Mulholland Drive: The death of the Hollywood dream

Entry Number: 7

Film: Mulholland Drive

Year Of Release: 2001

Director: David Lynch

Rating: ?

*Warning: Major spoilers*

If you haven't, go watch this movie first, and then come back to this review.

There are few things as strange as dreams. We all dream, but what causes a person to dream is still being researched. But saying that is everything weird about dreams is saying too little. There have been studies that suggest that dreaming about something can make you better at that thing. There's also studies that suggest that dreams can predict the future. And don't make me start talking about lucid dreaming. So, to conclude, dreams are extremely fascinating.

And there is no man who I feel is more fascinated with the science of dreams than David Lynch. David Lynch has become one of the most respected and revered directors ever. He is known for making films that heavily resemble dreams and nightmares. His 1977 debut and breakthrough Eraserhead is a film about Lynch's fear of parenting. The film is one of the most nightmarish and surreal films ever made, making it into a parent's nightmare. Eraserhead garnered him a lot of attention, and he was put onto more mainstream projects like The Elephant Man and Dune. 

And it was in 1986, that Lynch made his definitive work: Blue Velvet. It follows Jeffrey, a young man who can't find happiness in life. After finding a mysterious severed ear, he discovers the perverse and horrifying world that lies under his town, and when he finally emerges from that world, he learns to finally appreciate his life. I have always thought that Blue Velvet is in many ways a dream. I feel that the moment he finds the severed ear, he enters a psychosexual nightmare, one that ends when Frank Booth (the film's villain) is killed. So really, Blue Velvet is about an unhappy man who has a nightmare so horrible that it serves as a wake-up call for him to appreciate his life.

Of course, this isn't a review of Blue Velvet, it's a review of Mulholland Drive. Mulholland Drive was released in 2001 and was the subject of critical acclaim and massive confusion. It instantly got worldwide attention for being on a level of strange and confusing that the world had never seen before, not even from Lynch. It is still considered Lynch's most mysterious film and has also been noted for being Naomi Watts' breakthrough. Recently, it has been the subject of even wider acclaim, with many calling it Lynch's greatest film and one of the best pieces of 21st century cinema, even with some calling it one of the greatest films ever made.

So, what is Mulholland Drive about? That's a tricky question. At first, it seems like nothing but a campy mystery film. The film's main character is Betty Elms, a young woman who went to chase her dream of becoming an actress in Hollywood after winning a jitterbug contest. When finally coming to Hollywood, she finds a woman named Rita in her apartment. Rita has just been in a mysterious car accident and can't remember anything. The two team up to find out what happened. The film's mystery becomes more and more surreal the longer it goes on, almost spiraling into pure absurdity, and Rita and Betty start a romance. 

But then the strangest thing happens. Right before the mystery is completely solved, Rita and Betty disappear right in front of the viewer's eyes. Then we see Diane Selwyn waking up, a failed actress who looks exactly like Betty Elms. She is depressed because of her failed career and her failed romance with successful actress Camilla Rhodes, who looks exactly like Rita. Diane orders a hit on Camilla after hearing that Camilla is getting engaged to director Adam Kesher. Diane gets the news that the hit was successful, has a manic episode and shoots herself. The end.

After watching Mulholland Drive, the first question one asks themselves is naturally: "What the hell happened?" That's a tricky question if there ever was one, as Mulholland Drive still remains one of the biggest mysteries in cinematic history. Most people agree on the film's main events, which I will now tell you, but just know that this explanation only explains a small part of the film, and it certainly isn't the definitive explanation. It is the explanation I believe, but that does not mean it's the correct one.

Diane Selwyn wins a jitterbug contest, which inspires her to move to Hollywood and become an actress. It is there she begins a relationship with actress Camilla Rhodes. Camilla becomes more successful than Diane, leaves Diane for director Adam Kesher and then invites Diane to her engagement party. Diane hires a hitman to kill Camilla as revenge, and then hides in her apartment for several weeks to hide from the police, which slowly drives her mad. It is then Diane falls asleep and has a dream, and that dream is in fact the first three quarters of the film.

 

You did not read wrong; Mulholland Drive is actually just a big "it was all a dream" twist. You need proof? OK! After the opening jitterbug scene, we get a scene of someone falling asleep. This is Diane and the viewer entering the dream. And after the dream mysteriously ends, we see Diane waking up. And you might try saying that I'm wrong, as the scene of Diane waking up happens before Diane orders a hit on Camilla. But that's where I say you are wrong, because we see Diane waking up a second time in the film, which is right after she has locked herself in her apartment and right before her manic episode. So yes, Mulholland Drive is actually just a two-and-a-half hour "it was all a dream" twist. Just like Blue Velvet, we have a structure where the first part happens in the real world, most of the movie happens in a dream, and then we end back in the real world.

Even some of the strange imagery we see in Diane's dream support this theory. In the dream, the hitman sucks at his job, so if the hit on Camilla was ever carried out, he would have failed. In the dream, Camilla survives her hit. In the dream, Camilla is dependent on Diane because of her amnesia. In the dream, Adam Kesher is a complete douchebag, so not one person would want him anyway. In the dream, Diane's acting abilities are some of the best ever. In the dream, the only reason for Diane not getting any lead roles is because of a big studio conspiracy. In the dream, Hollywood is absolutely glorious, unlike the Hollywood we see when Diane is awake. And why does the first three quarters of Mulholland Drive becomes more and more surreal? It's because the longer a dream goes on, the weirder it gets, as it must end at one point.

 

But here's the real question: What is Lynch trying to say? He clearly would not make a film so heavy with confusion and mysteries, only to not have it mean anything. And to answer that question, we just have to simplify the plot. "Wanna-be actress moves to Hollywood, her career and relationships fail, she kills herself".

If you didn't get it, let me provide you with a fun fact that I think will help you. According to Lynch, the biggest inspiration for Mulholland Drive was Sunset Boulevard, Billy Wilder's classic critique of Hollywood which tells of a struggling Hollywood scriptwriter who starts a relationship with Norma Desmond, a forgotten actress who has become completely manic. Mulholland Drive's biggest inspiration was a film about the dark side of Hollywood. What I'm saying is that Mulholland Drive is also about the dark side of Hollywood.

 

Do you know how many of the people who move to Hollywood or New York to make it big actually succeed? It's probably less than 1%. Diane belongs to the 99%. She probably came to Hollywood as the young, innocent and hopeful Diane we see in the dreams, but in the end, she is a shallow shell of herself, a person who has been hopelessly beaten down by Hollywood.

I want to take quick detour to talk about Naomi Watts in this film. My God, she is great as Diane. You could say that she plays two characters, as she plays Betty, the dream version of Diane, and the real Diane, and she brings excellence to both roles. But the greatest thing about Watts' performance is that she makes you understand that the dream version of Diane once was the Diane we see towards the end. It's such an excellent performance, and I honestly think it may be one of the best performances ever. She should have won an Oscar, but that didn't happen.

 

The ending of Mulholland Drive is the most chilling part of the film for me. The innocent Diane we once knew is now a manic sociopath, and all sense of understanding has been turned into terrifying confusion. Lynch just assaults the viewer with most horrifying visuals and sounds possible, and before you know it, it is all ended with the sound of a single gunshot. The screen is filled up with smoke, and the ghostly visuals of the then innocent but now deceased Diane and Camilla float over the lights of Hollywood. The message is clear. These two innocent women came to Hollywood with a dream, but that dream is now dead. 

Mulholland Drive can be a difficult film for some. Some probably just say "What the hell happened?" and never think about it again, but there's something uniquely intriguing with it. I will admit that it can be frustrating for me at points, as there are things that I still I don't understand, like the cowboy, the Winkie's scene, and the fact that Billy Ray Cyrus is in this film. But I always come back to it. For me, it's Lynch's greatest film, one of the finest films of the 21st century so far, and one of cinema's most fascinating and devastating mysteries. "Silencio".

 

Rating: 10/10

Next Review: Breathless