Mulholland Drive: David Lynch’s masterpiece
Mulholland Drive follows the journey of Betty (Naomi Watts), a young woman newly arrived in Los Angeles with the goal of becoming an actress, who meets Rita (Laura Harring), a mysterious stranger suffering from amnesia after a car accident. The two women then decide to investigate together to find out Rita’s true identity.
If David Lynch always refused to admit that only one explanation was valid for understanding Mulholland Drive, director award at the 54th Cannes Film Festivalhowever, we have our theory, which allows us to approach this work differently, and thus admire the masterful work of this brilliant filmmaker.
Mulholland Drive: the explanation
If you’ve seen the film, you won’t have missed it Mulholland Drive deals above all with dreams and illusions, tested with reality. Good news: that’s all you need to understand the movie!
To make the explanation as clear as possible, it is important to understand this Mulholland Drive it is divided in two parts : dream and reality. Like the two protagonists who share two identities, the film itself also has two sides, and they were there, before your eyes.
Dream versus reality
The entire first part of the film represents the dream of Diane Selwyn (Naomi Watts), a young woman who has failed to fulfill her destiny (that of becoming a famous actress), and who therefore runs away in her sleep, imagining herself in the role of a talented young woman (Betty) who has everything smiling. Diane Selwyn was in love with Camilla Rhodes (Laura Harring) and couldn’t stand being rejected and humiliated by the latter. She then decided to call a hitman to eliminate her (we can imagine that the scene took place like the one in the introduction, with the difference that Camilla died) and ended up committing suicide, consumed by remorse.
In Diane’s dream, Camilla takes on the appearance of Rita, a young woman suffering from amnesiawho therefore finds himself totally dependent on Betty (Diane). The two women fall in love, before everything changes.
It’s all an illusion
The key scene of the film is that of Silencethis strange club, where the two women go to attend a hallucinating artistic performance, which simply represents Diane’s awakening. The master of ceremonies warns: here everything is an illusion. There is no orchestra, no musicians, everything is recorded in advance and doesn’t really exist. Diane begins to realize that it’s all a dream and is terrified of returning to reality, where she is not a famous actress, and is heartbroken. The two women return to the apartment and the film moves on to the second part.
Pandora’s Box
If you saw Mulholland Drive for the first time (or maybe even the second), there’s no doubt about the moment David Lynch loses you: he was the famous one blue box scene. The one where we cross over into reality and understand Diane’s journey. The object to remember here is the key: the one used to open Pandora’s box is also proof that the hitman actually killed Camilla (it was an agreement made between him and Diane).
Overwhelmed by her demons (here represented by the two elderly people), and unable to face reality and the disappearance of her lover, Diane ends up committing suicide by shooting herself in the head, putting an end to all her dreams of glory.
Obviously the film is a satire on the world of Hollywood, on its dreams and on the broken hopes of many people, who have collided with the ruthless world of the cinema world.
However, whether you share our vision of the film or not, Mulholland Drive it remains a masterpiece of the seventh art, one that we can see and re-watch dozens of times, always finding something new to observe.
Source: Cine Serie
Ray Ortiz is a journalist at Gossipify, known for his coverage of trending news and current events. He is committed to providing readers with accurate and unbiased reporting, and is respected for his ability to keep readers informed on the latest news and issues.
