Diane. Had the Director been able to, and wanted to, choose Diane, the outcome would have/could have been different.

4) An accident is a terrible event … Notice the location of the accident.

The accident occurs at the exact place, in the dream, that Camilla leads Diane through a shortcut to 6980 Mulholland Drive. Diane must think that Camilla is attempting reconciliation but what does happen is further humiliation by Camilla with an announcement that ends any chance of a reconciliation. The following rage and jealousy leads to Diane instigating the hit on Camilla. In the dream, the accident foils an attempted hit on Camilla, presumably by the Mafia.

5) Who gives a key, and why?

The only key given to Diane is the key from Coco, the key to Aunt Ruth’s apartment. This appears to symbolize the entry into the dream world. The subsequent Blue Key wasn’t given to Diane, it was left.

6) Notice the robe, the ashtray, the coffee cup.

These are important as they serve as chronological references in the real world. When the movie returns to Diane’s reality, there is a flashback. This slightly complicates the viewing but the above clue helps to explain that it is a flashback in the first place. Just in case the viewer had missed the obvious. The neighbour comes for her ashtray, and the key is on the table.. Diane makes coffee before returning to the coffee table in her robe. We’re then in the flashback because Camilla is lying on the sofa and Diane is now wearing shorts. The key is not on the table so we know that Camilla is alive at this stage.

7) What is felt, realised and gathered at the club Silencio?

A number of things are felt including unrequited love, pain, loss, compassion and fear. These are evident on both women’s faces as what is realized comes to the fore which is that the whole thing is an illusion. It’s the beginning part of the transition back to the pain, desperation, guilt and fear of reality. What’s gathered is the blue box which acts as the conduit into reality.

8) Did talent alone help Camilla?

In the dream, Camilla is forced into the film by the Mafia. In the reality we assume the same as the Mafia are celebrating Camilla’s success. Also there is the implication that Camilla used her allure to win herself the part by seducing Adam. The dinner scene shows this. Only Diane shows off her acting skills within the movie.

9) Note the occurrences surrounding the man behind Winkies.

The man behind Winkies handles the Blue Cube which sets off hallucinations which ultimately are associated with Diane’s guilt leading to her suicide. However, the clue refers to a number of events. First off, in the dream, Dan meets the face of his fears behind the establishment. This causes his death. This parallels with the man’s appearance before Diane’s suicide. Towards the end of the movie, the man is just a vagrant, with no outward malice. He happens to be behind Winkies after the hit on Camilla. The next time we see him, he’s unleashing the old couple from the box that drives Diane to suicide. This could symbolize the guilt that Diane feels, that she has done something awful that her parents would be horrified to learn of had they been alive. Finally, the man’s face appears in the smoke that transforms into Diane’s face after she has died. It implies that he was in fact a facet of Betty/Diane’s character, so is not a “he” at all.

10) Where is Aunt Ruth?

In the dream Aunt Ruth went to Canada on a film shoot allowing Betty to stay at her apartment. In reality, she had died and left an inheritance to Diane that allowed her to fulfill her dream of going to Hollywood to pursue a career.As Lynch had provided this clue lastly, it’s open to many interpretations such as Betty/Diane was a young Ruth and that Mulholland Drive is her story. It’s plausible as we see a possible version of Aunt Ruth at the very end of the movie; a blue haired woman.

Mulholland Drive: The Plot

So, lastly in this feature, I will summarize what I think the movie is. Again, it’s up to you how you view the theories (of which there are many if you look online);

Most of the film is a dream. Reality occurs within the last thirty minutes, punctuated by dream-like moments and flashbacks. Originally, Mulholland Drive was to be a TV series and the majority of a pilot was made. This forms the main part of the movie. The last thirty minutes form the final episode condensed into that half an hour. So the story is that Diane Selwyn comes from Deep River, Ontario. She won a dance competition and everyone around said that she would be destined for a great future in entertainment. Her dream of becoming an actress formed at this point. Money inherited from her Aunt Ruth allows her to pursue this and she moved to Hollywood. She met Camilla on the set of The Sylvia North Story during casting sessions. Camilla lands the role that made her a star. Camilla and Diane become lovers. Camilla uses her influence to get Diane minor roles in the productions she’s in. This appears to go along quite smoothly until Camilla falls for Adam, a young promising Director. However, Diane’s envy of Camilla has already been gestating, feeling that Camilla had already taken away her dream role; a role that could have made Diane a star. After Diane is humiliated and learns of Camilla’s impending marriage, she spirals into despair, and drugs. She uses the last of her inheritance to hire a hit man to kill Camilla, thinking that this will make her feel better. Instead is makes her feel much worse. In a drug fuelled depression, she falls asleep and reinvents her history in a dream world.

In this dreamworld, Diane is Betty; a wide-eyed young actress full of hope and wonder. She stays in her Aunt Ruth’s apartment whilst she is away. By chance, she meets a young amnesiac who uses the name “Rita”. Rita has survived a botched Mafia hit. Betty looks after her and helps her to regain her memory. While landing a film role, the pair become lovers but the name Diane Selwyn interrupts the dream. The pair investigate and find Diane Selwyn’s bungalow. Here, they find a decomposing corpse, which was Diane. Rita dyes her hair to escape the Mafia, wakes during the night and takes Betty to The Silencio where everything is an illusion. Betty finds the blue box and takes it back to her place to open with the blue key; a key that Rita has had since the accident on Mulholland Drive. The dream ends and Diane can’t overcome her grief and guilt, symbolized by the figures from her past. Diane kills herself. The two women, Camilla and Diane haunt Mulholland Drive as two destinies broken by silence.

Final Verdict:

Movie: 8/10

Blu-Ray:

Picture – 6/10

Sound – 7/10

Features – 8/10 (for a David Lynch movie. His input is notoriously sparse on any release)

(Wayfarer)

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