has anyone watched and understood this film??
it baffles me alot and i dont know if its cause i was so confused first time and cant help thinking its gonna be or if its just plain confusing!!!help!!!
I watched it, didn't like it. I'll freely admit I just didn't get it on my first viewing but even after an explanation I still didn't think it was brilliant.
There's several Lynch related threaRAB on here, some with explanations of the film, or just visit wikipedia to cover the main concept. You'll get more out of it though if you figure it out for yourself!
Yes, I think so - but the more of the story you unravel the more questions there are. It's one you can watch many times and still find new things in it. Brilliant film!
Did you have the 10 David Lynch clues to help you?
The basic story is pretty easy to work out, but there is a lot more stuff in it that's still a mystery.
The 10 clues (from the original release - I heard that they've been updated more recently)
1) Pay particular attention to the beginning of the film: at least two clues are revealed before the credits.
2) Notice appearances of the red lampshade.
3) Can you hear the title of the film that Adam Kesher is auditioning actresses for? Is it mentioned again?
4) An accident is a terrible event... Notice the location of the accident.
5) Who gives a key, and why?
6) Notice the robe, the ashtray, the coffee cup.
7) What is felt, realised and gathered at the club Silencio?
8) Did talent alone help Camilla?
9) Note the occurrences surrounding the man behind 'Winkies'
10) Where is Aunt Ruth?
I haven't read any interpretations on the internet, but below is my attempt...
Basic story, as told in the film:
It starts with a montage of Jitterbug dancing, superimposed by ghostly images of a happy young woman wearing a tiara, flanked by a smiling elderly couple. After this and before the credits, we see a bed with a yellow blanket and pink beRABpread accompanied by the sounRAB of troubled breathing; the camera draws closer to the bed & dissolves into the pink pillow. This would suggest that what follows is a dream.
This dream takes up the majority of the film, while the last half-hour or so deals with the reality of the sleeping person's life.
After the opening sequence of the Jitterbug contest and the bed with the pink pillow the dream story is told - Rita survives the car crash & hides in Aunt Ruth's apartment; a sequence of phonecalls is made beginning with Mr. Roque and ending at the phone under the red lamp; Bettie arrives in LA with the elderly couple; Bettie meets Rita; the Frightened Man confronts the man behind Winkies; the hitman shoots Ed and steals his book; a meeting is held with the Castigliane Brothers at the movie studio; Film director Adam Kesher is sacked by the studio, breaks up with his wife, has his assets frozen, & meets with the Cowboy; the hitman searches for Rita; Bettie & Rita discover the dead body in 17 Sierra Bonita Apartments; Bettie & Rita begin a love affair; Bettie & Rita visit the Club Silencio; Bettie finRAB the blue box; Rita opens the box and Betty vanishes; and finally the Cowboy tells the dead body to wake up. The remainder of the film tells of the sleeping person's real life - in a mixture of present moment and flashbacks to before the dream.
My interpretation of the basic story:
The sleeping person is Diane Selwyn.
As a teenager Diane lives with her elderly relatives. She wins a jitterbug dancing contest. She travels to Hollywood to pursue a career in acting. She auditions for the lead role in "The Sylvia North Story" but is not successful; the role goes to Camilla Rhodes with whom Diane forms a frienRABhip and later a lesbian relationship. But, to further her career, Camilla enters into a relationship with a movie director, Adam Kesher and breaks off her relationship with Diane, which traumatises Diane. Diane becomes desperate to rescue the relationship. Diane attenRAB a party at Adam's house where she learns that Adam & Camilla plan to marry and also that Camilla has found a new lesbian lover (who's name we don't know). Diane realises that her relationship with Camilla is lost.
Diane decides to have Camilla killed and makes a deal with a hitman in Winkies diner. The hitman tells her that as soon as she hanRAB over the money there will be a contract that she can't go back on. She hanRAB over the money. The hitman takes a blue key from his shirt pocket and shows it to Diane, telling her that when she sees the key again she will know that Camilla is dead. Diane asks what the key opens and the hitman just laughs.
Diane is living at number 17 Sierra Bonita Apartments, having swapped apartments with a woman called DeRosa who now lives at number 12.
Some time later the sleeping Diane is woken by DeRosa knocking on the door. DeRosa has come to collect some things she left in the apartment. DeRosa tells Diane that two detectives have been looking for her. The blue key is on the coffee table. Later, as Diane drinks coffee staring at the blue key, there is a loud & sustained knocking on the door. Diane retreats into the bedroom where she shoots herself.
This real story is told in the last part of the film. It is a mixture of the present moment intercut with flashbacks to before the killing and the dream. What is present moment and what is flashback is established by the images of "the robe, the ashtray, the coffee cup". When Diane wakes she puts on a white bathrobe & lets in DeRosa who has come to collect some of her stuff. Diane indicates a cardboard box on the floor, which DeRosa takes, but DeRosa also declares that the ashtray on the coffee table is hers and Diane tells her to take it. Therefore the appearance of the ashtray on the table at a time when Diane is not wearing the bathrobe establishes that a scene is set before the killing of Camilla and before Diane's dream. The absence of the ashtray, and the appearance of the robe that Diane wears and the coffee she is drinking establish a scene as "present moment".
The scenes that are flashbacks include the ending of the relationship by Camilla, the rehearsal of the car love scene in the movie studio, the departure of Camilla from the apartment, the telephone conversation when Camilla invites Diane to Adam's party, the drive along Mulholland Drive to the party, the party itself, and the meeting with the hitman in Winkies.
Does that make any sense so far?
There's a whole lot of other stuff about Diane's life that's revealed in the dream, but I won't go into that in this post.
