My Essay on Mulholland Drive.
Mulholland Drive is conceived as a puzzle, but its intricate plot feels more like a surreal brainteaser, a riddle of sorts. It presents alternative realities in a dream-like setting where different layers of consciousness are intertwined and the characters come in and out of reality and dreams. The movie does not follow a linear or chronological progression. There are never any clues to the viewer when the sequence breaks from reality to fantasy or visa- versa. But in both states there is always an implied criticism of Hollywood.
Diane with her obsession with Camilla sets the plot in motion in the “reality” aspect of the film. It was her love for Camilla and Camilla’s rejection that causes her psychological breakdown and moves the story into the surreal sphere. It’s then, when Diane’s character creates her super-ego in the form of Betty, an innocent, perky, blond Southern bombshell in search of Hollywood stardom. Diane also transforms Camilla into Rita, who takes over the progression of the plot from the original (real) Diane. Camilla begins her life as Rita (as conceived by Diane) by denying her a past and confining her to the present through a state of amnesia (http://www.themodernword.com/mulholland_drive.html). This idea plays well with Lynches’ surreal Hollywood. A barren valley surrounded by mountains, which does not allow Hollywood itself to look beyond its own geographical barriers.
When in her fantasy, Diane first reaches Hollywood in the character of Betty; everything that surrounds her appears bright, positive and perfect. Hollywood is the expected dreamscape. People she encounters are nice and kind, exaggerated in a bizarre way. There seems be a juxtaposition of ordinary events and actions where the total experience does not seem to make sense, a kind of super-realism. The camera does not follow Betty, as it would be expected; it stays with the casual and inconsequential characters she met on the way. Just like in a dream where unimportant events seem to take an importance of their own. This is a clear clue to the audience that the film is taking them beyond reality (http://www.themodernword.com/mulholland_drive.html).
The symbolic Hollywood landscape appears in many other events in the movie either as objects or places. The blue box is one of the mysteries in the film, which seems to contain the repressed memories denied to Rita, and Diane as the holder of the key. It may represent reality and thus the true Hollywood. The blue box is pretty and inviting on the outside, but there’s a pending tension, which suggests that what it contains, what it opens to, is the nightmarish reality. It brings to mind the idea of the Pandora’s box, which once it’s opened it will bring the destruction of the surrounding world. Typical of the surrealist imagery, it’s strangely evocative and it transcends logic. Places such as Winkie’s Dinner and Club Silencio represents what is shady and dishonest in the Hollywood dream world (Mulholland Drive DVD).
Winkie’s dinner is the place where Diane orders the hit to kill Camille. It’s within this setting where “the monster” is first introduced, thus suggesting that once Diane has made up her mind to get rid of Camille, she associates her criminal intentions with a monster. And of course, the monster, as representative of her id, or what’s deepest in her un-consciousness, lives outside of the Café, by the garbage dumpsters (Mulholland Drive DVD).
Club Silencio also contains many metaphorical dimensions. It is a night time only bar, a theatre of desire and illusions. The guests all seem very unhappy, insomniac and disappointed (disillusioned). Still, the show must go on and as part of the theatrical pretence the MC, dressed like a magician, announces, “it’s an illusion. Listen!”
Diane with her obsession with Camilla sets the plot in motion in the “reality” aspect of the film. It was her love for Camilla and Camilla’s rejection that causes her psychological breakdown and moves the story into the surreal sphere. It’s then, when Diane’s character creates her super-ego in the form of Betty, an innocent, perky, blond Southern bombshell in search of Hollywood stardom. Diane also transforms Camilla into Rita, who takes over the progression of the plot from the original (real) Diane. Camilla begins her life as Rita (as conceived by Diane) by denying her a past and confining her to the present through a state of amnesia (http://www.themodernword.com/mulholland_drive.html). This idea plays well with Lynches’ surreal Hollywood. A barren valley surrounded by mountains, which does not allow Hollywood itself to look beyond its own geographical barriers.
When in her fantasy, Diane first reaches Hollywood in the character of Betty; everything that surrounds her appears bright, positive and perfect. Hollywood is the expected dreamscape. People she encounters are nice and kind, exaggerated in a bizarre way. There seems be a juxtaposition of ordinary events and actions where the total experience does not seem to make sense, a kind of super-realism. The camera does not follow Betty, as it would be expected; it stays with the casual and inconsequential characters she met on the way. Just like in a dream where unimportant events seem to take an importance of their own. This is a clear clue to the audience that the film is taking them beyond reality (http://www.themodernword.com/mulholland_drive.html).
The symbolic Hollywood landscape appears in many other events in the movie either as objects or places. The blue box is one of the mysteries in the film, which seems to contain the repressed memories denied to Rita, and Diane as the holder of the key. It may represent reality and thus the true Hollywood. The blue box is pretty and inviting on the outside, but there’s a pending tension, which suggests that what it contains, what it opens to, is the nightmarish reality. It brings to mind the idea of the Pandora’s box, which once it’s opened it will bring the destruction of the surrounding world. Typical of the surrealist imagery, it’s strangely evocative and it transcends logic. Places such as Winkie’s Dinner and Club Silencio represents what is shady and dishonest in the Hollywood dream world (Mulholland Drive DVD).
Winkie’s dinner is the place where Diane orders the hit to kill Camille. It’s within this setting where “the monster” is first introduced, thus suggesting that once Diane has made up her mind to get rid of Camille, she associates her criminal intentions with a monster. And of course, the monster, as representative of her id, or what’s deepest in her un-consciousness, lives outside of the Café, by the garbage dumpsters (Mulholland Drive DVD).
Club Silencio also contains many metaphorical dimensions. It is a night time only bar, a theatre of desire and illusions. The guests all seem very unhappy, insomniac and disappointed (disillusioned). Still, the show must go on and as part of the theatrical pretence the MC, dressed like a magician, announces, “it’s an illusion. Listen!”