A movie of switching identities

Rating: 9/10 (25 September 2006)

A lot of people give this film a very low rating, only because they find it too confusing. I think this is unjust. Once you take the confusion for granted and watch this movie a second or third time, it actually starts to become very interesting and intriguing. I really like this movie, even though I haven't understood everything yet and some of the scenes are still a mystery to me. Even if you don't UNDERSTAND it, even critics can hardly deny that the mysteries in this film send chills down your spine, every time you watch it again. And I think this is exactly what David Lynch intended: he wants to evoke a reaction from his public. Mission accomplished, at least that's what I think.
What is perhaps the most crucial thing about learning to appreciate this movie, is not to be irritated by the frequent identity switches that take place, but to take them for granted. Actually, as far as I'm concerned, they are all projections of one person, which gives the female masturbation scene at the end of the movie a lot of sense. This movie is about narcissism, and the themes of lesbian love and Hollywood stardom get intertwined to a degree where you can't separate one from the other as a viewer. An interesting sidenote here is also that the two main protagonists are BOTH women (instead of the usual male-female couple --- only the movie director played by Justin Theroux is actually male.) Whether the actual "plot" of the movie involves a murder attempt or only a suicide (or both?), I still don't know for sure. But does it really matter? I actually like to watch this movie again, in order to try and find out.
And for all of those people who are critical about this movie because they find it too incoherent: remember that Lynch does this intentionally. Actually, allusions to illusionism and magic abound in this movie. We can see rooms full of smoke, and of course there is also the scene in the theatre where the guy on stage disappears in a classical puff of smoke ("It's all an illusion").
The first time I saw this movie, I found it inferior to "Lost Highway", for the same reason as a lot of people: the incoherence seemed a little overdone (even in comparison to Lost Highway, yes). However, now that I have seen the movie 3 times, it doesn't seem so bad anymore. I actually started to like this movie very much, and I hope that more people will follow.