Don't expect to understand it after just one viewing...but well worth the effort for those who watch it again (and again!)

Rating: 10/10 (21 April 2003)

***CONTAINS SPOILERS*** The tagline of "Mulholland Drive" reads "A Love Story in the City of Dreams." I can't possibly think of a more appropriate phrase to summarize this film. "Mulholland Drive" is a twisted journey into the darker side of Hollywood, love and relationships, and the darkest corners of the human psyche. Naomi Watts delivers an amazing performance as Betty Elms/Diane Selwyn; the former, an idealized, sugar-coated counterpart to the latter, a woman so utterly overwhelmed with failure, guilt, and regret she resorts to fantasizing how things might have been in a extended "Wouldn't it be nice if..." sort of dream sequence that creates the first 2/3 of the film. After watching the film (preferably more than once), you cannot help but wonder if Diane has been driven to such an end by the corrupt functioning of Hollywood film making in Los Angeles, by being constantly toyed with and led on by the manipulative, but oh-so-seductive Camilla (Laura Elena Harring), or if she has simply fallen victim to her own seemingly delusional perception and mental/emotional instability. Perhaps it is a combination of all three.
Whatever your interpretation of the film may be, you should see it more than once. The hypnotic nature of "Mulholland Drive" is one of the many reasons it is such an incredible film.