'Mulholland Drive' is an American film written and directed by David Lynch. The film is famous for its surreal content and bizarre imagery. The implications of the film are not straight forward and Lynch had declined to offer an explanation leaving the audience and critics to speculate about the film. I had a difficult time unearthing the mysteries involved in it and had to view it many times for appreciating the artistic content involved in the film. It is no doubt one of the finest of Lunch’s work establishing him as one of the greatest directors.
I thought this review would be helpful to a lot who had been struggling their part to unearth the mysteries involved in it. You may please note that this is my understanding of the film and hence it need not be right. This review is meant for people who have seen the movie at least once. A non viewer of the movie is surely not going to understand and appreciate it.
The film tells the story of an aspiring actress named Betty, newly arrived in Los Angeles. There she meets and befriends a lady named Laura. The story then relates many events in a non linear fashion (with occasional stress on few things) which eventually connect leaving the viewers for their own interpretations of the story.
My understanding of the story goes this way. The first part is Betty’s dream. She is an aspiring actor who thinks that she has got all the qualities to become a famous actress but couldn’t become one due to some of her assumptions (to be unearthed by us) which she believes to be true and hence appear in the dream in a surreal manner. Important observation to be made is that she would be a very nice, calm and a caring person even in unusual situations (This is the most wanted hint that tells us that Betty is dreaming. In our dreams we would never be rude. We would always be very nice and try to justify our failures using ‘others’).
A dark haired woman escapes her own murder and is the sole survivor of a car accident (Remember this is Betty’s dream. The way the accident occurs is also non-realistic depiction). Injured and in shock, she leaves to hide in an apartment which an older woman has just vacated. The aspiring actor (actual dreamer Betty) who has arrived Los Angeles comes to the same apartment (The innocent facial expressions and her over excited behavior also gives us a hint of the non realistic scene). She finds the dark haired woman in her room and befriends her instead of making it an issue (one more depiction of niceness rarely found in reality in these circumstances). When asked for her name, the dark haired woman mentions it as Rita after looking at a poster (The actress name in the film on the poster is Rita). The aspiring actress then assists Rita in discovering her identity when they find a key and a large amount of money in her purse. Now what does this key mean? And what does the money signify? Large amount of money and her condition in the dream will definitely mean that she is up to something harmful and dangerous (it is later revealed that a mob is favoring to cast her in a film) and our cute little Betty is ready to receive her with warmth, affection and care. What does the key signify? The key is the symbol through which the ‘dream’ lock is opened and she enters in to reality (More about the key later).
Later part of the movie is also a part of Betty’s dream where she convinces herself with the reasons for her failure as a successful actress. A Hollywood director named Adam has his film hijacked by some gangsters, who insist he cast an unknown actress named Camilla Rhodes as the lead in his film. He initially resists the offer (since he likes the audition of Betty (remember this is Betty’s dream and so she had to be liked by him and supposedly should be cast by him). After he resists, he returns home to find his wife having an affair (probably a blackmailing part by the mob) and is kicked out of his house. Then some gangsters hit his car (one more blackmailing vandalizing act). He later learns that his bank has closed his line of credit and he is broke (One more act). Devastated, he agrees to meet a mysterious figure called ‘The Cowboy’, who urges him to cast ‘Camilla Rhodes’ for his own good (even here the unrealistic depiction is clearly highlighted. All the dialogues and the imagery deviate very much from reality hinting it to be a dream).
Betty knows that Adam, the director was very much impressed by her performance but would be shocked when she hears him say “This is the girl” when Camilla Rhodes completes her performance. Betty flees the audition place (while Adam looks at her continuously) to help Rita discover her identity by finding out who Diane Selwyn is (Diana Selwyn is the name which Rita remembers after looking at a waitress in Winkies). Betty might have had bargained with Adams (She didn’t know about the mob) but she chose to go away to help Rita. Thus according to Betty, she sacrificed her career to help her friend (in reality her love) discover her identity.
Betty and Rita go to Diane Selwyn's apartment (which they find in the phonebook) and break in when no one answers the door. In the bedroom they find the body of a woman who has been dead for several days (The girl named Diana is dead. The name Diana will be assumed by Betty in the real life part to be followed in the next half. So Betty is looking for her identity she had been yearning for (successful actress) and which no longer exists). Terrified, they return to their apartment and have sex (In real life, Betty has feelings for Rita and hence this scene.. Btw, it’s one of the best lesbian scenes I have ever seen). At mid night, they go to a theatre where a man explains that everything is an illusion; Betty then finds a blue box in her purse that matches Rita's key. Upon returning to the apartment, Rita retrieves the key and finds that Betty has disappeared (This disappearance in the dream also reflects her thoughts about the suicide to be committed soon in reality. This disappearance follows the part 2 i.e. the reality part.)
Reality part:
This part is just for 15 -20 minutes but a lot can be inferred about the film and in particular the reason for Betty’s dream.Now Betty becomes Diane Selwyn and Rita becomes Camilla Rhodes (Who was cast in the Adam’s film in her dream in spite of Betty’s nice performance). I will use the references of Rita and Betty along with Diane Selwyn and Camilla Rhodes respectively for easy understanding.
Real life Diane (Betty in the dream) a lonely and depressed failed actress is in love with Camilla Rhodes (Rita in the dream). But Camilla Rhodes torments and rejects her. On Camilla's invitation (probably, part of her torment), Diane attends a party at Adam's house on Mulholland Drive. Her car stops before they reach the house and Camilla escorts her using a shortcut (The shortcut is a metaphor of Camilla’s success which Diane didn’t know. So, Diane is surprised to know it. The metaphor can be related with the use of the mob in the dream and Betty’s failure. Betty also didn’t know about the shortcut (mob) in the dream). Adam appears to be in love with Camilla (who probably should be in love with real life Betty. Remember the way he was impressed with the Betty’s audition in her dream).
Over dinner, Diane (Betty) states that she came to Hollywood when her aunt died and she met Camilla at an audition for The Sylvia North Story (the same audition is referred in the dream). Another woman and Adam kiss Camilla dissolving in to laughter while Diane watches, crying unable to digest it. The frustrated Diana meets with the hit man at Winkies, where she gives him Camilla's photo and a large amount of money (hence she knew about the gangsters and the mob. They were probably utilized by Rita in her dream to counter her), and they are served by a waitress named Betty (hence she assumed the name Betty in the dream). The hit man tells Diane that when the job is done, she will find a blue key (probably through which she can assume the role she is aspiring for. This also can mean death of Camilla or her own death). Diane asks what, if anything, the key opens, but the hit man just laughs (Remember the dream in which Betty disappears as soon as she unlocks the box with the key. Probably she might be thinking about the suicide and so it’s completely dark after the lock is opened (with the key) in the dream and she disappears). As in the dream, back at her apartment, with the key on a table in front of her, she is terrorized by hallucinations and she runs screaming to her bed where she shoots herself.
Parallel to this, in a restaurant named Winkies (Winkies is the place where Rita and Betty sit), a man named Dan (Diane looks at him in reality before committing suicide) tells another man named Herb (whom Dan clearly distinguishes among the crowd) about the half night dream he had. The dream came for the 2nd time in which he sees a devil like figure (The devil is symbolic representation of Diane’s future dark condition which she is not willing to face and is inviting her for committing a suicide) behind the wall. When they investigate, the devil like figure appears causing Dan to fall unconscious. The devil like figure is not visible to Herb. This justifies our assumption. Dan reflects Diane and Herb reflects Camilla. The dark condition is not visible for Camille but visible for Diane. Like the way, Diane is confused with dream and reality; Dan is also confused distinguishing Herb (reflection of Camille whom he distinguished from the crowd in both of his same dreams). The beautiful dialogues are again reproduced for getting clear picture.
“ I get even more frightened when I see how afraid you are and...” (tells us the present condition of Diane looking at the successful state of Camille)
When explaining about the deadly figure, the dialogue “I can see his face..
I hope that I never see that face ever...” explains that Betty is not willing to see her future.
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