Mulholland Drive

I'm wrapping up my look at David Lynch films with his greatest critical triumph, Mulholland Drive, from 2001. Not only was it named the 28th greatest film in the most recent Sight & Sound poll, but it was also tapped as the best film of the decade by a variety of organizations, including the Los Angeles Film Critics. It is also one of the most closely interpreted films of all time.

Originally a pilot for a television series, when it was passed on by ABC Lynch reworked it into a feature film. It constantly defies narrative rules, and about three quarters of the way in it takes a left turn, changing the identities of the characters and making us question everything we've seen before. Lynch has steadfastly refused to explain it, and everyone who has seen it seems to have their own take.

The film starts simply enough: a beautiful woman (Laura Elena Herring) is involved in a car accident on the title road, which winds above Los Angeles. She has amnesia, and finds herself in an apartment. This apartment is the new home of Betty (Naomi Watts), an ingenue from Canada who has come to L.A. to become an actress. She and Herring, who calls herself Rita, try to discover the woman's identity, and why she has an abundance of cash in her purse.

Meanwhile, a film director (Justin Theroux) has his movie taken over by what appear to be mobsters, who insist he cast a certain actress in the lead role. He resists, but after a menacing "cowboy" tells him what to do, he plays ball.

Herring remembers a name, Diane Selwyn, and she and Watts track her down to an apartment, but upon entering it find a corpse. Later, Herring will find a mysterious blue cube in her purse, but when she opens it everything changes.

The simplest explanation is that part of the film is a dream. But which part, and who is dreaming? Most conjecture that Watts, who will be revealed to be the "real" Diane Selwyn, has dreamed of being Betty, an idealistic young woman who is in love with Herring, who is revealed to be the actress in Theroux's movie. But nothing is simple in Mulholland Drive.

There are several scenes that are like blind alleys. Early in the film, two men are in a diner, and one explains a dream he has that takes place in that very diner. These men are never heard from again. Another scene has a hit man bungling a job trying to steal a black phone book. He has to kill three people to get it. We never find out what was in that book. Who is the dwarf in the wheelchair who seems to be pulling all the strings? And just who the fuck was that cowboy?

Mulholland Drive is fascinating, as it is a mystery with questions but no solutions. It explores many of Lynch's tropes--the way he can make something simple, like a road sign, into something ominous. The artifice of performance, that goes all the way back to the Lady in the Radiator in Eraserhead. This time it's Rebekkah Del Rio singing "Crying," in Spanish (another Roy Orbison song, just like "In Dreams" from Blue Velvet) and then passing out in the middle of the song, revealing that she was lip synching.

Mostly Mulholland Drive, it seems to me, plays with identity. The last section of the film is a bit like The Wizard of Oz, as characters who were one thing become something else, such as Ann Miller, who is Watts' landlady in the beginning, is now Theroux's mother. Who are we? Who do we want to be?

Mulholland Drive is also full of an assortment of interesting actors. In addition to Miller, the legendary star of musicals (this would be her last role), there is are appearances by Billy Ray Cyrus, as a pool man who cuckolds Theroux, Chad Everett as an actor who auditions with Watts (this scene is startling in its intensity), Michael Anderson, who was the dancing dwarf in Twin Peaks, is the mysterious dwarf here, and Robert Forster has a very brief scene as a detective.

The film is also a love story, and it's a lesbian one, as Watts and Herring have some very graphic sex scenes. But though it is sexy, it is not pandering--it doesn't say, "Hey, we've got lesbians here!" it just treats the relationship as very normal, which for 2001 was a bit ahead of its time.

This was the first time many people saw Watts, who I think is one of the best actresses in the business, and deserved an Oscar nomination. The only one the film got was for Lynch as Best Director. Quite a few people found that not understanding the film was tantamount as it being bad, which is ridiculous if you think about it. The film is engaging, never dull (even for a film over two and a half hours) and makes the case that plot can be beside the point. It's what the film makes us feel, as well what it makes us think. It's a great film.