Lynch's Debt to Le Fanu

Rating: Null/10 (15 April 2002)

* SPOILER *
Mulholland Drive is an incredibly multilayered film.
Lynch retells Joseph Sheridan Le Fanu's 1872 lesbian vampire story "Carmilla" but adds material and layers. In the source material, the vampiress Carmilla only preys upon young women; by the end of Mulholland Drive, Camilla (Laura Harring) has Adam Kesher (Justin Theroux) in her clutches. There is no jealousy in Le Fanu's story, since Carmilla sucks her victims dry, then moves on to the next one. The final scene with Betty (Naomi Watts) crying for jealousy is truly moving.
Lynch manages to keep up the air of suspense, yet having some superbly timed comedic moments and his signature quirky characters. The scene with Lorraine Kesher (Lori Heuring) and Gene the Pool Man (Billy Ray Cyrus) is hilarious. The Castigliani brothers are both comic and scary. The tall blond thug just can't seem to kill anyone properly without causing another crisis, which requires more killing.
There are many layers to this film, and it requires several viewings to sort them all out.
Bravo, Mr. Lynch. Not only do you challenge your viewers with a difficult plot, but the DVD version isn't divided into chapters; making it more difficult to skip between scenes to decode the nightmare.