Mulholland drive

I just finished watching one of the best films of the year, "Mulholland Drive." If you haven't seen it yet, go and rent it. If you have seen it, I'm curious to know what you think of it. I'm usually pretty good at deciphering Lynch's works but this one has me pretty stumped. Some things are obvious though...

Start Spoilers!

Obviously the first 3/4 of the film is a dream but its the parts of the dream that have me stumped. Such as the "Cowboy" What is the meaing for his being there...is he perhaps the Grim Reaper? (See me once - Good. See me twice - Bad) Secondly, the old couple has me perplexed. Are they the "happy face" of Hollywood? What about the "monster" beind the Winkies? Is he the "underbelly" of Los Angelos? Also is it just me, or was this film loaded with numbers? 16, 17, 12...I wonder if there was a meaning to them. Lastly, what does "Tout Paris" mean in english? Betty (Diane) takes a pair of scissors from Rita (Camilla) while shes trying to cut her hair and places it on this book called "Tout Paris." Lynch made a point of panning the camera over and showing us the book, so it obviuosly has a meaning. Any ideas?

End Spoilers

I love Lynch's works...so original and unique. I wish I hadn't seen the movie alone. Part of the fun of his films is discussing them afterwards.
 
"Twin Peaks: Fire Walk With Me" freaked me out enough. I don't know if I could handle more of his work. I had nightmares about it for a short time after.
 
I saw Mullholland Drive 2 days ago at the cinema (we always get films later in France
wink.gif
).

I discussed with friends about the film and here's what we found out : the first part of the film is Diane's fantasm. She wishes very hard Camilla lost her memory, so she would only have her left. The film realisator has many many problems in the fantasm part and even falls in love with Camilla, and she's about to become a great actress. All the opposite of the hard reality. The reality is the Blue Box. When Camilla/Rita opens it, Betty disappears and... back to reality with Diane.

Now I may have a good answer at 2 of your questions :

- "Tout Paris" means "All of Paris", it must be a book for tourists visiting Paris. Why is it here ? I suppose there's no answer at all.

- I'd say the "monster" is the link between reality and fanstasm : the only same fact in the fantasm and reality is this bar with the black man behind. And there's a link between the first time we see him and reality (because it's in the same place Diane asks the killer to kill Camilla). See what I mean ? (it's so hard to explain in English). And at the very end, he throws the blue box away after Diane is dead, meaning she refused the hard reality and prefered to die.

But I still agree with you :

- Why the cowboy ? (we see him very shortly a second time during the film, remember ?)

- Why the old couple ?

Well, I think there's no real explanation for each detail, anyway...

Djidjo
 
I like what you say about the blue box is reality. I felt the same about it...To take it one step forward the box (as well as the key) is also (literally) Camilla's death and Diane's guilt. Interesting how it's Rita that is the one to actually open the box when in reality it was Diane. Perhaps Diane felt that Camilla brought this upon herself?

"- "Tout Paris" means "All of Paris", it must be a book for tourists visiting Paris. Why is it here ? I suppose there's no answer at all."

I disagree...this means something. The whole action was VERY purposefully done. Rita is cutting her hair when Betty comes in and takes away the scissors and places them on the book. Lynch goes out of his way to tilt the camera down to reveal the book. It means something...but what? Scissors on "all of Paris"...Hmmm...I'll have to think about it a little more. Thanks for the translation!
smile.gif


"- I'd say the "monster" is the link between reality and fanstasm : the only same fact in the fantasm and reality is this bar with the black man behind. And there's a link between the first time we see him and reality (because it's in the same place Diane asks the killer to kill Camilla). See what I mean ? (it's so hard to explain in English). And at the very end, he throws the blue box away after Diane is dead, meaning she refused the hard reality and prefered to die."

I agree. Something else I hadn't thought of before is that the place behind the "Winkies" is where the assassin left the key! We don't know that for sure but the "evil man" that lives there is the person that locked the box, right? He then dropped it on the floor! That was really bugging me! Now I understand why the back of the "Winkies" was so evil! But by locking the box he released the "happy old couple" which I still don't fully understand. I'll think about it...

"- Why the cowboy ? (we see him very shortly a second time during the film, remember ?)

- Why the old couple ?"

Actually we see him TWICE after his meeting with the director. Remember what he told him? "See me once - Good. See me twice - Bad." Well the first time we see him in "reality" is at Diane's house when he calls out to her, "Time to wake up, pretty girl." Thus we are introduced into reality. The last time we see him is at the Director's house as he QUICKLY walks by in the distance. Maybe that is the moment that Diane decides to kill Camilla? Perhaps the Cowboy is related to Diane? He's her angry concious?

The old couple is still perplexing to me. I think that they relate more to the city of LA and its "fakery" than to anything concrete...Not sure though.

" Well, I think there's no real explanation for each detail, anyway..."

In film school, Lynch was a favorite of my studies because his film are so deep and rich in allegory and metaphors. Believe me when I tell you that the details ARE the film. Lynch really is that amazing an artist. Thanks for your reply - you've made me think of other possibilities. I must see this film again soon...

3rdman
 
Reading threads like this is really funny when you've no clue what people are talking in such depth about. Best I can offer is Dennis Hopper genuinely frightens me in Blue Velvet, just because it's supposedly not that far from his real personality (in the 1970s at least). And Henry Rollins is in Lost Highway, which is kind of weird. What's also weird is that David Lynch supposedly has the most advanced personal music studio in the world (god knows how you measure these things). I guess there's lots of things weird about David Lynch..

Don't even get me started on Eraserhead..
 
Back
Top