The stitch of thought

Rating: Null/10 (15 July 2004)

This movie is a dizzy descent down the winding staircase into the boiler room of human consciousness. Its storyline remains a puzzle as it is not told objectively from an outside standpoint. The initially simple tale of love, lust and rivalry between two aspiring Hollywood actresses is told as witnessed through the protagonist's ( Diane's ) mind. Rather than being a simple 'dream' the movie reveals the darkest recesses of the mind, a realm of fantasies, desires, obsessions and projections. What we are presented with is an alternative reality generated within our protagonists brain, in which people and objects appear in an altered state. Hence, it is impossible for the viewer to discover a coherence or logic in what is confusingly presented as a fluent narrative. The movie takes the viewer into the realm of the Precognitive, where intellectual analysis and rational deduction forsake him. Watching the film for the first time is a fascinating and frustrating experience. We can only assume that what we are watching is real and are baffled when a character development suddenly takes a turn to the absurd or a plot point we have become interested in is abandoned. Lynch presents hallucination and reality as equal and undistinguishable partners and we are constantly fooled into believing that the fake is genuine. This is bizarrely summed up in 'club silencio' a frightening and surreal cabaret where a series of experiments trade illusion over reality. A singer delivers a beautiful interpretation of 'Crying'. We are completely caught up in the intensity of the song when the singer suddenly slumps down onto the floor and we realize that she has been lip-synching to a recording. During this little act we fall into the traps of perception and logical thinking. We are presented with a mirage of sound and vision and deduce that the singer is singing. Our perception is hostage to an illusion, just as in much of Mulholland Drive our expectations are used against us and we are taken in by the illusions and fantasy worlds of its' characters. This is a complex and confusing movie that requires and rewards and interpretation. Mulholland Drive dramaticaly charts the mysterious choreography of the mind that swirls beneath the pre- or subconscious.