It's a loop

Rating: 9/10 (5 May 2002)

I was bowled over by Mulholland. I had read nothing about the movie before I went to see it, just going on the merits of Lynch as a director. I have always loved his style of directing and vision. There is always a good-natured naiveté about his work. Something very pure and honest (this is why he goes on about the quality of coffee in his movies, I think). I am sure that most will not agree but that is the underlying feeling I get from it. He loves filmmaking and it shows. It is uncompromising and pure. It is brave and very rare in Hollywood.
Mulholland Dr follows into that vein but there is an underlying tone of evil from the beginning that is fed by the goody goody nature of Betty (just too good to be true..too wide eyed and innocent) and the leering old couple when they leave Betty on the pavement of LA airport. But you just don't know where Lynch is taking you with this. I just let it wash over me and it was astonishing. Creepy, funny and devastating the story is a loop but you only find that out, of course, at the end of the movie. Ending where it began. So I do not understand the notion that it is incoherent. It certainly isn't incoherent. It is a Loop. It doesn't deal with normal time notions but it gives you clues as to what state of reality Betty/Diane is in.
Just look for the ashtray in the shape of the Piano. The lampshade and the robe and the hairstyle... If you keep your eye on that you will know what is real and what isn't.
But then the question is.. What does it all mean? The Blue Box? The key? Silencio? The old Couple? The Thugs, No one can answer that (perhaps not even David Lynch) but one can only guess... and that is just part of the fun of this movie. There is no wrong answer but the symbolism is logical to a degree. (Think Pandora's box, the key is the key to Diane's release of her obsession, Silencio the calm before death, or death itself, The old couple her innocence lost..coming back to haunt her, The thugs are validating her belief that the director was bullied into choosing Camilla and had nothing to do with Diane's lack of talent or star quality) It stays with you long after you have left the cinema. Like some vivid dreams they can baffle you as to their meaning but make you richer for having them... I was bowled over by Mulholland.