How do you film a dream? Ask David Lynch.

Rating: 9/10 (16 November 2013)

This movie has become somewhat of an obsession for me and I have a very different idea of what the movie really is about. In my analysis, the movie really has two central themes. The first is a grim depiction of the reality that awaits those who come to Hollywood seeking fame and fortune, and how many who go there end up in very bad shape. The second theme revolves around David Lynch's attempt to literally film a dream/nightmare and contrast it with the reality of "Diane's" life. "Diane Selwyn" is the "real-life" character - a naive Midwestern arrival (who is also lesbian) seeking fame and fortune in Hollywood. In "reality," Diane is the waitress at the diner who, between shifts, scurries to and fro doing screen tests, looking for her big break. Diane meets the "real" Rita during a film shoot and they do some other gigs together and develop a romantic relationship. All hell breaks loose when the "real" Rita announces her marriage to the director Adam Kesher at a cast party held at Kesher's Mulholland Drive home. Thus begins a downward spiral for "Diane," who realizes that her "big break" (as well as her love life) will vanish once "Rita" is married. Also at the party, she realizes that "Rita" has another girlfriend on the side and has "moved on." Soon, Diane is hiring hit men to kill Rita, who (I think) end up killing, not Rita, but Rita's new girlfriend who was in the wrong place at the wrong time (I say that because it looks like the dead body in bungalow #12 has blond hair, so it can't be Rita). That is the "reality." The "dream" is Diane's psychotic nightmare after everything goes down and the police want to question her. In Diane's dream/nightmare, she is innocent "Betty" who comes to Hollywood and becomes a star. And rather than the reality of trying to murder Rita, she dreams that she is helping an amnesiac Rita remember who she is as they wander through Diane's dreamworld seeking clues. Various characters from Diane's "reality," like Kesher's mother Coco, assume different identities and roles in the dream. In Diane's dreams, she was screwed out of fame and fortune by Rita, Kesher and other sinister forces who control the movie industry (Dan Hedaya's movie mafia). Towards the end of the movie, we realize that "Diane's" life is unraveling. The movie, then, is a glimpse into the mind of a shattered soul who is cornered and hours away from ruin. I won't go any further into the plot, but I marvel at Lynch's attempt to film a "dream." The movie is not perfect, but it is a wonderful type of "whodunnit" that simply cannot be understood in one viewing.