the movie is deep..but what's funny is that lynch always says that people shouldnt have any trouble understanding his movies...well when i saw it last weekend, folk were pissed off BECAUSE they couldnt get it. a lot of what you said i was thinking about when i watched the movie....so you are dead on in a lot of respects. :)

but mulholland drive is the shit..it will definitely be on my top ten films list of 2001 for real...
Ryan




>If I had watched it myself
>I would have left dejected,
>mumbling to myself that I
>was too "thick" to appreciate
>what the fuck Lynch had
>just dropped on me.
>Thankfully, in the delicious post-film
>discussion my friends began piecing
>it all together for me
>and this is the highly
>fragile understanding I have of
>the narrative thus far.
>
>Courtesy of my friends Nick Cvercko
>and Crystal House
>
>Ok, here is what I (allegedly)
>figured out about the movie
>Mullholland Dr. by David Lynch.
>I will be the first
>to admit that the major
>idea of fantasy/reality didn’t come
>completely from myself. I was
>getting there but had much
>assistance from a friend of
>a friend. I will break
>it down into a character-by-character
>basis at this point as
>it is the easiest way
>to understand it in one
>sitting. First, there are two
>major parts of the movie,
>the first part is a
>fantasy world. The second part
>is reality. I will start
>with the characters in the
>reality portion, as again, it
>is easier to understand this
>way
>
>REALITY----------------------------------------------------------
>
>Diane – Is the main character
>in the whole movie. It
>is her life that is
>unfolding before our eyes. She
>is a failed actress who
>is madly in love with
>a successful one (Camille). Camille
>isn’t in love with Diane
>but seems to be in
>this thing for occasional sex.
>Diane imagines a different life,
>one where she is named
>Betty which is a name
>that she randomly gets from
>a waitresses name tag. She
>imagines herself in a world
>where all of the things
>actually work as she sees
>they should or do work.
>She decides to have Camille
>killed when she doesn’t have
>her way (which is when
>she launches into her fantasy
>at the sight of the
>name “Betty”) At the end,
>she kills herself when she
>realizes that not only is
>her fantasy so very far
>from the truth, but that
>she killed the one person
>that she cares for in
>the world.
>
>Camille- Is a successful actress who
>decided to have a little
>fun with this failed actress.
>Doesn’t have any emotional attachment
>to Betty instead falls in
>love with the director of
>her film. While Betty is
>on the set one day,
>Camille’s and the Directors feelings
>for each other come into
>plain view. Betty flips out
>in a jealous rage and
>causes quite a scene on
>her set (no pun intended).
>To save face around her
>associates, she invites betty
>to a cast party and
>pretends like there is nothing
>wrong between them and that
>nothing at all is going
>on between them. There she
>announces her engagement to the
>director. A hit man tries
>to kill her in the
>opening scenes of this movie
>but teenagers racing their cars
>do it instead.
>
>The Director- Simply picks Camille instead
>of Diane for a part,
>launching Camille’s career. He is
>a general figure to which
>Diane focuses her resentment.
>
>Hit man – Just some
>schmoe that Diane finds and
>pays to knock Camille off.
>Tells her that when the
>job is done, he will
>place a blue key where
>he can find it.
>
>Blond Actress (who’s name escapes me)
>– This is the personification
>of jealousy or betrayal in
>Diane’s mind. She kisses Camille
>just as Diane feels most
>violated. Right when Diane feels
>most violated, when Camille announces
>her engagement to the director,
>the actress comes up and
>kisses Camille further enraging Diane.
>She is one of a
>few characters that I don’t
>consider characters as much as
>symbols for turning points.
>
>Cowboy – I listed the Cowboy
>last because he is one
>of the few characters that
>transcends the Reality/Fantasy boundary with
>no visible change. This is
>because I’m actually disregarding him
>as a character and making
>him more a visible symbol.
>In the Fantasy World, he
>talks to the Director about
>choosing the other blonde actress
>for the part. He says
>something about how attitude depicts
>the outcome of life. He
>becomes this philosophy personified. When
>he wakes Diane up, he
>is basically slapping her and
>telling her to snap out
>of it. He is telling
>her that this reality is
>her fault caused by her
>negative attitude and that no
>fantasy is going to change
>that. He also tells the
>Director earlier on that he
>will show up once if
>he did the right thing.
>He then walks casually through
>the party where Camille and
>him announce their wedding plans.
>When he shows up this
>one time, he is not
>so much saying that what
>was done was right in
>the right/wrong sense of the
>word, he is saying that
>the actions taking place are
>right as in true. This
>is what happens when she
>approaches life with the attitude
>she has. These are her
>consequences.
>
>Ok, from here, we must go
>back to the beginning of
>the movie where the fantasy
>starts.
>
>FANTASY----------------------------------------------------------
>
>Betty – Is Diane as she
>sees herself in her fantasy;
>an innocent, talented actress who
>loves the woman in her
>life dearly and is loved
>back. She decides to help
>this person out and when
>this happens the romance is
>started. Later on, they attend
>a theater in the middle
>of the night that strongly
>forces the thought that this
>whole world is fake. During
>this performance, her fantasy is
>drawing to an end and
>she starts to realize it
>as she cries and goes
>into minor convulsions.
>Rita - This is Camille as
>Diane wishes she were. She
>gets in a car accident,
>which was actually her assassination
>attempt that she didn’t survive.
>In the fantasy though, she
>not only survives but forgets
>everything from her past life,
>most importantly she forgets about
>Hollywood and everyone else that
>Diane thinks that took her
>away from her. She only
>knows about her new found
>friendship with Betty that quickly
>turns into love.
>
>Diane – Ok, here’s the tricky
>part. In the fantasy, Rita
>sees a waitress while on
>a search for a clue
>of her former life. The
>waitress is wearing a name
>tag that says “Diane”, this
>is not the Diane that
>we are talking about here.
>But just as the name
>“Betty” gets the Diane in
>the real life fantasizing about
>how things could have been,
>the name “Diane” lets
>Rita
>Remember a name from her life…the
>real life. Then, when they
>track down this Diane and
>go into her apartment, they
>find a body that obviously
>died of a drug overdose
>some time ago. They are
>both shocked but Rita just
>flips out. This is Diane
>being bitter and suicidal in
>her fantasy. This body is
>the real Diane. She kills
>herself and Rita is heartbroken.
>This is Diane’s way of
>saying “when I’ll be gone,
>she’ll be sorry!!!” And if
>you remember, when the cowboy
>wakes Diane up from her
>fantasy showing her the real
>world, she is in exactly
>the same pose in the
>same apartment as the dead
>body. Yes it’s confusing but
>very keen.
>
>The Director – This is one
>of the only characters that
>is essentially the same in
>the fantasy as he is
>in reality, the only difference
>is the people around him
>and how they affect his
>actions. He is the director
>of a new picture. He
>wants it his way but
>the big wigs tell him
>that it will go theirs,
>guess who wins. He sees
>Betty while auditioning for the
>main women for his new
>movie, he instantly likes what
>he sees but his hands
>are tied.
>
>The Mysterious Midget Producer guy in
>the suit – This is
>the invisible somebody that gets
>in Betty’s way. She sees
>herself as a wonderful actress
>as shown by the audition
>in her fantasy. Obviously, the
>only reason that she wouldn’t
>get the part that she
>wants is that someone has
>unfairly cut past the audition
>process and pushed his favorite
>actress into the spot. This,
>to Diane, is the only
>reason that she is not
>successful, it’s not her fault,
>it’s “the system”.
>
>The Blonde Actress who’s name still
>escapes me – Once again,
>she represents jealousy in Diane’s
>life. When Betty goes to
>the audition, she catches the
>eye of the director right
>after a stellar audition
>a few minutes earlier. But
>because the director was told
>by “the system” that he
>had to cast this other
>girl, Betty gets nothing.
>
>The Creepy Neighbor lady who comes
>to Betty’s door – Unfortunately,
>this one eluded me. All
>I really see her as
>is a symbol for trouble
>coming into the relationship or
>trouble in Rita’s life that
>comes between them eventually. But
>for the most part, I
>think she just moved to
>plot along and gave it
>some danger.
>
>The old people who turn out
>to be really creepy -
>These are the people who
>at the beginning of the
>movie say their goodbyes to
>Betty and send her on
>their merry way. They are
>overly happy but this doesn’t
>really matter. What matters is
>when they come back during
>the real world as tiny,
>scary versions of themselves. They
>are basically showing Diane that
>she is delusional, that she
>made her bed and has
>to lye in it. They
>symbolize her fantasy coming back
>and haunting her, showing her
>how it could have been
>until she fucked it up.
>This drives her to suicide.
>
>The really really creepy dark character
> - This person is
>closely related to the box
>that he sometimes holds. He
>shows up whenever fantasy and
>reality suddenly switch positions. His
>appearance at the beginning of
>the movie was simply an
>explanation for who he is
>and what he represents.
>
>Assassin – This is the same
>person in reality as in
>fantasy. His appearance in the
>fantasy is a short one
>but shows Diane’s rationalization. She
>dreams up this little slapstick
>filled scenario looking down on
>the assassin, showing his light
>attitude towards killing. This justifies
>her use of her services
>in her mind seeing as
>though so many have died
>by his senseless killings anyway.
>Eventually though he delivers the
>key to her, the key
>represents guilt for her actions.
>
>
>So you see, when at the
>end of the fantasy, Betty
>starts to realize that she
>is Diane and that nothing
>around her is real, this
>box appears in her purse.
>When this box is opened
>with the blue key, the
>same blue key that the
>assassin leaves for her when
>he completes his job. This
>key is a symbol for
>Diane’s guilt. When it appears
>in the fantasy world, it
>ends it. This is her
>realizing what she has done
>to her only love and
>this kills her fantasy, letting
>everything get sucked up into
>the box. When she sees
>it in her apartment, she
>also realizes what she has
>done to her love and
>instead kills herself.
>
> Well, that’s it… I think.
>I might have left something
>or somebody important out but
>I think that this brings
>the movie together pretty well.
>I’m open to suggestions and
>or questions. Later on.
>
>
>"The task of philosophy is learning
>how to die." - Socrates
>
>
>"If you live day to day
>then you probably live life
>more than a cat who
>got a Benz bankroll and
>a wife cuz yo I've
>seen a lot of folks
>who's so called success =
>depressed and look up to
>broke peeps who hold the
>mik now." -Evidence
>
>"Socialism...let's hear that dirty word."-Jay Bulworth
>


Illusion is the first of all pleasures.
--Oscar Wilde

They strike one, above all, as giving no account of themselves in any terms already consecrated by human use; to this inarticulate state they probably form, collectively, the most unprecedented of monuments; abysmal the mystery of what they think, what they feel, what they want, what they suppose themselves to be saying.
--Henry James