Review: Like That One Sex Scene That's in Mulholland Drive
In praise of David Lynch and his unforgettable magnum opus
The Yearning Rating: ✰✰✰✰✰
Romance: ✰✰✰✰✰
Sex: ✰✰✰✰✰
Storytelling: ✰✰✰✰✰
Performance: ✰✰✰✰✰
Yearning: ✰✰✰✰✰
Today’s post is less a review than it is a thank you to the incomparable David Lynch.
Rest in peace.
Written by Ali Romig
I don’t remember many details about the first time I watched Mulholland Drive. And by that, I mean the “when”, “where”, “who with” of it all. This seems almost fitting for a film that is about—among many other things—the unreality of memory. Instead, what stuck with me from that initial viewing was a distinct feeling. It was the first time I had the conscious thought while watching a movie: don’t try to figure anything out yet; just watch. This may sound like a simple directive, but my editorial mind is often running ahead to find conclusions, narrative structure, meaning. David Lynch’s masterpiece is in direct opposition to that kind of thinking. It asks you to stay present with it, experience it moment by moment, or risk rendering it unwatchable. Learning to do this honestly changed the way I watch movies. Absolutely for the better.
Staying present with Mulholland Drive isn’t exactly easy. It’s disorienting from its very first frame—silhouetted shapes dancing erratically against a glaringly pink background, eventually intercut with real dancers performing a frenetic jitterbug. Finally, a superimposed image of a bleached-out, smiling blonde appears—she looks triumphant, radiant. We come to know her as Betty (an electric Naomi Watts), an aspiring actress who has just arrived in Hollywood from small town Ontario. It’s not long after Betty befriends an amnesiac woman calling herself Rita (Laura Herring), earlier seen stumbling away from a car crash on the titular road. The two quickly bond, and Betty agrees to help Rita recover her true identity. While they sleuth around LA looking for answers, the film also follows a disgruntled director (Justin Theroux) who’s quickly losing control of his movie and life, and some others as well—a cowboy, a hitman, and a horrifying human-adjacent figure hiding out behind a diner’s dumpster.
In the process of investigating, Betty and Rita’s connection deepens, eventually becoming romantic. After a night of passionate lovemaking (since immortalized in Chappell Roan’s Naked in Manhattan), Betty discovers a blue box inside her purse. Rita happens to have the matching key to the box. It’s here that the film splinters and splits into a funhouse version of itself. Betty becomes Diane Selwyn, a failed actress who has ordered a hit on her unfaithful ex-girlfriend, Hollywood film star Camilla Rhodes (who looks exactly like Rita).
It’s tempting to explain this sudden narrative shift using the “it was all a dream” logic. Diane, who feels an overwhelming amount of guilt for hiring an assassin to take out her lover, dissociates into a dreamworld where she is good and innocent. There: case closed. And yet. The final act of the film is the most non-linear, incoherent part. It is the most dream-like, or nightmare-like, featuring chaotic sound design and tiny elderly people chasing Diane through an unnaturally blue-hued apartment while she screams bloody murder. So then, what is real? Does it even matter? After all, strictly speaking, none of this is real.
Mulholland Drive is in part memorable for how it’s continued to confound viewers for over twenty years. Lynch seemed to welcome this confusion and avoided answering questions about the film’s “meaning.” Instead, he was often quoted saying that “people will figure it out for themselves.” To me, he’s not suggesting that if we all simply think hard enough about it, we’ll eventually arrive at the same, correct conclusion. Rather, I think that Lynch had always encouraged viewers to take from the film what we want to. As they say, there is no one right answer in art, and this film is truly a work of art (trite, sorry! But true!!!).
So then, I humbly approach this review in the only way that feels right. By explaining what Mulholland Drive means to me. The themes that overwhelm me most while watching are those of desire and the randomness of fate. Whether you subscribe to the idea that Betty and Diane are one and the same or not, you can’t deny that everything Betty possesses, Diane longs for. Innate talent that is immediately recognized, the admiration of a beautiful and grateful lover, and a radiant goodness. Diane’s desire for these personal and professional accomplishments consumes her and eventually drives her to violent ends. This is where fate and its elusive logic comes in. Why is it that fate smiles on Betty, but not Diane? Lynch seems to suggest that there is no rhyme or reason to it. Some people are simply lucky, others are not—and if you’re not, there is nothing you can do about it.
I think we’ve all come across this feeling in our lives, whether it’s in romantic relationships or creative pursuits, where we feel we’ve worked hard, and have so much to offer, but we’re simply not invited to the party. It all comes down to being in the right place at the right time—to being “the girl” or not. Our lives are simply puzzle boxes in the hands of a mysterious, shadowy figure hiding out behind a dumpster, who’s “doing all of it” with detached inattention.
Of course, you can’t watch Mulholland Drive and not consider the American obsession with escapist fantasy. The stories we tell ourselves about ourselves may be rosy and optimistic, but the machinations behind the fantasy are often dark and violent. That idea feels particularly relevant right now. Funnily enough, in Mulholland Drive Lynch seems to indicate the film industry as part of this larger problem. LA, the heart of the industry, often depicted as aspirational and opulent, is represented here as grimy, overwhelming, impersonal, and—honestly? Corporate. The number of dark-wood paneled boardrooms present in the film is, well…notable. Despite the film’s darker implications about the “dream factory”, Lynch seemed to revere the creative promise of LA in his personal life. He once said of the city: “There’s a yearning to get the chance to express yourself—a sort of creativity in the air. Everyone is willing to go for broke and take a chance.” But then, I think this is Lynch’s true gift as an artist—something I am going to try to harness in the coming years—the ability to see clearly the reality, to not turn away or hide from it, and still manage to believe in the possibility of the dream.
What does Mulholland Drive mean to you? Let us know in the comments ♡
Traitor Behavior
Season 3, Episode 5
Discord in the Traitor Tower! After Boston Rob’s ruthless takedown of Bob the Drag Queen, its clear that remaining Traitors Carolyn (Survivor) and Danielle (Big Brother) are ill at ease. And I think they’re right to feel that way—Boston Rob does not play nicely with others. Everything between Carolyn and Danielle is not copacetic, and he is clearly capitalizing.
Bob Harper (The Biggest Loser) calling Carolyn disheveled with a big grin on his face is one of my favorite moments of the episode.
Despite Carolyn and Danielle’s clear preference to murder someone else, they all somehow land on Boston Rob’s suggestion to go Housewife Hunting. Robyn (The Real Housewives of Potomac) is no more. Our girl deserved better.
Kind of for no reason other than the fact that Carolyn and Danielle don’t get along, Danielle decides she needs a Traitor she can work with better to get Boston Rob out…so she pivots mid-ep from wanting Boston Rob out to Carolyn? After all, why bother with 17 Faithfuls trying to hunt you down when you can just do it yourself!? Not for nothing, but I thought Boston Rob’s move was a little erratic last week and he’s lucky the other Traitors, Danielle especially, aren’t particularly organized or that could have landed him in MUCH more trouble.
Finally, the Bambi Alliance fractures with the Banishment of Faithful Nikki (WWE). I am personally crossing my fingers for a Traitor recruitment tonight!
Next episode of The Traitors Season 3 comes out tonight at 9p ET!
