Mulholland Drive -- Discuss. (*SPOILERS*)

Cafe Society
#1

Just saw the movie last night, and thought I’d ask those of you who’ve seen it what you thought about it. My favorite character was the Cowboy; I was disappointed that he didn’t reappear (other than in the background) after his first scene.

Presumably, Diane/Betty and Camilla/Rita were the same characters. Towards the end, when Diane seemed to be calling out a hit on Camilla, this seemed to be what the first scene was referring to. Perhaps the Castigliane brothers insisted upon using Camilla in the movie to, in some way, save her life later in the movie (or perhaps it was earlier…the time seemed to loop).

I know, I know, no point in looking for rationality in a David Lynch movie, but we can try, no?

According to what I’ve read, Lynch originally developed this as a movie pilot, and as some have said, you can tell what parts of the movie were from the pilot, and what were added to make it a complete, single entity. Presumably the series would have revolved around (a) uncovering the identity of Rita, and (b) discovering what the shadowy organization (Castigliane brothers, the guy in the green room, etc.) were up to. Woulda been interesting to find out more about that.

So, anyone else care to weigh-in?

#2

Wow, all day and only 7 views…what a pathetic thread!

I’ll just post this to make it look like people are interested. Heh.

#3

I thought this movie was utterly engrossing. I really liked it, although it certainly was a bizarre one, even for David Lynch.

It’s confusing because we don’t know who is who. I thought Betty / Dianne are the same character, but my wife disagreed. Also, Dianne looks very similar to the first Camilla, and also to the prostitute shown briefly. Which of these are the same person?

Perhaps even Rita and Betty are the same person - witness Betty’s strange disappearance when the blue box is about to be opened. Almost like she was never there in the first place.

“Silencio” is certainly significant. There is no band, therefore, anyone can lip-synch and therefore play any role. We see a Betty look-alike playing Camilla, and later we see Rita playing Camilla.

I initially thought the first part was simply Betty’s fantasy. In the end, the old couple, representing the foolish hopes she had in coming to LA, drive her to kill herself. This may be, but it doesn’t explain the box, the burnt homeless man, Silencio, or the Cowboy.

This requires more thought.

#4

Uhh, I of course meant “Lynch originally developed this as a television pilot”. Yeah.

#5

Lynch introduces us to too many characters and then raises our expectations for nothing, since he just drops the characters and moves on with his story. The movie is fascinating though, as are most David Lynch works, if you can just sort of suspend any expectations, in the way that one is often required to suspend disbelief.
<Wondering whether seeing this movie in an “altered state” would be like>

#6

Seriously, what the hell? I know David Lynch has this whole weird movie thing, but come on. The first two-thirds of the movie seemed almost as though it was going to wrap up and be a normal, sensible and understandable plot…then <poof> wtf? wtf? wtf?

Can someone help me out?

I’ll give it two thumbs up for the girl-on-girl action alone, but I was really hoping for some closure.

#7

Ya know, think, I was actually going to start a thread about this movie called “Superdude and thinksnow at the movies.” I know you were “wtf?”-ing afterwards last night, but my initial thought was that you couldn’t follow it without the running commentary from the old people behind us.

Like most Lynch movies, it makes some semblance of sense. But not totally. I think one of the points he makes in this movie is that life doesn’t always make sense. And he captures that in this. All in all, though, I really liked it.

#8

OK!! Definitely worth checking out!!! Was there a plot to this? Never mind… :smiley:

Bluepony,

Adrift In The Moral Wasteland, Once Again…

#9

Whuh?
Just saw it, and I feel stupid somehow. Ok-- my reading of it: I get the sense that the entire first 3/4–up until the break with the blue box-- was Diane’s psychotic imagination rationalising events by cooking up a story for herself and then she falls apart and can’t hold her fantasy together. Sort of like the first time I saw Naked Lunch (hadn’t read it yet) and I spent the first half thinking it was an odd sci-fi movie. But then finally, “Oh, he’s HALLUCINATING! Mugwumps don’t really exist in the world. Ahhhh!” In this case like the Usual Suspects if Spacey’s character had psychotically believed/experienced his own fabrication.
Very pretty, but the moment where the narration turns sort of leaves you confused for a while. There’s no preparation for it in the narrative style. Beautiful movie and great Lynch but I feel sort of. . . betrayed? By the plot and time invested in following it, I mean.

#10

Trying to figure this movie out is driving me CRAZY!!! Does no one have an explanation? Is there one?!?! No one on the Internet has even the slightest idea what it all means! How can I lead a productive life with this movie boggling my mind!?!

#11

This might help as a starter, although I can’t agree with it all and it also skirts around some other questions.

However, speaking as someone who’s seen the movie multiple times and has loved it from the first, I think capybara is pretty much on the mark in his explanation (though I feel completely opposite in his/her reaction). Whether it’s a psychotic re-imagining, a dream, or an Ambrose Bierce-like pre-death hallucination, I think the movie up to the Into-the-Blue-Box moment is a projection of what Diane feels her life could’ve/should’ve been like, as the intrepid, talented Betty who gets screwed out of a job because of a mysterious conspiracy and who is the lover/protector of the helpless Rita. The last part of the movie shows that Diane’s dreams of love and success in Hollywood have gone largely unrealized, and her only recourse left is one of death–both for herself and the lover that jilted her.

Naturally, there’s a whole lot more going on (much of it with, I think, some kind of explanation that makes sense), but I’ll let it stop there for now. If anyone has any specific questions, I’d be more than happy to contribute my (one of many, no doubt) interpretation.

#12

Try here.

#13

i won’t even watch anything david lynch has to do with anymore. if i want frustration and confusion, i can get it cheaper at home!

What kind of two-bit operation are you running out of this tree-fort?

#14

Well if Roger Ebert and a whole audience of film buffs can’t make head nor tails of it, what hope do us mortals have?

#15

My question: Why is it so important to you that there be a rational explanation?

#16

Because if I want to be bewildered, confused, and frightened, I can stick my nose back into the federal tax code, and I don’t have to pay David Lynch to do that.

#17

Mr. Rilch just showed it to me on DVD.

I like it! I can’t say exactly why, certainly not because of the girl-girl action (I couldn’t look), but I thought it was paced and plotted just well enough to be intriguing, rather than frustrating. (I would say surreal, but that term was debated and IMO left unsettled in my thread about “Head”.)

I am slightly embarrassed that I sat through the entire movie thinking that Betty/Diane was Cameron Diaz! I also thought the director was Tom Everett Scott. He was growlsome, at any rate!

My interpretation: I’m regarding everything after Rita opens the box as a flashback. We see, from Betty’s point of view, her jealousy and frustration. She calls the hit on Camilla, as she’s then known, then was driven mad and shot herself. She was reincarnated or something as Betty, and set up to be able to meet Camilla when she woke up not knowing who she was at all. Diane got a second chance, as Betty, to be caring and gentle instead of needy, and get Camilla, as Rita, to love her.

Betty/Diane’s disappearance must, as Avumede suggested, have had to do with the blue box. When Rita/Camilla opened it, she was drawn into it, as Betty/Diane may or may not have been, and added to the collection of the Rasta-looking guy, who does indeed control it all.

The weak point in that is the old people: why did they torture Diane before she shot herself, and why were they so maliciously gleeful after they saw “Betty” off at the airport? Dunno. But I like my explanation.