Movies revisited: Mulholland Drive

The movie Mulholland Drive is on Netflix now so it was time to rewatch! I remember being puzzled by it but that was a long time ago. I loved Twin Peaks back in the 90s, I would wait impatiently for the weekly episode on tv. The wait was so worth it – I actually find that the younger generations are missing out on the concept of waiting in general. But to get back on subject, my favorite series was Twin Peaks at the time (now: Twin Peaks and Lost) and I loved David Lynch so whenever a David Lynch movie would come out, I’d run to see it.

The Story

So, there is the short version of the story: A woman is in a car accident. She wakes up and does not remember who she is. She has a bag filled with money plus a small blue key. On the other hand, there is cute sweet naïve Betty. She is an aspiring actress and she just arrived in Los Angeles. They meet and Betty wants to help the other woman. They kind of fall in love.

And then, there is the long story – filled with strange people and loads of puzzle pieces. There is the maffia, a frustrated movie director with a very weird wife, a guy who’s been having nightmares, an old couple who gave me nightmares, a controlling guy in a wheelchair, singers and the most surreal Club Silencio. Of course, nobody is who they seem to be.

Mulholland Drive is a hallucinogen

I enjoyed Mulholland Drive much more than in 2001, that’s for sure – but I still did not quite understand what happened. Some aspects are easy to interpret but the story is disorienting and it revolves around identity, who is who, who did what and when, who controls who. Questions, questions. If you watch and rewatch the movie, some of these questions do get answered – but not all of them.

Mulholland Drive is a drug. It’s like using a hallucinogen: perceptions of reality are distorted, as are sensory perceptions and the concept of time is weird – to say the least.

Naomi Watts and Laura Harring

David Lynch actually pitched his Mulholland Drive concept as a series in the late 90s but the series never made it – partly because ABC wasn’t wildly enthusiastic about the pilot. He ended up making a feature movie with an ending (is it an ending though?) and double the budget.

It’s a good and timeless movie though, surreal and dream-like. Naomi Watts didn’t age a bit either – what’s with that? She is great by the way. She plays very different characters and she is convincing in all of them. Laura Harring is good for the role I suppose. She does not talk much and her expressions don’t really change a lot but she’s beautiful and mysterious – which is exactly what she is supposed to be.

Patrick Fischler pops up for no reason – he always plays weird guys. He gives me the chills every time!

David Lynch in Bonnefantenmuseum

There is an extensive David Lynch retrospective Someone is in my House on view at the moment at the Bonnefantenmuseum in Maastricht. It’s still on until the end of the month. Lynch has produced a teaser for his expo at the museum, which you can watch below. It’s super weird and freaky 😉

I quote: “Alongside his work as a director, Lynch has always remained active as a visual artist and in recent decades has created a vast oeuvre of paintings, drawings, lithos, photos, lamp sculptures, music and installations. Up to now, this oeuvre has seldom been exhibited in museums. The Bonnefantenmuseum is not only presenting the first museum exhibition of Lynch’s visual art in the Netherlands, but also the largest retrospective ever, comprising over 500 works by the artist.”

Tell me in the comments what you think about the ending of Mulholland Drive! Did you see it? Do you like the work of David Lynch?