Please explain Mulholland drive?

It is a dream (until the very end). It is not reality. It is not meant to be literal. What dream is?

Is there a meaning? I feel like it was a waste of time!

Let Roger Ebert explain it (or not).

"This is a movie to surrender yourself to. If you require logic, see something
else. "Mulholland Drive" works directly on the emotions, like music.
Individual scenes play well by themselves, as they do in dreams, but they
don't connect in a way that makes sense--again, like dreams. The way you
know the movie is over is that it ends. And then you tell a friend, "I saw the
weirdest movie last night." Just like you tell them you had the weirdest
dream."

http://www.suntimes.com/ebert/ebert_reviews/2001/10/101205.html

I have no idea, but I loved it anyway. The Directing and Production was almost as good as Hitchcock in quality.

David Lynch is amazing from lost highway to his latest, confusing and breath taking at the same time. I enjoyed the film a lot and I don't care for much that comes out any more. ~Tim

Try this, it is really fun and enlightening.

http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?s=&threadid=130873&highlight=mulholland+drive

Or...try this http://www.salon.com/ent/movies/feature/2001/10/23/mulholland_drive_analysis/index.html

My favorite movie last year.

I got the impression that the Hollywood scene is a confusing mix of stereotypes. The film makers are saying the girl who flew in from Canada could just as easily have been the dead girl in the bed or just as easily the girl who commited suicide. The girl in the car accident could just as easily have been the starlet. The landlady could just as easily have been the director's mother. In fact, the movie shows them portrayed by the same actors.

As in real life Hollywood, there are powerful figures with hidden agendas. Some are powerful in the conventional way, such as the old tycoon behind the glass wall, some are powerful beyond the director's understanding, like the cowboy, and some are powerful beyond OUR understanding, like the dirty man behind the diner. They all impact the rank and file. Indeed, the dirty man impacts US by twisting the story thread. The closest we get to seeing the artifice of the twist is when the blue box is opened and expands to black out the scene. This is clearly some kind of transition point. Perhaps this transition could have been managed without such an apparent disconnect.

I suppose I have the impression that if I go to Hollywood and live there for a few years in a defocused way, I would remember years later a mish mash of faces and people, confusing and not well delineated. Horrible things, strange things.

I agree that the film-making was artful. The scenes are beautiful capsules, often self contained almost classic set pieces. The music was well selected and usually properly set off the visuals and dialogue, almost never intrusive.

All that said, I must admit I didn't like the movie. I find that I like logical plots with linear development. I can follow these well and get more involved with the story. With a movie like this, my first reaction is dismay that the film makers are playing a trick on me. I wasn't able to integrate it (grok? -- dating myself here) into an understanding until long after it was returned to the rental store.

My friend says that the DVD contains clarifying clues. I have only had the chance to see it in the theatre. The best movie of the year, imo. I don't know if i want to know the ins and outs; i was a little iffy reading this thread.

I like a lot of David Lynch's stuff, and enjoyed the film until the last 20 minutes (after Betty wakes up as Diane-hope I have the 2nd name right). As to the clues in the DVD (I watched it on DVD with my wife), either I'm totally stupid or they don't mean that much. As much as I like him, Lynch is not perfect-while I think Blue Velvet was a great movie and like a bit of his other stuff, Dune was absolutely laughable. I'd put Mulhulland Drive somewhere in between. That it may have been the best movie of last year (don't think I'd agree with this one) just shows how the overall quality of movies has degenerated in the past few years, particularly in Hollywood. Then again, it was a much better picture than Moulin Rouge, which, in my opinion was not much more than an extended MTV video.

I like what sugarbrie and Jameswei had to say about the movie. I too didn't understand the movie until several days later. This is clearly a movie with multiple interpretations and levels of impact. I felt that the "dream" was also a person in a state of decompensation and a depression spiral. There were also delusions of grandeur with perceiving herself as a person who performed exceptional at her audition, her role as the "savior" for the injured and vulnerable starlet, and she had someone powerful watching out for her (the cowboy), etc. Ultimately the concept that nothing is what it seems, everything is grey, there are no absolutes is even more clear. I will be interested to hear what others thought of this odd-interesting movie. Entertaining movie??? I am still deciding that one. I was told that this movie was a lot like Momento. What do you think of that comparison? Jallen

The Cowboy is the messenger of the Dwarf. The Dwarf is all-powerful, but has gone crazy. Once you know who the Dwarf is, everything else falls into place.
Silencio.

I'll buy the DVD soon, so I don't feel like renting it again to try and figure out who the Dwarf is. Joe, can you help me here please? I thought the Cowboy was the messenger for the old studio guy behind the glass.

I seriously doubt whether David Lynch could explain this movie, nor would I want to hear his explaination. This movie is the proverbial car wreck. In fact, I felt as if I were in a car wreck and jarred a few bolts loose. Huh? wha...
I think Lynch is a mad genius or is having (terminal) flash backs from some bad/good acid. The characters, the pacing, the dialogue is amazing and kept me on the edge of my seat.

p.s. This movie and Memento are nothing alike.

The only thing Memento and Mullholland have in common is that you need to pay attention, once you see the end of Memento and understand it, it's over. I couldn't watch it again. Mullholland is completely different in that respect, and I think if Lynch did explain it to you, he would in the way Dali explained his paintings... leaving you more confused than ever, intentionally. I like that, so watch it again. Tom

I stopped taking LSD in the 70's man. Are you suposed to play this backwards or something?
Tim(I think)

Thanks for the help, all. Several of us "linear thinkers" watched the movie last night and none of us made the leap to thinking about the entire movie as a metaphore. All four of us were grasping for at least one concrete thread to ground a story to, but never did find one. I suppose I'm with Jameswei, above. I appreciated the art of the film at a certain level, but felt at the end that I'd wasted my time in watching the whole thing.

I heard on the radio today that parts of the movie were from a TV pilot that Lynch made that was never picked up by the networks. Lynch then wove several dreamlike stories around it. I can't say I liked the film, but anything by Lynch (including "Dune") is worth seeing.

Never mind the hype I thought it was bloody awful. Nice cinematography, but bloody awful.
I really liked his previous film, "The straight story", but I guess it wasn't Lynchian enough for his die-hard fans. Also liked Wild at Heart and Blue Velvet, but Mulholland Drive ... two BIG thumbs down.

Loved it. You gotta get the DVD and watch it twice. Once before and once after learning about the clues. And as for linearity, thats one term that has absolutely no application with respect to this flick. And I agree, Dune was "merde".