Mulholland Drive

Mulholland Drive; drama / mystery, USA / France, 2001; D: David Lynch, S: Naomi Watts, Laura Herring, Justin Theroux, Ann Miller, Dan Hedaya, Robert Forster

Los Angeles. Rita loses her memory after a car accident and hides in an apartment. It's the home of actress Betty who just moved in. Betty makes friends with Rita, who remembers the name of someone called Diane, who is found dead in her apartment. At the same time, director Adam leaves a film because the producers are trying to impose actress Camilla in the main role. A mysterious cowboy advises Adam to accept it, and he does. Rita opens a magical box: Betty becomes Diana, Rita becomes Camilla. They are lovers, but Camilla loves Adam. Diana commits suicide.

David Lynch rightfully made a huge 'comeback' with the excellent dreamy-hypnotic mystery-drama "Mulholland Dr.": his biggest virtue is that he took a chaotic, illogical story and actually made it coherent. It's not that it's clear what is happening, but rather that the viewers are willing to go through almost anything just watch the film's mood. It is truly astounding what effect of suggestiveness can be achieved through a moving camera, yet the sole film really has many layers of symbolism, many of whom are noticed only when the viewers pay close attention, that it offers a dozen interpretations of events. Also, many jokes are very stylish: for instance, director Adam is on a session where movie producers want to "slip" actress Camilla in the film. Producer no. 1 takes a sip of cappuccino, spits it out on a napkin and says: "Shit." Adam then stands up and asks: "What is going on here?", while Producer no. 2 shouts: "Stop it!!!" Then Producer no. 1 comments about Camilla: "She is the right one." In another humorous sequence, an assassin kills a man in the office, but his bullet passes through the wall and also wounds a woman in the room next door. In order to maintain the discrete tone, he kills her too, but also the janitor who witnessed the deed by accident. But the thing doesn't end there: to make things worse for the assassin, he shoots the loud vacuum-cleaner, but the smoke causes the fire alarm to go off, causing even more chaos! Regarding the dreamy story "twist", maybe it can be interpreted this way: when Rita opens the magical box, she opens the door to a new dimension in which she became Camilla, while Betty became Diana. In both worlds they became lovers and ended tragic, which symbolizes the determinism of life. Just like in many other Lynch's films, "Mulholland" is also a hermetic puzzle, but it stimulates the subconscious mind so much that it's a delight: it's a film for the right, creative side of the brain that defies logic and simply swims through the esoteric, since many analysis of it lead to a dead end anyway.

Grade:+++