Valley Girls

**Valley Girls** is the name given by David Lynch to eleven characters of his 2006 film *Inland Empire* "who serve as a kind of Greek chorus." The group is composed of Lanni, Terri, Lori, Chelsi, Sandi, Dori, Kari, Salli, Tammi, Roxi and Mandi. Their collective name derives from the San Fernando Valley, a region in Los Angeles. In the documentary *Lynch (one)*, Lynch refers to the girls as "the Valley girls." He also refers to Smithy's house as "the Valley house" because of the shooting location.

## Biography

### *Inland Empire*

They (except Salli, Tammi, Roxi and Mandi) first appear in a room from Smithy's house where Laura Dern's character is. Lanni tells her "Look at us and tell us if you've known us before," a line repeated two more times in the film. The group that is present (except Terri and Sandi) talks about the same man with whom they had been sexually involved, giving a detailed narration of their acts. Dern's character cries and is then told by the Valley girls that in the future she would be "dreaming, in a kind of sleep" and that when she opened her eyes someone familiar would be there. She covers her face. When she uncovers it, she's in Poland with Lanni and Lori.

Lanni says "This is the street." Lori asks Dern's character if she wants "to see" in a line later repeated by the Lost Girl to Dern's character and also spoken by the Phantom to the Lost Girl in *More Things That Happened*. Lanni says "Just down the way," a phrase spoken earlier by Visitor #1 to Nikki and later on repeated in Polish by the Phantom to the Lost Girl in Old Poland. (Although the real translation of his line is "Not far from here," it is subtitled as "Just down the way.") After the Lost Girl asks Dern's character if she wants to see and instructing her on how to do it, Lanni and Lori are seen opening a window curtain in Smithy's house, revealing a snowy street.

Later on, the girls (except Roxi and Mandi) talk in Smithy's house about a breakup. Lanni says finding someone else is "not easy when you feel like shit." The girls say that night "will be good" and they will "change that." Tammi sings a line from the song *The Locomotion* and all the girls snap their fingers. They dance to Little Eva's cover of the song after complimenting Lanni's breasts which she shows to the girls, predicting they will attract people. The song stops abruptly and the girls disappear in a jump.

In a later scene, seven of the girls (presumably the same group from the beginning) dance to Etta James' version of the song *At Last* in Smithy's house.

Lanni, Lori and Chelsi attend the barbecue in the backyard of Smithy's house. Sue tells the former two: "Look at me and tell me if you've known me before." Lanni answers: "Yes. We will do that."

Lanni and Lori look at the camera and repeatedly ask "Who is she?" with a female character from a previous Old Poland scene appearing in the background. Their image fades to the shot of a dead wounded woman with her insides coming out and spilling blood.

The girls (except Terri, Kari, Salli, Roxi and Mandi) are later seen hanging out in Smithy's house: eating, smoking, drinking and dancing to David Lynch's *Walkin' on the Sky* while Sue is "seeing" in a different room.

When Dern's character sits in Smithy's house wearing her bathrobe. Eight girls are seen dancing behind her. She turns around to look at them and screams, while flashes of light are shown superimposed. The shot fades to the same eight girls in Hollywood Boulevard as prostitutes. They scream "Hello!" together at Sue. She sees Doris coming to kill her and asks the girls for help. They ignore her. Lanni laughs out loud, triggering a transition to Old Poland where Lori and her are next to a tree. Chelsi and two girls behind her are just a few meters away from them. The Lost Girl stands between the trio and the couple, all of them in period clothing on a snowy street. The Lost Girl says to the couple in Polish: "Look at me and tell me if you've known me before." (The same thing as with the aforementioned Phantom's line happens with this one, the actual translation being "Look *(plural)* at me. Have you [girls] ever seen me?") Lori makes a gesture with her finger similar to the one the Phantom made at Doris to hypnotize her.

When Sue returns from Mr. K's office the prostitutes gather around her and one of them asks where she had been, with others nodding as if wondering the same. She says to them "Hey, watch this move" and snaps repeatedly. All the girls snap at the same time once. They scatter before Doris kills Sue. They run away screaming (except for Lanni who giggles).

In the final scene, Lanni and Lori run joyously hand in hand down the hallway of the hotel in Poland.

In the end credits sequence, the Valley girls (except Terri, Kari and Mandi) are dancing in Nikki's mansion together with a brunette before being joined by the rest of the singers and dancers in the place.

### *More Things That Happened*

While Sue washes glasses in the kitchen of Smithy's house, Lori flies a remote-controlled toy flying saucer in the living room while Lanni shoots at it with a flashlight. The two are very amused. The saucer crashes and falls to the floor.

Flashes of the girls dancing are seen when Dern's character sits in the dark in the living room.

Dori is on a phone call in Hollywood Boulevard with a guy named Gino. Mandi stands next to her telling her what to say. They promise to "hook" him "up like the last time" and add that they don't want "none of that dirty shit." Mandi calls Lanni to bring the pocketbook and drinks liquor from a bottle. Dori tells Gino that if he doesn't arrive in the moment they will call a person named Jay, all the while Lori wanders in the street. Mandi finally notices and asks "What the fuck is she doing?" Mandi claims the fifty cents she had loaned to Lanni the previous day, giving her the option to pay her with a calling card. Lanni takes the liquor bottle from Mandi and they both yell. Lori screams them to shut up which makes Mandi and her start yelling at each other. Mandi goes through the pocketbook. Lanni says "Look. It's not there. It's not there" while laughing. She cries for a moment then laughs again. There are several cigarettes on the sidewalk which Mandi arranges in neat rows. Lori shoves Lanni and they fight verbally. Lanni laughs. The liquor battle falls and breaks. Lori gives an apology ignored by Lanni, who walks away and gets a john whose car she enters. They drive off and return after a while. Lanni tells the gang she earned fifty euros. Mandi is angry that they didn't pay her in American dollars and asks what they're going to do with foreign currency. Dori and Lori are happy about the event at first, but Lori gets sad later.

The featurette ends with Dern's character sitting in the living room of Smithy's house with Sandi, Lanni, Tammi, Dori, Chelsi and Lori.

### *Scene from a David Lynch DV Project*

In or after the barbecue, Lanni and Lori are sitting next to Koz Kakawski in the backyard of Smithy's house. Lanni asks Lori to drink her Slurpee. She answers "Sure. You can have the rest" and hands it over to her. Lanni thanks Lori, drinks it and tells Koz she thought he had gone to the circus. He says he did. Lanni asks why he's in the backyard, then. He answers he is the sole pirate there with the use of one hand. The girls ask him where he is. He seems reluctant to answer the question. He says annoyedly that he's "nearby" and "right over there" while looking in a certain direction. Lori says "Close by." Koz asks what she meant by that, as if insulted. The two girls get serious in a moment of tension. Lori clarifies she meant "it's not so far" from where the backyard. Koz tells her angrily "That's not for you to say." Lori says OK before the sky gets dark and she says "Uh-oh" while looking at it. Her eyes turn black and back to normal twice and she asks "What's that?" Lanni replies "It's darker." Lanni says it's weird. A loud humming sound is heard and the three last lines are repeated by the same characters. The three of them sing.

## References

1. ↑ "*David started hiring me to work on things—I did the voice-over for a film he did called* Boat*—and when I went up to see it in December we were in his office and he kissed me,” recalled Stofle, whom Lynch subsequently cast as one of the seven Valley Girls who serve as a kind of Greek chorus in* INLAND EMPIRE*.*" Lynch, D., & McKenna, K. (2018). *Room to Dream*. Canongate Books.
2. ↑ "*Laura Dern, Emily Stofle, and Kristen Kerr were they and they had to be dressed in their San Fernando Valley summer clothes for the scenes we shot.*" Lynch, D., & McKenna, K. (2018). *Room to Dream*. Canongate Books.
3. ↑ [referring to two on-set pictures in Smithy's house] "*Lynch and Laura Dern shooting in the San Fernando Valley during the making of* INLAND EMPIRE*, c. 2004. Courtesy Absurda and StudioCanal. Photograph by Deverill Weekes.*" "*Lynch and Laura Dern on set in the San Fernando Valley during the making of* INLAND EMPIRE*, c. 2004. Photograph by Scott Ressler.*" Lynch, D., & McKenna, K. (2018). *Room to Dream*. Canongate Books.
4. ↑ "*Inland Empire* (2006) Movie Script". Subs like Script.