MULHOLLAND DRIVE

US, 2001, 147 minutes, Colour.
Naomi Watts, Laura Haring, Justin Theroux, Ann Miller, Dan Hedaya, Robert Forster, Lee Grant, Chad Everett, Katharine Towne, Billy Ray Cyrus, James Karen, Marcus Graham, Melissa George.
Directed by David Lynch.

David Lynch has built up quite a reputation for his feature films (as well as shorts and video material).

His first feature film was Eraserhead in 1986, suggesting a surreal approach to storytelling. While he made The Elephant Man and Dune, he made his mark with Blue Velvet and then Wild at Heart, stranger dramas, exploring the dark side of human nature. In the meantime he was developing his television series, Twin Peaks, as well as making the feature, Twin Peaks: Walk With Me. By the late 1990s, he made Lost Highway which developed his skills in creating narratives with alternate worlds.

In 1999 he made a pilot, Mulholland Drive, which was rejected by the networks? He then took up the material that he had filmed, made new scenes, created a developed narrative which turned into Mulholland Drive, for which he won the Best Director award at the Cannes Film Festival in 2001 (sharing it with the Cohen brothers for The Man Who Wasn’t There).

After Mulholland Drive he made only one feature film, Inland Empire – which seemed even more esoteric and convoluted in its storytelling and themes than Mulholland Drive. In the meantime he worked on short films and video material.

Mulholland Drive was a breakthrough for Naomi Watts, who had appeared in the pilot, had a career in Australia and was beginning to build up an overseas career. After Mulholland Drive, she never looked back and became one of Hollywood’s A List. Laura Harring had a career but not as internationally successful as that of Naomi Watts. While there is an interesting supporting cast, one of the standouts is the older Ann Miller, as the owner of the apartment block. Dan Hedayer, Justin Theroux as the director and Robert Forster also feature in the film.

The film is complicated in its storytelling, audiences having to decide what was dream, what was alternate world, what was imagination. This is especially true of the two characters played by Naomi Watts, Betty, working in the diner, hoping for a big break. She also plays Diane, a wilful woman, in love with Rita, hiring a killer to avenge her. It is something of a jolt when Naomi Watts’ characters move from one to the other.

A lot of the film takes place on film sets. But there is also a sinister club, Silencio, a director played by Justin Theroux and a mysterious black box.




1. The impact of the film? Its cult status? In the career of David Lynch?
2. The worlds of David Lynch, dark worlds, parallel worlds? Characters moving from one world to the other? Doppelgangers? The surreal rather than the real?
3. The origins of this film in a telemovie? Reprising story and cast? Bigger budget?
4. The quality of the photography, production design? The musical score? Atmospheric?
5. The mysteries of the plot? Evocative rather than realistic?
6. The Los Angeles setting? The city? A city of mystery? Streets and exteriors? Interiors? Apartment blocks, the pool, the studios…?
7. The credits, the jive, Betty? A car, the driver, Rita? Stopping? The night, the gun, the teenagers crash crawling away? Hiding, sleeping? The house and the mover? Betty’s aunt?
8. The diner, the dream, the description, outside, the face and death?
9. The police officer, the investigation?
10. The ear, the mouth, the baroque hall? The missing girl? The visual style, close-ups, tracking, editing, cutting, the music?
11. Betty, bright-eyed, the mother? Betty, Irene, the movies? Irene and her husband, the grin - diabolical?
12. Mrs. Lenoir, Coco, the villa, the dog poop, kangaroo? The aunt’s apartment?
13. Rita in the shower, Gilda, becoming Rita?
14. Los Angeles, Adam, casting the lead? Open mind? Castigliane? The photo, Camilla Rhodes? The baroque watcher? Staring, the napkin, the spittle, smashing the windscreen?
15. The chat, the brother, shooting, the hall, the screen? Shutting down? The fat lady fighting the killer? The black book? The fire and alarm?
16. Betty, her aunt, Rita, the name, the purse/money? The blue emblem? The key?
17. The killer, company, Adam going home, fired?
18. Remembering Mulholland Drive, the homes, pretending to be someone else, fired?
19. Adam, wife, sexual relationship, the pink paint, jewelry? Park hotel? The wife bashing, the cowboy, driving to the corral, the interrogations, reflection, leaving the girl?
20. The phone, the papers, the appearance of Diane Selwyn? The strange lady, Louise, the audition, the shock? The audition and the casting director? Woody and the discussions? The scene again? The agent, 10 years married?
21. The song, 60 style, beating and Adam/Camilla audition?
22. The drama, Rita hiding, searching apartments, the smell, the dead? Changing rita to blonde/the bed? The kiss? Rita and the strange talk?
23. Silenzio, the theatre, hearing the music, the illusions? Il Club Silenzio, Spagnol? The singing, weeping, the collapse?
24. The return home, the double, Betty? The blue key, the books, the camera into the box?
25. The aunt’s home, the cowboy and the corpse, Betty lying like the corpse? Waking and disheveled? Becoming Diane? The ashtray, pinky, Rita coming back, Diane and the coffee, sexuality, repel?
26. Adam as the director, Rita as the actress, staying, the fights, the masturbation?
27. Diane, the phone, Camilla the repeat of the drive, Adam’s house? Coco, Adam’s mother?
28. The aunt, death? The jitterbug, Camilla and her career? The party, whispers and kisses?
29. The diner, the killer, the waitress, Betty? The hit? The money, the killers blue key? ‘What’s it open?’
30. The ugly face, the blue box, Diane, the miniature men, laughter, screaming, torment? Death? The face, the jitterbug? Silenzio and illusions?