“I can only guess as to what everything is supposed to mean.” Right. That is all we could do,
Now watch it again. My experience is that his films only start to come together on second viewing. And probably none moreso than Mulholland Dr.
(“Salvador Dali wet dream”? Yuuuk !)
There are a lot of explanations for this films floating around the internet. None confirmed to be the right one. do as MDB suggest: watch it a second time and have your own experience with it. I must say the first time I watched it I hated it a lot. then the second time around , it came together beautifully for me …
This has nothing much to do with interpreting the film but you are aware that the film was planned as a tv pilot at first and then expanded and altered when that didn’t work out, right? I’m almost certain the 1 hour mark is where the pilot part ends.
The whole TV pilot thing is very interesting. I agree that there is a delineation, around that one hour mark, when there is a palpable shift. It’s almost like he had to tidy it up a bit to entangle everyone sooner. David Lynch really wanted to luxuriate the mind fuck, I’m sure.
I will watch it again. Thank you.
Watch Inland Empire and all will be explained.
Here’s my take:
The first part, with Betty and Rita is a dream-world created by Diane (of the second part). Diane is an actress with failed dreams who has lost her female lover to a hetero man. In the dream-world she is everything she wanted to be when she came to Hollywood from Ontario, including having the woman of her dreams and adventure.
The blue box represents hopes and dreams. Club Silencio is where they realize their hopes and dreams are futile and even unattainable. I don’t have a clue what the key or the homeless person/monster is though.
I’ve always felt this is one of Lynch’s more accessible movies.
This film is in many ways, a primer for Lynch. It holds all the signatures of his consistent themes (duel personalities, alternate realities, split narratives). In some manner, I feel that watching this movie helps viewers to understand other Lynch works better.
(Remember, this is just one interpretation)
The film is about its protagonist coping with the fact that they have killed the person they love (similar themes pop up in ‘Twin Peaks’ and ‘Lost Highway’). The first half is the alternate-reality created where Rita is completely (almost child-like) reliant on Betty. The only reason her acting career hasn’t taken off is a vast conspiracy to push another actress. The man who, in real life, is sleeping with her girlfriend, is dealing with an unfaithful spouse himself. (She even has found arbitrary places to integrate people from her real memories into her fantasy, such as the cowboy)
However, such facades eventually break down, and the hideous truth insists on resurfacing from time to time (the dark woman). The Club Silencio scene lets us know that everything we have seen so far is a charade, a scam. The blue box being opened unleashes the ugly truth.
The second half is what really happened. Betty’s career and relationship with Rita are both failing. Rita’s career is taking off, as she is now sleeping with a director.
Once again, this is one interpretation. However, this main narrative technique of splitting realities is present in numerous Lynch films (literally in ‘INLAND EMPIRE’, ‘Twin Peaks’ (TV show and movie), ‘Lost Highway’… figuratively in ‘Blue Velvet’ and ‘The Straight Story’), and is most clearly defined here.
I just watched this last night, it was my second time around and I very much enjoyed it. I also find this to be one of Lynch’s more accessible movies. To me this was a beautiful, scary, sad and intimate movie, reminding me of Twin Peaks (since to me they both deal with inner corruption). A day after seeing this film, what remains most strongly with me is the last image of Betty/Diane. Her face is brightly lit, almost as though a light was shining from inside her. She seems so innocent, so full of optimism, courage and beauty – in the beginning it fills the heart with hope, and at the end the same image is rather heart-breaking. Despite how we see her as Betty/Diane, to me that image, the same in the beginning as it is in the end, portrays what she was really like, perhaps what we are all like before being corrupted from the inside, not so much by anything that happens but by how we respond to the things that happen.
Be that as it may, whatever Lynch intended this movie to be, I’ll be watching it again and will probably see it differently again.
RAWDEALBUFFY
I just watched this for the first time and would be interested to hear everyones thoughts on it. I was thinking that it was David Lynch making a anti-hollywood movie, then around hour two he switches to a Salvador Dali wet dream, and I realized that this is the same man who made Eraserhead, what did I think was going to happen. I can only guess as to what everything is supposed to mean. Anyone with experience with the film care to take a stab at explaining this film. I loved it, just confounded.