Anyway, first time I watched Mulholland Drive I said it sucked and that it didn't make any sense. Then I watched it again and realized I was a fool - "everything links up perfectly, this is like the best movie ever!" Then I watched it again and thought about it waayyy too much and kind of got sick of it. Then watched it again in class and loved it again. That's a lot of a movie that upon first viewing seems to be complete nonsense. However, further examination reveals that it is anything but nonsense.Mulholland Drive is not a light read. As far as I can see (and feel free to disagree) the parts of the film that actually happen are as follows in chronological order: Woman (Naomi Watts) wins a dance competition, goes to Hollywood to become and actress, meets another woman, falls in love with her, fails as an actress, gets her heart broken, has her ex-lover killed, then blows her own head off.
The first 2/3rds of the film are basically a glimpse of this womans hopes and dreams. We get that shot of someone sleeping after the opening dance scene. We also get some clues that what we're watching is in fact a dream in the restaurant scene with the two men. He says "in the dream you're always standing right there" then later the man stands up and goes to that exact spot.
Naomi's dream life is much like a murder/mystery, which makes perfect sense because she is so infatuated with Hollywood and being an actress. Her dream is a life unlike her reality; a reality filled with failure as an actress and woman that doesn't love her. Instead her dream begins with her (star-struck) arriving to Hollywood in obnoxiously cheesy fashion (she's on an escalator, I don't remember the lines exactly but they are hilarious).
She comes to Hollywood and immediately she is thrown into this fantastic noir-esque mystery where the woman she loves is completely dependent on her. They embark on a mission to find her identity and Naomi is even having success as an actress.
The most interesting aspect of the film to me is not the comment on Hollywood but the statement the film makes on the way the human mind works... the power of a fantasy compared to reality and the devastating effects that can come when what you fantasize doesn't coincide with reality.
I liked a girl once or twice or thr- whatever, that's beside the point. What I'm getting at is, we all know what it is like to want something so bad that it almost exists for real... even if it is in your mind. Most of us also know what it feels like when fantasy and reality diverge and what you want comes crumbling apart.
That first 2/3rds of the film seems like Naomi Watt's character's last plea for what she wanted so badly... an acting career and Rita. It's her last pathetic, delusional hope for the way things could have been, and it only exists in her head.
But the point is (and I'm just speaking for myself) sometimes what goes on in our heads can be as real as anything. Sometimes there is almost no separating a persons thought process from reality...which is exactly the kind of shit that this film digs into; blurring the lines between reality and fantasy. And on another level that's kind of what the film industry does too.
It's a scary thing to think about how a persons mind can become so infatuated with an idea or a person and having that same idea/person not pan out the way they intended can leave a person broken.
Have you ever dreamed something that you wanted to happen then woke up and been devastated when it wasn't reality? Then had to cope with that reality all over again? I have but thankfully I dealt with it better than Naomi.
The film is tough to keep track of (whodathunkit?) but it DOES make sense. Characters and objects from her real life seamlessly slip into her dreams but don't necessarily play the same role they would in reality (ie. Cowboy dude, Coco, the key).
This is one of my favorite aspects of the film and it is this implementation of characters from reality into fantasy that makes this one of the most accurate representations of a dream on film. However, it is this very thing that puts many viewers off. It is frustrating at first but it is very impressive to witness and grasp upon subsequent viewings.
The key (not the blue one) to understanding the film is to not get caught up in trying to make everything fit perfectly. Have you ever had a dream where you were like, "why did that happen? Why did that guy I saw at Wal-Mart show up as a talk show host in my dream last night?" That's the kind of stuff about dreams that Lynch embraces with this film. Dreams don't always match up, and while it may seem kind of like a cop-out, neither does this film.
I've seen a bunch of Lynch films and this one works the best for me. It makes the most sense and packs an emotional punch that I can totally relate to. It's a brilliant film that is instantly recognizable as Lynch to anyone familiar with his work. It is also a very bleak vision of Hollywood and a cautionary tale of the potential of the human mind. I think.
In conclusion, I think it takes quite a dude to make a film like this and I mean that as a compliment. The man is unquestionably brilliant (in my mind anyway, which might as well make- eh, never mind). I'm not sure if I want to know what is bouncing around in that noggin of his, but I will say that he makes a damn interesting movie. Someone told me Eraserhead is his most personal film and is his closest to being autobiographical. Watch that movie, keep that in mind and someone please tell me what the hell is wrong with this man?
Outside Reading:
Straight Story
Eraserhead (why am I recommending this movie?)
My reaction to Lynch is similar to yours. Sometimes I think he's brilliant, and sometimes he just makes me tired.
ReplyDeleteI'm not sure that this movie is about one person's thoughts even (a lot of what you say here is replicated from one of the readings). I don't think that there are real people in it at all, just Hollywood ghosts. If it's in anybody's head, it's the little guy who lives in the blue box behind the dumpster, who's also the Man Behind the Movie.