No, Sherlock Jr is also made psychologically rich by making half the film a literal dream. It's the prototype for MD. Keaton did the dream/reality structure first (protagonist has a dream where they give themselves and others new identities and rework their reality in wish fulfillment fashion), only Lynch just took it and flipped it so the dream comes first. So he owes something to Keaton who created the blueprint for the structure/device. (3/9/19)
@@jeremylimmerge5106 totally agreed. it is SUCH a cliché, yet Lynch used it to create easily one of the best movies ever made (still my personal number 1). and it's crazy how in 2019 it is still absolutely relevant.
one more thing - I just realized before diane commits suicide that she is about to be arrested. the knock on the door, the blue lights, the fact that she has switched rooms in her dream, the fact that her former roommate drops that detectives were trying to talk to her, all of these indicate the cops are going to arrest her. this brings on the psychotic break at the end, and its over.
me while watching the film: this is impossible to make sense of. it's literally nonsense. me after watching this video: it's so obvious. you would have to be stupid to not get it.
watching; this is incoherent bullshit. This is pretentious drivel. Crap, bad I say! reading up on the movie; This is ingenius and nothing will ever be better than it ever
I've always felt the old couple represent hopes and dreams, as in aspirations. At the beginning of the dream, Diane dreams them encouraging her, happily propping up her ambitions. But after years of failure in reality, those hopes and dreams would become cloying nightmares, ever present reminders of failure.
Yep. They might be grandparents or other family. They might be judges in the jitterbug contest in Ontario. Or they might only be Diane's farewell story of saying goodbye to her past as she starts a new delusional life in Hollywood -- one that (as the dying Diane knows) has just ended in madness and tragedy.
i'm extremely bad at recognizing faces, so when Diane woke up, I genuinely thought it was another person. Like Betty and Diane were two different people, maybe in alternate universes. thank god i searched for the explanation lmao
Hahahaaa I never realized I may have the same affliction of not recognizing faces. In this case: the girl she dreams herself as and her real self are VERY different though so I don't feel horrid.
@@DietonightLiveforevr the one that the director was forced to cast? based on this video, i thought it was just another representation of camilla and how important she was to the industry. that the directory should've wanted diane instead but was forced to go with camilla
I first saw this movie in 2004, and I didn't get it at all. I watched it for the second time in 2017 with my then wife, and all of the sudden, I said, "Wait! I get it now! The first part wasn't real. The second part is."
You're right bc Lynch insisted on "NO it is not a dream, it's meant for the audience to be the detectives bc all the clues are there." You could hear the frustration in his voice evolving every time he's told that it's a dream. It's possible that I'm confusing this with Twin Peaks or perhaps he's dismissing thedream theory
Also: she remakes Rita into a non-actress - the scene where Betty asks Rita to do a line reading with her, before Betty's big audition, shows that Rita is NOT an actress and has no talent. She's therefore no longer a creative threat to her. She puts all of the bad qualities that real-life Camilla has onto the nameless blonde that real-life Camilla kisses in front of Diane at the dinner party - she remakes over everyone as she sees them, or wishes they were.
I remember the day where I saw Mullholland Drive for the first time: I had my headphones on and then the scene with the homeless man happened. It scared the shit out of me
i personally think the "real" dynamic between Diane and Camilla irl was probably that Camilla thought Diane was her friend (with benefits) while Diane thought Camilla was the love of her life. when Diane's career stalled Camilla probably genuinely tried to help her by getting her cast in her big movie, but Diane was so resentful, humiliated and angry she saw this as a way for Camilla to flaunt her success. and Camilla probably genuinely fell for the director and vice versa, but Diane couldn't take it that Camilla didn't love her, so chalked it up to sleeping her way to the top. i mean, casting couch shit usually doesn't turn into a proposal. then when Camilla invited her to the party where they announced the engagement, she probably just wanted her friend to share in the happy news. but again, Diane's bitterness made her interpret the whole affair as a cruel slap in the face. i doubt Camilla was really acting as vicious and shameless irl - that's Diane's unreliable memory of it. if you step back, you can totally imagine a newly engaged couple maybe laughing a lot and maybe engaging in some PDA, but to someone who was insane with jealousy and envy, it'd probably seem like the whole thing was an attempt to rub it in. all in all i really feel bad for irl Camilla. girl was hustling and had her life made - big movie, solid relationship, even tried to help the lesser known friend she made while they were both still struggling actresses. and what does she get for it? crazy bitch hires a hitman to off her.
The acting in this movie is awesome.. It takes a lot of talent to play two different characters in the same movie (Diane/Betty and Rita/Camilla) who happen to be the antithesis of one another. Naomi Watts, specially, was superb. I don't get why she didn't won an Oscar that year.
Naomi was going to star in a game of thrones spin off but it was cancelled :( i really hope she gets more roles because she deserves way more recognition
the tiny old couple movement and how they appeared was one of the weirdiest and scariest scenes ive seen in decades. It made me feel so unease and weird like any other film makes me feel. but thats the overall lynchian way to proyect mostly all his films. and i love him for that eary feeling of art.
Tons of shit in the movie do an amazing job of describing the surreal horror of nightmares. Like, explain that scene to someone and they will be like, "yeah..." and not get the feeling you felt seeing it.
When I first saw the move, I assumed the creepy old couple abducted Diane, and were sexually abusing her, so she retreated into fantasy because her true reality was too horrible.
This is the most intense film I’ve ever seen. The tension created without any car chases or gun battles, is incredible. I’m partial to Blue Velvet, but only probably because it’s older.....this movie approaches perfection.
I saw this film when it first came out and I hated it. Since then I have watched it both with others and by myself at least a half dozen times. I think it is a work of genius, an absolute masterpiece. After every viewing with others the most intense discussions would follow with myriad interpretations. After reading these various musings I need to see Mulholland Drive at least one more time.
I'm glad somebody noticed the head hitting the pillow. I've told people before that the entire key to unlocking Mullholand Drive lies in two scenes; One - The opening scene (head hitting the pillow) Two - The 'time to wake up' scene. Once you've watched it two or three times and start really looking, those scenes make it pretty obvious.
I just finished the movie for the first but didn't get to watch it in one viewing thus I've noticed a few of things but couldn't even began to understand what was really happening though I knew for sure Diane had gone crazy and shot herself at the idea of everything going to shit...
Yeah, I realised during the first viewing that the final third of the film was the reality, but I wasn’t able to understand the other intricacies...for that you have to watch it more than once.
Two decades later, and I am still angry AF that Naomi didn’t win an Oscar for her incredible performance as two entirely different yet entirely believable characters. It was - and is - stunning. Of course Lynch is never acknowledge properly…
Her real self's acting was awesome, but the dream self (Betty's) acting, I don't know, felt like overacting of a 9 year old girl. And this comprised the majority of the film so..
I wish you had dived into Betty’s audition, in which her acting is suddenly astonishingly good and misplaced in the context of her everyone acts a bit wooden in the dream. It’s wish fulfillment for her, but also demonstrates the artifice and lecherous nature of Hollywood.
I believe Betty's audition was a retelling of an event in her real life. Remember director Bob says don't make it real until it becomes real, everyone looks at him confused by this being said. The rehearsal with Camila are the same dialog but they take on a totally opposite meaning during the audition.
Also following Betty's incredible audition, she walks in on the set of Adam/the director's film - where instead of being her romantic rival, he's an artist being forced into taking on an actress he doesn't want, via conspiracy theory/mafia heads. The fake Camilla being forced on him is in the background, he's unhappy with this decision. But as soon as Betty gets on set, it's like he can sense her arrival - she walks in behind him, he turns his head, they lock eyes. It almost looks like love at first sight. Betty becomes THE GIRL. ("She's the girl") whom he would have chosen, if he had been allowed to make his own casting decisions. She's just proven herself to be an amazing actress, he can sense her presence. You also wonder if in real life, Diane is somehow jealous not just of Camilla with the director, but of the director being with Camilla - whether in a romantic or creative sense, this shows Diane/Betty's desire to partner with Adam, and be the star of the show.
Agreed, although I am not one, so how can I be sure?...the only thing I resent about Lynch, is his basically religious embrace of TM ...I am a true agnostic--I do not see the need to have a belief system to lean on, and Lynch clearly is doing that in his subconscious explorations...I say resent, because the only take on any type of religious philosophy, is that it is up to each one of us to figure out our existence on our own...So, while Lynch is a fascinating director, his philosophical underpinnings I do not take as any sort of big answer to the meaning of Life--at least as it applies to me!.lol
Thank you for this thoughtful video. It mischaracterizes just one element: Diane suffered from sexual abuse as a girl, probably at the hands of a trusted authority figure like an uncle, which is the material for the audition scene where she says: "I hate you. I hate us both" to an older male character in a script who has been extorting sexual favors from her with the threat that he will tell her father. This scene, the most important moment in the movie, situated at its dead center, shows Diane's real character piercing the fantasy of Betty when she turns the tables and sexualizes the scene so as to enact a real revenge against her abuser, in sharp contrast to the way Betty played the scene with Rita that morning. This theme is further inscribed by the painting prominently displayed in the hallway of her aunt's home, of Beatrice Cenci, a famous Roman woman who was executed in the 16th century for having her own father murdered - a hit on an abusive "lover," just like Diane - for sexually abusing her. The trial caused a major scandal in Rome and has been the subject of many plays. This is the repressed trauma which has crippled Diane and which she believes, perhaps unconsciously, has left her unable to love and be loved in return. This is who the old couple that chase her to her death are meant to symbolize: The old man that preyed upon her, and his new wife (probably) that participated in covering it up, perhaps because she identified Diane as a rival for her man's affections.
I think you’re overreaching. Like many other characters in the film, who the old couple are is irrelevant, it’s who they represent that matters. At the start of the film, the old couple represent hopes and dreams (there’s two of them and they’re old...they’ve been around since the “beginning”). Later they transform into despair and nightmares (the inverse). Notice on both occasions we see them they are smiling and laughing. However, the interpretation changes...two sides of the same coin.
@@strollic5162 it’s implied in various ways: 1. The screenplay mentioned above 2. The creepy parent figures 3. Her relationship with her aunt and the money 4. ‘Gene Pool’ pool cleaner 5. The implication of her being a bruised working prostitute 6. Her psychosis Etc.. it’s also a very common motif in Lynch stuff
Yes, the sexual abuse of Diane at a young age is at the core of her dysfunction. The abuse is represented by her aunt leaving the apartment with oversized incredibly heavy luggage (baggage). These represent the horrible abuse kept secret. Even the word heard at the very end: SILENCIO. Silence. Her aunt KNEW what was happening to Diane and did NOTHING to stop it. Tragic.
This movie reminds me of some kind of dreams where the actions of people in the dream are not scary but I feel super anxious and scared while dreaming them.
You all went above and beyond on this review. Very powerful. I watched this movie for the first time a couple months ago and I couldn’t stop thinking about it. Lynch really has a way of tapping into the subconscious in a beautiful and meaningful way.
I like the diner scene with the two guys, it's like from a good horror movie. As the guy tells his dream it gets creepier. Then there was like a feeling of dread, in BROAD DAYLIGHT as they go outside then to the back of the diner. Finally, the jumpscare!
I didn't think it was possible, but you've just made me even more obsessed with this movie, and opened up another layer of appreciation for it. I understood that it was all a dream and many of the film's themes, but you really delved deep. Thank you for making such high quality videos that actually get me to reconsider movies I thought I already knew. Mulholland Drive might be my favorite film of all time, and no film has ever stayed with me nearly as much. Your analysis itself will surely stay with me as well.
Absolutely brilliant! I needed this when I watched it two years ago, although I came to a similar conclusion myself. I’m glad to have this video and this magnificent channel!
Why is it brilliant, if you don't even remember the movie. 2 years!! I just watched it twice continuously. And things start making sense. The video is shitty because she gave the most vague explanation, dreaming!!
The key that noone recognises is *'The Famous Black Book'- History of the world in phone numbers*. It is what the murders were for and how she chanded the identities of everyone.
It's much better to have several viewings of this film and come to your own conclusions before hearing any formal analyses of it. It helps you appreciate it far more if it's not spoonfed to you immediately, so I think your experience was perfect!
really? because is a very simplistic and basic way of analysing this movie. Then again, you can tell that because this channel is clickbailty. There are better channel that analyze movie more menticulously
I always thought the ending was about Diane realizing that there was nothing left for her in Hollywood after Camilla got assassinated. After all, the source of Diane's joy and "accomplishments" is Camilla. Like, Camilla managed to convince people to give her acting roles (very minor ones, but Diane would've scored zero without her), and Camilla was pretty much Diane's only close friend in Hollywood. Now, with her out of the picture, Diane has nothing left to live for in Hollywood; she probably won't get anywhere with her acting career since she has no other connections besides Camilla, and she doesn't seem to know anyone else (at least not to the same degree as Camilla). Basically, her ideas of, and relationship to, Hollywood are all dead, and she doesn't have much else to fall back on besides going home to her parents (which is what I believe the elderly couple are). Maybe her past coming back to haunt her symbolizes her refusal to accept that fact and that the one true accomplishment in her life was the dancing competition (which sadly gave her the false impression of Hollywood and success to begin with). Therefore, she found no other option than to end her own life; she would rather die than go back to her previous life and admit herself being a failure. Either way, Camilla's death was an actual death of her dream and, by extension, herself.
as an amateur writer I can say that imagining how to act to be an amazing actress/actor is definitely not nearly as much as what is needed to be a great actress/actor
During Diane's breakdown, the hallucination starts with the bum dropping the open blue box, the murder realization, and then comes the crushing guilt, represented by the escaping little old people she actually met at the real-life jitterbug contest. (When we first meet Betty, she is saying good-bye to this couple, in effect, saying good-bye to the guilt that they represent. This is why Betty was so happy in the beginning, when Diane's dream was in full effect, and her guilt was gone and forgotten, being driven away in a limo.) As her guilt and reality overwhelm her, in the hallucinatory breakdown of the old couple attacking, she shoots herself in the mouth.
Nice interpretation. But I think many people are reading it wrong. It doesn’t matter who the old couple actually are (and I think it’s irrelevant as are many other characters...the cowboy for example) it’s who they represent that matters more. They represent hopes and dreams (notice there are two of them, and notice that they are old...they are eternal...ever present). By the end of the film, hopes and dreams turn into despair and nightmares (another couple...also ever present).
@@strollic5162 The creepy smile that the old woman gives at the beginning doesn't seem like she's hopeful that Diane will succeed. It seems more like she (and the old man) are expecting her to fail. And the next time we see them they're haunting and chasing Diane, as if to say "See! I told you so!"
Great video, however I can't really agree on the ultimate message being "Emotions are real even if the experience is just a dream". That's the primary message from another film, which goes by the name of Inception. Maybe Lynch has similar things on his mind, but I don't see at which point in the film he lays an emphasis on that particular message. To me, Mulholland Drive always suggested that escapism doesn't really work because you can't escape from your reality forever. You especially can't do it with dreams because dreams are a subconscious representation of your reality, so by the very nature of it you are constantly reminded of your reality, as is Diane in the movie. So at the end, her dream turns into a nightmare, because she can no longer deny her own self and guilt. So reality will always catch up with you, no matter how hard you try denying it. The film, for me anyway, mainly says that lying to yourself doesn't work.
This is a fantastic video. I would love to see a comparison of this movie with Eyes Wide Shut, which also mirrors the first half to the second half of the movie. BTW - if anyone has ever heard of "grieving the loss of a dream" but didn't understand what that meant, tell them to watch this movie. It can be as devastating as losing a loved-one.
I was certain it was screenprism, but I spent a fair bit of time searching for the video I thought about and I'm 90% certain it's the one by LondonCityGirl uploader. It was earlier this year I watched it and I must have clicked on screenprism videos consecutively after watching it. Not to take away from the quality of either uploader. It must have all been a dream.
The elderly couple are a reference to Lee and Paula Strasberg; Marilyn Monroe's manipulative drama coaches - who became surrogate parents to the neurotic actress in her final years. The director has a passing resemblance to a young Arthur Miller. And the guy with the coffee fixation - seems to be referencing Howard Hughes. Lynch per usual is peppering his surreal nightmares with historical references to the 50s and early 60s. I think Lynch, like many people of his generation - sees this period as a turning point in American history. A time when America lost its innocence. A kind of paradise lost which the suicide/ murder of Marilyn Monroe seemed to symbolise.
I'm not sure about that, but between the use of nuclear weapons and the subsequent perpetual possibiilty of nuclear annihilation starting in the 1940s and the understanding that the world is dying in the 1960s, it's completely true that humanity post-1960s is profoundly darker and apocalyptic relative to humanity before the invention of nuclear weapons. This isn't "innocence lost" though - just the recognition of existential dread (nuclear annihilation) and the coming human extinction (ecological destruction).
While Diane’s dream works as an idealization of her life, her reality is shown as something even more depressing than what it probably is: for example, the whole sequence of the engagement party is completely humiliating and everything on it makes us think that is like a nightmare or something, because it’s exaggerated and probably affected by Diane’s perception on her own life (starting on the fact that she doesn’t know where Camilla’s taking her! But also because of the looks between Camilla and the director, the laughs, the kisses, etc.) I love this movie so much. Thanks for this
1:35 It is a dream, shaped by preoccupation and fear 2:44 The Dream happens 1st 1. Wish fulfillment 2. Worst nightmares Idealism, Retro Visuals, Yearning for Expression Reality vs Fantasy 4:53 The Dream Scene parallels The Hit Rita - Vulnerable & Dependent, blocking out bad memories Camilla - 7:14 Mulhollen Drive • Interpreting the world through other people 8:45 Villains She is the Culprit Happy Fantasy vs Guilt 10:47 Abrupt Ending • The key opens nothing 🔑 • Psychosis, not possible to separate dream from reality
This is a very good analysis! If I have any quibble at all, it would be that you position this as THE meaning of the film. I think the magic of David Lynch's entire career is that his films take on the meaning that you bring to them. I think it's very likely that your analysis is exactly the intended narrative, but even that isn't authoritative. I took a very different narrative interpretation from Mulholland Drive, and can justify it with a lot of the same evidence you present here. Saying "this is what the film means" I think closes off the audience from feeling justified in drawing their own conclusions- BUT that's a lot to bring into an already packed video! Keep up the amazing work.
+Let's Talk About Stuf As the famous 'Kubrick-staged-the-landings-on-the Moon-and-reveals-it-in-The-Shining' documentary demonstrated, you can extract any meaning you want of any set of pictures, and Lynch is a master to trigger our imagination
David Lynch would be the only one who could speak authoritative, and even then I might disagree with his interpretation, since I watch movies through my own experiences. I was thinking that Diane and Camilla could be the same person. Camilla is the dream of being chosen for great roles and marrying a famous director and Diane which is the reality of small roles, living in an apartment complex and having sex with the landlady to pay the rent. The great thing about the movie is I can watch it again and come up with something different.
It felt to me like a story about how Hollywood devours identity and destroys young talent. You arrive in LA starry-eyed and optimistic, but even if you get really lucky early on in your career, there's no such thing as job security in Hollywood. In order to make it, a lot of people have to adopt new identities both to survive and to find work. You have to suppress that initial naivete and act like something of a grizzled war vet for people to take you seriously (I've talked to a number of people who work in LA film, and they all repeated a variation of "you love your first year here, you want to die your next three years here, and after that you're from here"). Destroying your identity for the sake of your career is you destroying yourself for your own benefit, which you might recognize as unresolvably paradoxical and ultimately suicidal (either figuratively or literally). I took the weird end-of-act-2 switch as Hollywood punishing the protagonists for not transforming themselves willingly, essentially forcing on them the fate they were already bound to suffer. But what I love about this film, and most of Lynch's work, is that it's so chock-full of symbols and threads of ideas that it really can be about whatever you want it to be about. The greatest sin committed in the study of any art is to assume that meaning is fixed, when the reality is that meaning belongs to the audience.
Thanks so much for your reply. A lot to think about there. If I recall correctly, one review called the movie David Lynch's poison love letter to Hollywood; and though I've always more or less taken the conventional interpretation of the film (while realizing that in the end there is no single answer), the overall theme of the film is indeed one of how Hollywood chewed up and spit out a beautiful (if messed up) young woman. One thing that also seems lost is that dramatically, the film is a straight-up tragedy: not many directors working in that genre these days, which is another reason to commend the work.
@@ElVlogdeBob Inland Empire is the only Lynch movie i don't like because i genuinely think it makes no sense. Maybe i'm wrong and it does make sense but i still don't understand it to this day. Every other Lynch movie makes sense ultimately but as for Inland Empire... I just don't know.
@@enriquesanchez9016 Inland Empire is my least favorite Lynch movie too but I honestly believe that's what the movie is about. Getting lost. When I watched it that's how I felt. Lost. I didnt even know how I got to scenes at times and was just confused the whole time but I was hypnotised by it. I actually started to feel claustrophobic because of how lost I got. Lynch's movies never have a definite answer but that's my interpretation of it
@@crispybacon3002 To me INLAND EMPIRE is Lynch´s magnum opus, just slightly above MD to me. There is certainly a meaning to it, I would say a straight narrative throughout, but just like LH and MD you have to interpret and connect all the metaphors. In essence all three movies foolow the same structure; the unwinding of a fantasy to escape something horrible to the harsh reality. IE is in that regard the most optimistic of the three.
I spent years trying to figure out this film and now it feels magical ! It is even better than the film itself to have some very clear explanations and feelings runing while recreating the film all over again in my head. Thank you for this little gem of happiness I felt :)
on the other hand, I would say Naomi Watts did get it because she was having a bad time getting casted before this film. So maybe and just maybe, she could see herself in Diane Wasting her life in hollywood.
It is not always a big deal if actors do not understand the real motivations of their characters...Actors--and most employed people for that matter, are told to do what the director wants....they are well-paid "prostitutes". trying their best to fulfill the creative fantasies of their boss. It sounds harsh, but that is the reality of most workers ...I used to tell my supervisors at work, whenever they would direct me to do something different that "Of course I will do it--I am being well-paid to do things I might not agree with..I am a prostitute!"
Great explanation that seems totally justified within the film itself without reaching. I've seen this movie 3 times and had different interpretations, none quite the same as this video but have always felt deeply moved and disturbed even when I genuinely didn't understand it in my first viewing. The great thing about Lynch is that his films might seem surreal and impenetrable on first viewing, but there is always some sort of explanation for what is going on, even if it is only metaphorical or allegorical. He does an amazing job of rewarding several viewings while creating a completely unique atmosphere on the first viewing that can never quite be matched again. If Lynch's films are dreams then it totally makes sense that you experience it first, and only can analyze it later.
I watch this movie every year on my birthday, it's my favorite film by far. Everything you said was spot on, 2 parallels i'd like to mention is the diner scene in the dream where the scared man says "to get rid of this god awful feeling" and in reality where she says "more than anything in this world" meaning she want's to kill Camilla thinking it will make her feel better. There is so much magic in dreaming verging on worlds that predict the future and mystical entities like the cowboy or the presenter in Club Silencio being manifestations of Diane's ego and guilt. Lynch truly has learned to delve within side himself through his meditations and the stuff that comes out is pure imagination finding a kingdom inside himself. I'm really glad I subbed, you have a very good knack at explaining his art.
This is why I love Lynch's films. Everything isn't force-fed to you (like most Hollywood films)...you have to put the pieces together and figure it out on your own.
Well, this is the best explanation I've had of Mulholland Drive. I saw the film after seeing almost all of Lynch's other works, including some of his shorts and school films. I was fatigued at Lynch's classic style and did not take the time to deconstruct its meaning this well. Thanks for clarifying! I might give it another chance.
This is a valid interpretation of the movie. But after watching Return to Twin Peaks, the theory of alternate realities becomes a stronger alternative. Just as there was a good Cooper and an evil Cooper fighting to see whose reality would win out, Betty can be seen as an alternate universe of Diane. It's possible that Diane has made a Faustian deal with the devil, like the main character of Lost Highway. Lynch has stated that Mulholland Drive takes place in the same world as Twin Peaks. In this world, dreams can be our awareness of alternate realities that might exist in another universe.
Fun supporting detail: when Betty and Rita go to take their seats in Club Silencio, they pass Sheryl Lee and Phoebe Augustine, the actresses who played Laura Palmer and Ronette Pulaski in "Twin Peaks". The two are sitting next to each each, suggesting Club Silencio may also connect to the 'red room". Sheryl Lee's name was left out of the credits (perhaps b/c it would draw too much attention to this little detail but Phoebe Augustine is credited.
It’s been a few years since I last watched this film. You made a great point - we are so taken in with Diane Selwyn’s fantasy world that when we see the reality it’s almost unbelievable. That’s why I love David Lynch. His stories are crazy simple, but his presentation is brilliant.
What a compelling analysis! I especially enjoy how you use rationality to uncover abstraction without undermining either process. World class presentation as well.
Thank you! I just finished watching the film and don’t have time to rewatch to figure out what I just watched! Great explanation. I’ll have to check your videos and see if you have a take on the Twin Peaks S3 finale
Beautifully done! One tiny exception to your opening words "It was all a dream." Perhaps, if you want to consider what goes through one's (dying) brain a "dream." The first part was most certainly a self-justifying example of self-deception -- one that fell apart with the blue puzzle, at which point Diane is actually dealing with what she has done. The parallels to Sunset Boulevard may just be Lynch's cute touches to make this a genuine "homage" to Hollywood, but Diane's being lured to Mulholland Drive, and Betty Schaefer's being lured to Sunset Boulevard suggest that Diane's dreaming is a serious reckoning ... and that the Blue Haired Lady at the silent film palace is really Gloria Swanson/Norman Desmond delivering the final lesson.
im glad I saw and worked this movie out for myself before the internet was such a big thing. id hate to have had this video explain it for me. it was much more rewarding to watch it ten times.
almost everything Lynch does feels like a dream i've always considered his movies as pure artwork meant to be experienced, not explained but,just like a dream or art,they can be interpreted in any way you like them to be
This is by far the best illustration and explanation of this film. For once I do not feel as if I am either hearing a conspiracy theory, nor bland muddled guidance, shots in the dark, or the quite common commentary that focuses only on the external appeal of the film without attempting to express any analysis of the story. I'd enjoy seeing your perspectives on Inland Empire.
That homeless monster is the root of everything. He is the one who caused Diane's dream and hallucinations. Remember how the man said that "he is the one who is doing this". He planted the key in Diane's mind. The key opens the path to all her hallucinations and dreams. Everytime she sees the key she remembers her guilt and becomes unstable. He also has that box, the box is a device to cause everything. From the box we see some energy releases which eventually reach Diane to haunt her. Why is he doing it? I think the monster represents something paranormal, like guilt, punishment or death. We never see him (or his box) outside Diane's dream so how did he get there. He is not real. He is a being who has arrived to haunt Diane of her past and her guilt of killing her lover, and eventually cause her doom.
I watched Muholland Drive many times when the dvd first came out, and after something like 5 viewings this was all pretty much my own interpretation as well. Very close! At one point, I was researching the historical accounts about the Black Dahlia, Elizabeth Short in 1947 Los Angeles, and when I revisited Muholland Drive I kept thinking about that story, which gave Lynch's movie an even more chilling and obsessive resonance; including that yearning in the viewer to part the drapes and know what was really going on, and feeling frustrated by the denial of that knowledge (who was Elizabeth Short/Diane Selwyn, really? Who took her life? How? Etc). A lot of dark alternate tragic worlds in Hollywood history. Occasionally, I altered my interpretations of the film, but ultimately this video matches how I generally perceived it. Ultimately a story about suicidal depression (if we choose to "superficialize" the movie. Good job.
Ironic that Naomi Watts real life reflected the story. Not only did she struggle and face adversity while being in hollywood but she was also friends with a superstar starlet: Nicole Kidman. Her performance defiantly deserved more accolades and attention. Naomi delivers stellar range in this movie.
Great analysis per the norm. Lucid and succinct breakdowns like this are the reason why I subscribed to ScreenPrism. You could do an entire series on Lynch's oeuvre. Say, how bout, Inland Empire next?!
Amazing explanation and channel. In reference to the movie, It's also ironic how due to the sense of guilt for reality (the death) Diane is the savior of 'Rita' in her dream
'It was all a dream'. The director losing control of the film is a version of Lynch's problems during the making of Dune. The weird Italian money-men (one of which is played by the composer Badalamenti) represent the De Laurentiis family that took final cut away from Lynch. They also imposed the casting of the princess character (this is 'the girl') which why 'the girl' in Mulholland Drive looks a lot like a young Virginia Madsen. Such a great film, still one of the best of the 21st century, and another great video from this channel; thanks.
@Raw Engineer Lynch delights in knowing that people will come to many different conclusions...there is a rumor, that Lynch purposely scrambled the order of some of these scenes, at random, to see how observers might somehow make sense out of randomness....I do not embrace such a thought about this movie, but Life itself, comes out of chaos, and Lynch flirts with this sobering observation in all of his works....his genius is in making us think about such dynamics!
THANK YOU FOR THIS!! I am subscribing. This video is so well done and has made me want to watch the movie again. Will definitely share with friends, thanks again!
Always thought the two men were detectives trying to find Diane rather than the hit men in the car makes sense how she would be trying to hid from them in her dream
Great video. Both actresses are so beautiful, i'm in love with the passion between them. Here it is what i thought it doesn't fit to the mind like yours but i'd like to share. So, we saw Rita having a car accident. Forgets who she is. She sneaks into the house and starts to see Betty. Which is her own imagination. They go to see Diane but she was dead. (There is a waky waky part that's been acted by the cowboy it's blinking that it's a dream i know but i don't want to believe that 😂) Before she opens the box betty disappears. When she opens the box she remembers it all starts to come together and we learn that diane is betty and she realizes she made her kill herself. The assassins couldn't kill, they failed. He started to look for the brunette woman on the streets. He couldn't found her. Also what about the black book he stole ? He killed three people for that. I couldn't understand that and he had one brown eye. At the end of the movie he had 2 blue eyes. So basicly what i'm trying to say is she has become a schizo after the accident, maybe... Who knows. Great video, thanks again.
Some compare to “Vertigo.” No. “Vertigo” had a coherent, plausible story, with the only untenable scene being when Madelyn went into the hotel and disappeared.
I heard Lynch trying to explain this fantastic movie, but it confused me more. He creates certain disturbing moods more than actual chok effects. Thats his genious way to Make the sence of "Something is not as it should be", Its extremely difficult to direct such films. Kubrick har same athmosphere in Many of his movie s....
I watched the movie when it was released many years ago and walked out really confused. Watched it again today followed by your explanation. Thank you very much, I now have closure. Time to move onto another mind boggling film...
Even if the movie is hard to follow sometimes, it is very entertaining and mysterious. Very few directors are able to achieve this sense of dread while watching a film. When I first saw Lost Highway I was blown away by the slow weirdness of the plot and the soundtrack. But with Mullholland Drive it was just intense and phantasmagorical right away.
A beautiful explanation of the film. My dumbass, when I first watched this film, couldn't grasp the fact Diane was dreaming. I only watched it at 15 but still.
Mulholland Drive is the only movie/show where the "it was all just a dream" trope makes it better.
I'm always thinking that. "Everything was a dream" is by far the worst excuse used in a movie to explain things. But it made the best movie in history
_cacacœur What makes it the best movie ever?
No, Sherlock Jr is also made psychologically rich by making half the film a literal dream. It's the prototype for MD. Keaton did the dream/reality structure first (protagonist has a dream where they give themselves and others new identities and rework their reality in wish fulfillment fashion), only Lynch just took it and flipped it so the dream comes first. So he owes something to Keaton who created the blueprint for the structure/device. (3/9/19)
@@jeremylimmerge5106 totally agreed. it is SUCH a cliché, yet Lynch used it to create easily one of the best movies ever made (still my personal number 1). and it's crazy how in 2019 it is still absolutely relevant.
And the dream is fabricated masterfully using every old Hollywood trope imaginable.
one more thing - I just realized before diane commits suicide that she is about to be arrested. the knock on the door, the blue lights, the fact that she has switched rooms in her dream, the fact that her former roommate drops that detectives were trying to talk to her, all of these indicate the cops are going to arrest her.
this brings on the psychotic break at the end, and its over.
Yes. So true. Good eye. Thanks for sharing that.
How did the cops find out about her?
@@JayP-vh9wc But..the two cops could have been Rita and Betty.....
@@ricmac2067 That's what I am wondering about, seems too deliberate to be a coincidence
@@SafariAtari The two `cops` could have been the two pimps looking for Diane.
me while watching the film: this is impossible to make sense of. it's literally nonsense.
me after watching this video: it's so obvious. you would have to be stupid to not get it.
watching; this is incoherent bullshit. This is pretentious drivel. Crap, bad I say!
reading up on the movie; This is ingenius and nothing will ever be better than it ever
Me!
Literally the same thought after I saw I’m Thinking of Ending Things too
Bruhhhhhhh this is litterally me
@@unicee514 lmao yeah that movie too.
I've always felt the old couple represent hopes and dreams, as in aspirations. At the beginning of the dream, Diane dreams them encouraging her, happily propping up her ambitions. But after years of failure in reality, those hopes and dreams would become cloying nightmares, ever present reminders of failure.
Yep. They might be grandparents or other family. They might be judges in the jitterbug contest in Ontario. Or they might only be Diane's farewell story of saying goodbye to her past as she starts a new delusional life in Hollywood -- one that (as the dying Diane knows) has just ended in madness and tragedy.
More like she didn't wasn't to hear what they were telling her- _I told you so._
@Cleothaluum That's so interesting
This is exactly what I thought as well
They’re Dianes grandparents who probably did bad things to her after her parents died
Pulp Fiction and Mulholland Drive made me want to stay as far away from L.A. as possible.
HuggiMa funny it had the opposite effect on me
Heat, Pulp Fiction and Mulholland Drive and all those 90s movies set in LA make me want to live in LA lol even Drive, with Ryan Gosling.
Yes you are so right, exactly what I was thinking!
I no longer want any fame. I'll live a simple life.
Amen
Yeah, it’s pretty screwed up out here
i'm extremely bad at recognizing faces, so when Diane woke up, I genuinely thought it was another person. Like Betty and Diane were two different people, maybe in alternate universes. thank god i searched for the explanation lmao
SAME. i was watching it with someone who has seen before who told me it's her thankfully
mee too that is why i didn't know that she woke up from a dream
Hahahaaa I never realized I may have the same affliction of not recognizing faces. In this case: the girl she dreams herself as and her real self are VERY different though so I don't feel horrid.
@Lashy CatAnd that woman's name was Camilla Rhodes... :/
@@DietonightLiveforevr the one that the director was forced to cast? based on this video, i thought it was just another representation of camilla and how important she was to the industry. that the directory should've wanted diane instead but was forced to go with camilla
well shit. you make it sound so obvious. i've been trying to figure out this movie for years!
jmmky everything is subjective...
Not really, no.
Dylan, that's an objective statement...
I first saw this movie in 2004, and I didn't get it at all. I watched it for the second time in 2017 with my then wife, and all of the sudden, I said, "Wait! I get it now! The first part wasn't real. The second part is."
You're right bc Lynch insisted on "NO it is not a dream, it's meant for the audience to be the detectives bc all the clues are there." You could hear the frustration in his voice evolving every time he's told that it's a dream.
It's possible that I'm confusing this with Twin Peaks or perhaps he's dismissing thedream theory
Also: she remakes Rita into a non-actress - the scene where Betty asks Rita to do a line reading with her, before Betty's big audition, shows that Rita is NOT an actress and has no talent. She's therefore no longer a creative threat to her. She puts all of the bad qualities that real-life Camilla has onto the nameless blonde that real-life Camilla kisses in front of Diane at the dinner party - she remakes over everyone as she sees them, or wishes they were.
why does real life camilla kiss the nameless blonde
I remember the day where I saw Mullholland Drive for the first time: I had my headphones on and then the scene with the homeless man happened. It scared the shit out of me
IT'S A WOMAN
And the fact that the scene had no dramatic music. It was scarier than any typical horror movie jump scare.
YES ME TOO
i watched it with the lights off, in bed, half asleep… yea, my soul left my body
its more scary than most horror films
i personally think the "real" dynamic between Diane and Camilla irl was probably that Camilla thought Diane was her friend (with benefits) while Diane thought Camilla was the love of her life. when Diane's career stalled Camilla probably genuinely tried to help her by getting her cast in her big movie, but Diane was so resentful, humiliated and angry she saw this as a way for Camilla to flaunt her success. and Camilla probably genuinely fell for the director and vice versa, but Diane couldn't take it that Camilla didn't love her, so chalked it up to sleeping her way to the top. i mean, casting couch shit usually doesn't turn into a proposal. then when Camilla invited her to the party where they announced the engagement, she probably just wanted her friend to share in the happy news. but again, Diane's bitterness made her interpret the whole affair as a cruel slap in the face. i doubt Camilla was really acting as vicious and shameless irl - that's Diane's unreliable memory of it. if you step back, you can totally imagine a newly engaged couple maybe laughing a lot and maybe engaging in some PDA, but to someone who was insane with jealousy and envy, it'd probably seem like the whole thing was an attempt to rub it in.
all in all i really feel bad for irl Camilla. girl was hustling and had her life made - big movie, solid relationship, even tried to help the lesser known friend she made while they were both still struggling actresses. and what does she get for it? crazy bitch hires a hitman to off her.
Makes sense than most of the comments here💯
"crazy bitch hires a hitman to off her." funny and sad
The acting in this movie is awesome.. It takes a lot of talent to play two different characters in the same movie (Diane/Betty and Rita/Camilla) who happen to be the antithesis of one another. Naomi Watts, specially, was superb. I don't get why she didn't won an Oscar that year.
Naomi was going to star in a game of thrones spin off but it was cancelled :( i really hope she gets more roles because she deserves way more recognition
She wasn't even bleeping NOMINATED!!!! Utter travesty. Academy, in 2002, you totally SUCKED at your jobs.
the tiny old couple movement and how they appeared was one of the weirdiest and scariest scenes ive seen in decades. It made me feel so unease and weird like any other film makes me feel. but thats the overall lynchian way to proyect mostly all his films. and i love him for that eary feeling of art.
Agreed
Agreed!!
that smile old woman made is creepy af
Tons of shit in the movie do an amazing job of describing the surreal horror of nightmares. Like, explain that scene to someone and they will be like, "yeah..." and not get the feeling you felt seeing it.
When I first saw the move, I assumed the creepy old couple abducted Diane, and were sexually abusing her, so she retreated into fantasy because her true reality was too horrible.
This is the most intense film I’ve ever seen. The tension created without any car chases or gun battles, is incredible. I’m partial to Blue Velvet, but only probably because it’s older.....this movie approaches perfection.
same here. Lot of tension and emotion...And I've watched a lot of drama or horror movies but never been shocked and disturbed like that.
Kevin Harris In fact there is a car crash in the beginning.
Agreed. This movie was sadly snubbed for even an Oscar nomination.
Agree imo best move ever.
I saw this film when it first came out and I hated it. Since then I have watched it both with others and by myself at least a half dozen times. I think it is a work of genius, an absolute masterpiece. After every viewing with others the most intense discussions would follow with myriad interpretations. After reading these various musings I need to see Mulholland Drive at least one more time.
I'm glad somebody noticed the head hitting the pillow. I've told people before that the entire key to unlocking Mullholand Drive lies in two scenes; One - The opening scene (head hitting the pillow) Two - The 'time to wake up' scene. Once you've watched it two or three times and start really looking, those scenes make it pretty obvious.
Yeah mullhound drive is one of those films you have to watch multiple times to understand, ive only watched it once so was confused af
I just finished the movie for the first but didn't get to watch it in one viewing thus I've noticed a few of things but couldn't even began to understand what was really happening though I knew for sure Diane had gone crazy and shot herself at the idea of everything going to shit...
Exactly.
Yeah, I realised during the first viewing that the final third of the film was the reality, but I wasn’t able to understand the other intricacies...for that you have to watch it more than once.
Two decades later, and I am still angry AF that Naomi didn’t win an Oscar for her incredible performance as two entirely different yet entirely believable characters. It was - and is - stunning. Of course Lynch is never acknowledge properly…
Her real self's acting was awesome, but the dream self (Betty's) acting, I don't know, felt like overacting of a 9 year old girl. And this comprised the majority of the film so..
The homeless man scene never failed
Agreed.
It's a woman. Could be the future of Diane as a homeless with a blue box and a key. May be the realization that it's her future made it so scary.
scared the living shit outa me when i first saw it
@@thewordisours8105 me too, man. scary as fuck.
@@thewordisours8105 hahahhahahahaah
I wish you had dived into Betty’s audition, in which her acting is suddenly astonishingly good and misplaced in the context of her everyone acts a bit wooden in the dream. It’s wish fulfillment for her, but also demonstrates the artifice and lecherous nature of Hollywood.
I believe Betty's audition was a retelling of an event in her real life. Remember director Bob says don't make it real until it becomes real, everyone looks at him confused by this being said. The rehearsal with Camila are the same dialog but they take on a totally opposite meaning during the audition.
Also following Betty's incredible audition, she walks in on the set of Adam/the director's film - where instead of being her romantic rival, he's an artist being forced into taking on an actress he doesn't want, via conspiracy theory/mafia heads. The fake Camilla being forced on him is in the background, he's unhappy with this decision. But as soon as Betty gets on set, it's like he can sense her arrival - she walks in behind him, he turns his head, they lock eyes. It almost looks like love at first sight. Betty becomes THE GIRL. ("She's the girl") whom he would have chosen, if he had been allowed to make his own casting decisions. She's just proven herself to be an amazing actress, he can sense her presence. You also wonder if in real life, Diane is somehow jealous not just of Camilla with the director, but of the director being with Camilla - whether in a romantic or creative sense, this shows Diane/Betty's desire to partner with Adam, and be the star of the show.
This movie is also a master class how to formulate a great lie.
Lynch is a genius.
Agreed, although I am not one, so how can I be sure?...the only thing I resent about Lynch, is his basically religious embrace of TM ...I am a true agnostic--I do not see the need to have a belief system to lean on, and Lynch clearly is doing that in his subconscious explorations...I say resent, because the only take on any type of religious philosophy, is that it is up to each one of us to figure out our existence on our own...So, while Lynch is a fascinating director, his philosophical underpinnings I do not take as any sort of big answer to the meaning of Life--at least as it applies to me!.lol
@@curbozer5006 What's TM?
@@koby_in_renaissance I'm guessing he meant "transcendental meditation".
Thank you for this thoughtful video. It mischaracterizes just one element: Diane suffered from sexual abuse as a girl, probably at the hands of a trusted authority figure like an uncle, which is the material for the audition scene where she says: "I hate you. I hate us both" to an older male character in a script who has been extorting sexual favors from her with the threat that he will tell her father. This scene, the most important moment in the movie, situated at its dead center, shows Diane's real character piercing the fantasy of Betty when she turns the tables and sexualizes the scene so as to enact a real revenge against her abuser, in sharp contrast to the way Betty played the scene with Rita that morning. This theme is further inscribed by the painting prominently displayed in the hallway of her aunt's home, of Beatrice Cenci, a famous Roman woman who was executed in the 16th century for having her own father murdered - a hit on an abusive "lover," just like Diane - for sexually abusing her. The trial caused a major scandal in Rome and has been the subject of many plays. This is the repressed trauma which has crippled Diane and which she believes, perhaps unconsciously, has left her unable to love and be loved in return. This is who the old couple that chase her to her death are meant to symbolize: The old man that preyed upon her, and his new wife (probably) that participated in covering it up, perhaps because she identified Diane as a rival for her man's affections.
Agree
I think you’re overreaching.
Like many other characters in the film, who the old couple are is irrelevant, it’s who they represent that matters.
At the start of the film, the old couple represent hopes and dreams (there’s two of them and they’re old...they’ve been around since the “beginning”).
Later they transform into despair and nightmares (the inverse).
Notice on both occasions we see them they are smiling and laughing. However, the interpretation changes...two sides of the same coin.
The abuse of Diane was on various levels, b
@@strollic5162 it’s implied in various ways: 1. The screenplay mentioned above
2. The creepy parent figures
3. Her relationship with her aunt and the money
4. ‘Gene Pool’ pool cleaner
5. The implication of her being a bruised working prostitute
6. Her psychosis Etc..
it’s also a very common motif in Lynch stuff
Yes, the sexual abuse of Diane at a young age is at the core of her dysfunction. The abuse is represented by her aunt leaving the apartment with oversized incredibly heavy luggage (baggage). These represent the horrible abuse kept secret. Even the word heard at the very end: SILENCIO. Silence. Her aunt KNEW what was happening to Diane and did NOTHING to stop it. Tragic.
This movie reminds me of some kind of dreams where the actions of people in the dream are not scary but I feel super anxious and scared while dreaming them.
You all went above and beyond on this review. Very powerful. I watched this movie for the first time a couple months ago and I couldn’t stop thinking about it. Lynch really has a way of tapping into the subconscious in a beautiful and meaningful way.
Thank you!
xBradsrucax are you Romanian?
I actually think David Lynch tries to recreate on film images from his own dreams....really creative person...!
I like the diner scene with the two guys, it's like from a good horror movie. As the guy tells his dream it gets creepier. Then there was like a feeling of dread, in BROAD DAYLIGHT as they go outside then to the back of the diner. Finally, the jumpscare!
And so evocative of the great, underlying fear of failure that eventually makes her take her life!...powerful imagery, and so full of her coming doom!
I didn't think it was possible, but you've just made me even more obsessed with this movie, and opened up another layer of appreciation for it. I understood that it was all a dream and many of the film's themes, but you really delved deep. Thank you for making such high quality videos that actually get me to reconsider movies I thought I already knew. Mulholland Drive might be my favorite film of all time, and no film has ever stayed with me nearly as much. Your analysis itself will surely stay with me as well.
I watched this with my dad. Let’s just say i had the most awkward moments of my life😐
🤣🤣🤣
lmaoooo
Try watching "Leaving Las Vegas" with your grandma.
I always feel depressed after watching this film. Same goes for watching videos about this film.
Gameplay and Talk me too, even thinking about it lowers my mood. Idk why
there is a real darkness about this film
the diana's story is very touching for me... its disturbing
The plot is tragic, but it makes me glad we live in a time where this movie exists. I think it’s truly one of the greatest films of all time
I couldnt talk or move for about an hour after this movie
Absolutely brilliant! I needed this when I watched it two years ago, although I came to a similar conclusion myself. I’m glad to have this video and this magnificent channel!
Thank you very much!
Why is it brilliant, if you don't even remember the movie. 2 years!! I just watched it twice continuously. And things start making sense. The video is shitty because she gave the most vague explanation, dreaming!!
The key that noone recognises is *'The Famous Black Book'- History of the world in phone numbers*.
It is what the murders were for and how she chanded the identities of everyone.
It's much better to have several viewings of this film and come to your own conclusions before hearing any formal analyses of it. It helps you appreciate it far more if it's not spoonfed to you immediately, so I think your experience was perfect!
really? because is a very simplistic and basic way of analysing this movie. Then again, you can tell that because this channel is clickbailty. There are better channel that analyze movie more menticulously
Omg.. how do you make the explanation sound so easy
I always thought the ending was about Diane realizing that there was nothing left for her in Hollywood after Camilla got assassinated. After all, the source of Diane's joy and "accomplishments" is Camilla. Like, Camilla managed to convince people to give her acting roles (very minor ones, but Diane would've scored zero without her), and Camilla was pretty much Diane's only close friend in Hollywood.
Now, with her out of the picture, Diane has nothing left to live for in Hollywood; she probably won't get anywhere with her acting career since she has no other connections besides Camilla, and she doesn't seem to know anyone else (at least not to the same degree as Camilla).
Basically, her ideas of, and relationship to, Hollywood are all dead, and she doesn't have much else to fall back on besides going home to her parents (which is what I believe the elderly couple are). Maybe her past coming back to haunt her symbolizes her refusal to accept that fact and that the one true accomplishment in her life was the dancing competition (which sadly gave her the false impression of Hollywood and success to begin with). Therefore, she found no other option than to end her own life; she would rather die than go back to her previous life and admit herself being a failure.
Either way, Camilla's death was an actual death of her dream and, by extension, herself.
" the ending was about Diane realizing that there was nothing left for her in Hollywood after Camilla got assassinated" But Camilla was Hollywood.
Lou Vegas Yeah.
Raw Engineer True. Very true. However, one might not make it far on talent alone; you gotta have connections.
as an amateur writer I can say that imagining how to act to be an amazing actress/actor is definitely not nearly as much as what is needed to be a great actress/actor
Now that you said that, it made me think that the audition scene was actually a representation of Camila's acting, making Betty as good as her.
During Diane's breakdown, the hallucination starts with the bum dropping the open blue box, the murder realization, and then comes the crushing guilt, represented by the escaping little old people she actually met at the real-life jitterbug contest. (When we first meet Betty, she is saying good-bye to this couple, in effect, saying good-bye to the guilt that they represent. This is why Betty was so happy in the beginning, when Diane's dream was in full effect, and her guilt was gone and forgotten, being driven away in a limo.) As her guilt and reality overwhelm her, in the hallucinatory breakdown of the old couple attacking, she shoots herself in the mouth.
Nice interpretation. But I think many people are reading it wrong.
It doesn’t matter who the old couple actually are (and I think it’s irrelevant as are many other characters...the cowboy for example) it’s who they represent that matters more.
They represent hopes and dreams (notice there are two of them, and notice that they are old...they are eternal...ever present).
By the end of the film, hopes and dreams turn into despair and nightmares (another couple...also ever present).
@@strollic5162 The creepy smile that the old woman gives at the beginning doesn't seem like she's hopeful that Diane will succeed. It seems more like she (and the old man) are expecting her to fail. And the next time we see them they're haunting and chasing Diane, as if to say "See! I told you so!"
The saddest and most painful film I 've watched. I love it.
Great video, however I can't really agree on the ultimate message being "Emotions are real even if the experience is just a dream". That's the primary message from another film, which goes by the name of Inception. Maybe Lynch has similar things on his mind, but I don't see at which point in the film he lays an emphasis on that particular message.
To me, Mulholland Drive always suggested that escapism doesn't really work because you can't escape from your reality forever. You especially can't do it with dreams because dreams are a subconscious representation of your reality, so by the very nature of it you are constantly reminded of your reality, as is Diane in the movie. So at the end, her dream turns into a nightmare, because she can no longer deny her own self and guilt. So reality will always catch up with you, no matter how hard you try denying it. The film, for me anyway, mainly says that lying to yourself doesn't work.
Vincent Knight that's a really interesting interpretation and definitely an important message as well. Thanks for sharing!
Excuse me, Inception has no primary message, it is just overly pretentious pseudo-psychological sci-fi.
even if inception has the same message, it means Nolan stole from Lynch not vice-versa
@@kimlippington1105 Using a similar concept is not "stealing".
@@enriquesanchez9016 Tarantino: "Great artists steal, they don't do homages". Not saying stealing is bad lmao
This is a fantastic video. I would love to see a comparison of this movie with Eyes Wide Shut, which also mirrors the first half to the second half of the movie. BTW - if anyone has ever heard of "grieving the loss of a dream" but didn't understand what that meant, tell them to watch this movie. It can be as devastating as losing a loved-one.
Yessss, I have been waiting for you to do mulholland drive for so long. Thank you for this.
Glad you liked it Meera!!
And this is the 2nd Mulholland Drive breakdown? I think the previous one was the first ScreenPrism video that I watched that made me subscribe.
grimmturd they haven't done mulholland drive before, they have done one on lynch in general and one on twin peaks.
I was certain it was screenprism, but I spent a fair bit of time searching for the video I thought about and I'm 90% certain it's the one by LondonCityGirl uploader. It was earlier this year I watched it and I must have clicked on screenprism videos consecutively after watching it. Not to take away from the quality of either uploader.
It must have all been a dream.
The elderly couple are a reference to Lee and Paula Strasberg; Marilyn Monroe's manipulative drama coaches - who became surrogate parents to the neurotic actress in her final years.
The director has a passing resemblance to a young Arthur Miller.
And the guy with the coffee fixation - seems to be referencing Howard Hughes.
Lynch per usual is peppering his surreal nightmares with historical
references to the 50s and early 60s.
I think Lynch, like many people of his generation - sees this period as a turning point in American history. A time when America lost its innocence. A kind of paradise lost which the suicide/ murder of Marilyn Monroe seemed to symbolise.
I'm not sure about that, but between the use of nuclear weapons and the subsequent perpetual possibiilty of nuclear annihilation starting in the 1940s and the understanding that the world is dying in the 1960s, it's completely true that humanity post-1960s is profoundly darker and apocalyptic relative to humanity before the invention of nuclear weapons.
This isn't "innocence lost" though - just the recognition of existential dread (nuclear annihilation) and the coming human extinction (ecological destruction).
trev moffatt and Rita's wig looked like a Marilyn wig
While Diane’s dream works as an idealization of her life, her reality is shown as something even more depressing than what it probably is: for example, the whole sequence of the engagement party is completely humiliating and everything on it makes us think that is like a nightmare or something, because it’s exaggerated and probably affected by Diane’s perception on her own life (starting on the fact that she doesn’t know where Camilla’s taking her! But also because of the looks between Camilla and the director, the laughs, the kisses, etc.) I love this movie so much. Thanks for this
1:35 It is a dream, shaped by preoccupation and fear
2:44 The Dream happens 1st
1. Wish fulfillment
2. Worst nightmares
Idealism, Retro Visuals,
Yearning for Expression
Reality vs Fantasy
4:53 The Dream Scene parallels The Hit
Rita - Vulnerable & Dependent, blocking out bad memories
Camilla -
7:14 Mulhollen Drive
• Interpreting the world through other people
8:45 Villains
She is the Culprit
Happy Fantasy vs Guilt
10:47 Abrupt Ending
• The key opens nothing 🔑
• Psychosis, not possible to separate dream from reality
This is a very good analysis!
If I have any quibble at all, it would be that you position this as THE meaning of the film. I think the magic of David Lynch's entire career is that his films take on the meaning that you bring to them. I think it's very likely that your analysis is exactly the intended narrative, but even that isn't authoritative. I took a very different narrative interpretation from Mulholland Drive, and can justify it with a lot of the same evidence you present here. Saying "this is what the film means" I think closes off the audience from feeling justified in drawing their own conclusions- BUT that's a lot to bring into an already packed video! Keep up the amazing work.
+Let's Talk About Stuf As the famous 'Kubrick-staged-the-landings-on-the Moon-and-reveals-it-in-The-Shining' documentary demonstrated, you can extract any meaning you want of any set of pictures, and Lynch is a master to trigger our imagination
David Lynch would be the only one who could speak authoritative, and even then I might disagree with his interpretation, since I watch movies through my own experiences. I was thinking that Diane and Camilla could be the same person. Camilla is the dream of being chosen for great roles and marrying a famous director and Diane which is the reality of small roles, living in an apartment complex and having sex with the landlady to pay the rent. The great thing about the movie is I can watch it again and come up with something different.
Could you please share with us your interpretation of the film? I for one would be very interested in reading it. Thanks.
It felt to me like a story about how Hollywood devours identity and destroys young talent. You arrive in LA starry-eyed and optimistic, but even if you get really lucky early on in your career, there's no such thing as job security in Hollywood. In order to make it, a lot of people have to adopt new identities both to survive and to find work. You have to suppress that initial naivete and act like something of a grizzled war vet for people to take you seriously (I've talked to a number of people who work in LA film, and they all repeated a variation of "you love your first year here, you want to die your next three years here, and after that you're from here").
Destroying your identity for the sake of your career is you destroying yourself for your own benefit, which you might recognize as unresolvably paradoxical and ultimately suicidal (either figuratively or literally). I took the weird end-of-act-2 switch as Hollywood punishing the protagonists for not transforming themselves willingly, essentially forcing on them the fate they were already bound to suffer.
But what I love about this film, and most of Lynch's work, is that it's so chock-full of symbols and threads of ideas that it really can be about whatever you want it to be about. The greatest sin committed in the study of any art is to assume that meaning is fixed, when the reality is that meaning belongs to the audience.
Thanks so much for your reply. A lot to think about there. If I recall correctly, one review called the movie David Lynch's poison love letter to Hollywood; and though I've always more or less taken the conventional interpretation of the film (while realizing that in the end there is no single answer), the overall theme of the film is indeed one of how Hollywood chewed up and spit out a beautiful (if messed up) young woman. One thing that also seems lost is that dramatically, the film is a straight-up tragedy: not many directors working in that genre these days, which is another reason to commend the work.
one of my favorite movies and another great video from ScreenPrism
Thank you Jay!
This is educated and informed content.
I could watch dozens of these, and the narrator's voice is quite charming.
Words cannot cover how much I adore and appreciate Ms. Naomi Watts.
Awesome! Now please do Lost Highway. I've half-jokingly said that Lynch made Mulholland Drive because nobody got Lost Highway. 😂😂😂
jaypob I've often thought the same thing.
I have seen LH many times is still very confusing xD but not as much as Indland Empire. That movie was way too weird
@@ElVlogdeBob Inland Empire is the only Lynch movie i don't like because i genuinely think it makes no sense. Maybe i'm wrong and it does make sense but i still don't understand it to this day. Every other Lynch movie makes sense ultimately but as for Inland Empire... I just don't know.
@@enriquesanchez9016 Inland Empire is my least favorite Lynch movie too but I honestly believe that's what the movie is about. Getting lost. When I watched it that's how I felt. Lost. I didnt even know how I got to scenes at times and was just confused the whole time but I was hypnotised by it. I actually started to feel claustrophobic because of how lost I got. Lynch's movies never have a definite answer but that's my interpretation of it
@@crispybacon3002 To me INLAND EMPIRE is Lynch´s magnum opus, just slightly above MD to me. There is certainly a meaning to it, I would say a straight narrative throughout, but just like LH and MD you have to interpret and connect all the metaphors. In essence all three movies foolow the same structure; the unwinding of a fantasy to escape something horrible to the harsh reality. IE is in that regard the most optimistic of the three.
I spent years trying to figure out this film and now it feels magical ! It is even better than the film itself to have some very clear explanations and feelings runing while recreating the film all over again in my head. Thank you for this little gem of happiness I felt :)
Excellent analysis! I am currently submerged in the most extensive film study of my entire life with Mulholland Drive. I love this film!
I think even the actors didn’t understood about theirs role,
That’s why didn’t ask any question to director for not to loose their roles.
on the other hand, I would say Naomi Watts did get it because she was having a bad time getting casted before this film. So maybe and just maybe, she could see herself in Diane Wasting her life in hollywood.
It is not always a big deal if actors do not understand the real motivations of their characters...Actors--and most employed people for that matter, are told to do what the director wants....they are well-paid "prostitutes". trying their best to fulfill the creative fantasies of their boss. It sounds harsh, but that is the reality of most workers ...I used to tell my supervisors at work, whenever they would direct me to do something different that "Of course I will do it--I am being well-paid to do things I might not agree with..I am a prostitute!"
Great explanation that seems totally justified within the film itself without reaching. I've seen this movie 3 times and had different interpretations, none quite the same as this video but have always felt deeply moved and disturbed even when I genuinely didn't understand it in my first viewing. The great thing about Lynch is that his films might seem surreal and impenetrable on first viewing, but there is always some sort of explanation for what is going on, even if it is only metaphorical or allegorical. He does an amazing job of rewarding several viewings while creating a completely unique atmosphere on the first viewing that can never quite be matched again. If Lynch's films are dreams then it totally makes sense that you experience it first, and only can analyze it later.
The ending is so terrifying and haunting. I'm surprised this isn't considered a horror film. Still one of mg most favorite films though!
I watch this movie every year on my birthday, it's my favorite film by far. Everything you said was spot on, 2 parallels i'd like to mention is the diner scene in the dream where the scared man says "to get rid of this god awful feeling" and in reality where she says "more than anything in this world" meaning she want's to kill Camilla thinking it will make her feel better. There is so much magic in dreaming verging on worlds that predict the future and mystical entities like the cowboy or the presenter in Club Silencio being manifestations of Diane's ego and guilt. Lynch truly has learned to delve within side himself through his meditations and the stuff that comes out is pure imagination finding a kingdom inside himself. I'm really glad I subbed, you have a very good knack at explaining his art.
This is why I love Lynch's films. Everything isn't force-fed to you (like most Hollywood films)...you have to put the pieces together and figure it out on your own.
Well, this is the best explanation I've had of Mulholland Drive. I saw the film after seeing almost all of Lynch's other works, including some of his shorts and school films. I was fatigued at Lynch's classic style and did not take the time to deconstruct its meaning this well. Thanks for clarifying! I might give it another chance.
This is a valid interpretation of the movie. But after watching Return to Twin Peaks, the theory of alternate realities becomes a stronger alternative. Just as there was a good Cooper and an evil Cooper fighting to see whose reality would win out, Betty can be seen as an alternate universe of Diane. It's possible that Diane has made a Faustian deal with the devil, like the main character of Lost Highway. Lynch has stated that Mulholland Drive takes place in the same world as Twin Peaks. In this world, dreams can be our awareness of alternate realities that might exist in another universe.
Fun supporting detail: when Betty and Rita go to take their seats in Club Silencio, they pass Sheryl Lee and Phoebe Augustine, the actresses who played Laura Palmer and Ronette Pulaski in "Twin Peaks". The two are sitting next to each each, suggesting Club Silencio may also connect to the 'red room". Sheryl Lee's name was left out of the credits (perhaps b/c it would draw too much attention to this little detail but Phoebe Augustine is credited.
Quickly becoming one of my favorite UA-cam channels. Another solid analysis.
Thanks for watching Brandon!
Remarkably lucid and succinct summation and analysis of a great and complex film -- in less than 14 minutes, at that: kudos!
It’s been a few years since I last watched this film. You made a great point - we are so taken in with Diane Selwyn’s fantasy world that when we see the reality it’s almost unbelievable. That’s why I love David Lynch. His stories are crazy simple, but his presentation is brilliant.
What a compelling analysis! I especially enjoy how you use rationality to uncover abstraction without undermining either process. World class presentation as well.
Best channel on UA-cam yet again! I will do what I can when I get my next pay packet. You are worth supporting.
Roland Baldwin thank you so much! That means a lot to us. Keep watching and spreading the word :-)
Lynch is a Genius. WHAT AN MASTERPIECE.GREAT EXPLANATION.
Thank you! I just finished watching the film and don’t have time to rewatch to figure out what I just watched! Great explanation. I’ll have to check your videos and see if you have a take on the Twin Peaks S3 finale
Hey Kev, we're working on an analysis of the new Twin Peaks, but not specifically the finale
Best explanation of this movie so far.
Thank you!
Beautifully done! One tiny exception to your opening words "It was all a dream." Perhaps, if you want to consider what goes through one's (dying) brain a "dream." The first part was most certainly a self-justifying example of self-deception -- one that fell apart with the blue puzzle, at which point Diane is actually dealing with what she has done.
The parallels to Sunset Boulevard may just be Lynch's cute touches to make this a genuine "homage" to Hollywood, but Diane's being lured to Mulholland Drive, and Betty Schaefer's being lured to Sunset Boulevard suggest that Diane's dreaming is a serious reckoning ... and that the Blue Haired Lady at the silent film palace is really Gloria Swanson/Norman Desmond delivering the final lesson.
im glad I saw and worked this movie out for myself before the internet was such a big thing. id hate to have had this video explain it for me. it was much more rewarding to watch it ten times.
Very interesting video. Love your channel. Thank you for doing this film. Strange and great film.
Thanks for watching Ravi!
amazing, greatly explained and put together with great clarity, what a challenge with this one too
Thank you very much, Rene!
i love this movie, it took me multiple watches to understand but it is now one of my all time favs
what did i do to deserve this channel? md is my favorite movie thank you for making this video
We love it too. Thanks for watching!
best film channel on youtube, hands down
Thank you PyroNexus22!
Narrator Darling, you did the whole explaining under two mins, that's pretty awesome
almost everything Lynch does feels like a dream
i've always considered his movies as pure artwork meant to be experienced, not explained
but,just like a dream or art,they can be interpreted in any way you like them to be
That's what Lynch wants from the audience - to experience in their own way and not someone else's explanation.
This is by far the best illustration and explanation of this film.
For once I do not feel as if I am either hearing a conspiracy theory, nor bland muddled guidance, shots in the dark, or the quite common commentary that focuses only on the external appeal of the film without attempting to express any analysis of the story.
I'd enjoy seeing your perspectives on Inland Empire.
I absolutely love this channel, I'm always looking forward to the next video! Keep up te good work ❤
Thank you so much Viquetoria!
That homeless monster is the root of everything. He is the one who caused Diane's dream and hallucinations. Remember how the man said that "he is the one who is doing this".
He planted the key in Diane's mind. The key opens the path to all her hallucinations and dreams. Everytime she sees the key she remembers her guilt and becomes unstable. He also has that box, the box is a device to cause everything. From the box we see some energy releases which eventually reach Diane to haunt her.
Why is he doing it? I think the monster represents something paranormal, like guilt, punishment or death. We never see him (or his box) outside Diane's dream so how did he get there. He is not real. He is a being who has arrived to haunt Diane of her past and her guilt of killing her lover, and eventually cause her doom.
I watched Muholland Drive many times when the dvd first came out, and after something like 5 viewings this was all pretty much my own interpretation as well. Very close! At one point, I was researching the historical accounts about the Black Dahlia, Elizabeth Short in 1947 Los Angeles, and when I revisited Muholland Drive I kept thinking about that story, which gave Lynch's movie an even more chilling and obsessive resonance; including that yearning in the viewer to part the drapes and know what was really going on, and feeling frustrated by the denial of that knowledge (who was Elizabeth Short/Diane Selwyn, really? Who took her life? How? Etc). A lot of dark alternate tragic worlds in Hollywood history. Occasionally, I altered my interpretations of the film, but ultimately this video matches how I generally perceived it. Ultimately a story about suicidal depression (if we choose to "superficialize" the movie. Good job.
Love Mulholland Drive. One of my favorite movies. Nice analysis!
Ironic that Naomi Watts real life reflected the story. Not only did she struggle and face adversity while being in hollywood but she was also friends with a superstar starlet: Nicole Kidman.
Her performance defiantly deserved more accolades and attention. Naomi delivers stellar range in this movie.
Great analysis per the norm. Lucid and succinct breakdowns like this are the reason why I subscribed to ScreenPrism. You could do an entire series on Lynch's oeuvre. Say, how bout, Inland Empire next?!
This is a great analysis of one of my favorite films. Very spot on!
Amazing explanation and channel. In reference to the movie, It's also ironic how due to the sense of guilt for reality (the death) Diane is the savior of 'Rita' in her dream
Thank you!
this is the channel that i miss. make screenprism great again!
'It was all a dream'. The director losing control of the film is a version of Lynch's problems during the making of Dune. The weird Italian money-men (one of which is played by the composer Badalamenti) represent the De Laurentiis family that took final cut away from Lynch. They also imposed the casting of the princess character (this is 'the girl') which why 'the girl' in Mulholland Drive looks a lot like a young Virginia Madsen.
Such a great film, still one of the best of the 21st century, and another great video from this channel; thanks.
@Raw Engineer Lynch delights in knowing that people will come to many different conclusions...there is a rumor, that Lynch purposely scrambled the order of some of these scenes, at random, to see how observers might somehow make sense out of randomness....I do not embrace such a thought about this movie, but Life itself, comes out of chaos, and Lynch flirts with this sobering observation in all of his works....his genius is in making us think about such dynamics!
The little details i missed out got from this video. . Thanks for the detailed explanation
THANK YOU FOR THIS!! I am subscribing. This video is so well done and has made me want to watch the movie again. Will definitely share with friends, thanks again!
Thanks we always love a share!
So twisted but true!
Rita is the embodiment of the casting couch.Once you realize this, the entire film falls into place.
Always thought the two men were detectives trying to find Diane rather than the hit men in the car makes sense how she would be trying to hid from them in her dream
This is the Best explanation i have got till now , you made it so simple
Seeing this video just after I watched the one you created about Twin Peaks, showed me how much these two Lynches creations are similar. Wow!
I'm not sure how you did it, but bravo.
Thank you Leo!
ScreenPrism HOLY SHIT YALL RESPONDED am I like famous now
That is one a depth explanation of Mulholland Drive thank you very much
Amazing analysis. And they very reason why I worship David Lynch.
Thank you Felipe!
Amazing analysis! Very concise, yet well-rounded. Thanks so much for this.
Great video. Both actresses are so beautiful, i'm in love with the passion between them. Here it is what i thought it doesn't fit to the mind like yours but i'd like to share. So, we saw Rita having a car accident. Forgets who she is. She sneaks into the house and starts to see Betty. Which is her own imagination. They go to see Diane but she was dead. (There is a waky waky part that's been acted by the cowboy it's blinking that it's a dream i know but i don't want to believe that 😂) Before she opens the box betty disappears. When she opens the box she remembers it all starts to come together and we learn that diane is betty and she realizes she made her kill herself. The assassins couldn't kill, they failed. He started to look for the brunette woman on the streets. He couldn't found her. Also what about the black book he stole ? He killed three people for that. I couldn't understand that and he had one brown eye. At the end of the movie he had 2 blue eyes. So basicly what i'm trying to say is she has become a schizo after the accident, maybe... Who knows. Great video, thanks again.
Fantastic analysis!
Some compare to “Vertigo.” No. “Vertigo” had a coherent, plausible story, with the only untenable scene being when Madelyn went into the hotel and disappeared.
Finally! Thanks for the video.
Loved this film.
Good analysis
I heard Lynch trying to explain this fantastic movie, but it confused me more. He creates certain disturbing moods more than actual chok effects.
Thats his genious way to
Make the sence of "Something is not as it should be", Its extremely difficult to direct such films.
Kubrick har same athmosphere in Many of his movie s....
I watched the movie when it was released many years ago and walked out really confused. Watched it again today followed by your explanation. Thank you very much, I now have closure. Time to move onto another mind boggling film...
Even if the movie is hard to follow sometimes, it is very entertaining and mysterious.
Very few directors are able to achieve this sense of dread while watching a film.
When I first saw Lost Highway I was blown away by the slow weirdness of the plot and the soundtrack.
But with Mullholland Drive it was just intense and phantasmagorical right away.
Winkies scene with monster/bum. Terrifying horror amidst blazing sunlight. Lynch-stand up and take a bow. Other horror directors give up now!
A beautiful explanation of the film. My dumbass, when I first watched this film, couldn't grasp the fact Diane was dreaming. I only watched it at 15 but still.