Personal Narrative: Mulholland Drive

If you’ve stumbled upon this article, I’m willing to bet, that you were just googling Mulholland Drive, that’s not surprising. I'm sure most people who watch Mulholland Drive end up googling it, but why is that? What made you look it up? Did you google it because you didn't understand it? Or was it because you've been thinking about it all day?

As I look back at some of my favorite pieces of art I realize that at one point I was, or still am, completely baffled by it. Whether it's 2001: A Space Odyssey, Pulp Fiction, or a Frank Zappa album I often step back, look at the piece and ask why? Why did the artist create this? Why did the artist create it the way he/she did? What does it mean? Why do people like this? Asking these questions has

often proved valuable, they often bring me to a greater understanding of a beautiful piece of art. Mulholland Drive demand's investigation, after all, it’s about investigation. But it refuses to give us any answers to the questions we usually ask.

Mulholland Drive is a hard film to place. I would say it's about a young starry-eyed actress who moves to Hollywood to become a movie star, but that falls short of what it really is. I would say it’s a love story, but I’m not sure who/what the main character is actually falling in love with. I would say it has a beginning and an end, but honestly, I'm not even sure about that. But what I am sure of, is that it is a confusing, mysterious, horrifying trip, and I think that’s the point.

Named after the famous curvy road that overlooks Hollywood, the film seems to also be taking a look at the city. At its core it’s a noir film, the main characters are trying to solve a mystery, and Lynch invites us to try to solve it as well. It starts as a movie about an actress, we are then introduced to a famous director, things are obviously strange but before long the story starts folding in on itself, it stops making sense. The chronology of events stop lining up, the characters start doing unexplainable things, and people begin to trade names. The film obviously deals with directors, actresses and the process of movie making, but it subtly makes references to the viewer and the creator of the film itself. This is the most interesting and unique feature of Mulholland Drive, It’s made up of many twisted loops of self-reference.

In one of the films most iconic scenes the two amateur detectives, Betty (Naomi Watts), and Rita (Laura Harring) go to a theater that Rita sees in a dream.

Sitting in the balcony, they look down on a stage that resembles the one in Lynch’s early film Eraserhead. As the orchestra begins to play the emcee walks out on stage and informs the audience,“There is no band. This is all a tape recording, and yet we hear band… It is an illusion.” After his presentation, the emcee introduces the first act Rebekah del Rio. She walks onto the stage and sings Roy Robinson's “Crying” in Spanish. After a three minute performance, the girls have been brought to sobbing, when the singer on stages passes out. The singing continues as she is carried off stage and we are reminded that it’s all a tape recording. (follow this link to watch the scene

https://vimeo.com/44062322)

By this point in the film Lynch has successfully stressed me out, made me jump in pure terror, has me super curious, and freaked me out, all the while I’ve had no idea what’s going on.

The theater scene is about the emotional effect of art. We have no reason to believe that Naomi Watts’ character speaks Spanish, so I think its safe to say that she doesn't know what the singer is actually saying. She has no idea what's going on, yet she is moved. It’s also important to consider how the performance isn't real, it’s a tape recording, an illusion. The same way we begin watching a movie knowing that it is fake, yet we often feel very real emotion while watching it. All of this is to reference the viewer, but take into account the way Lynch has the emcee saying his lines for him. It’s as if Lynch is grabbing us by the shoulders, shaking us and saying,“look it’s not real! It’s just a trick! But take a step back and look what's happening here, isn’t it cool?” This is certainly not the only time Lynch references the films creator. Take for example the dinner scene when the man with recurring nightmare tells us about his dream,”I get even more frightened when I realize what it is. There's a man, in back of this place. He's the one who's doing it. I can see him through the wall. I can see his face.” He’s referencing a man behind the scenes, who has control of it all. Lynch gets us to stop asking questions about his film and to start asking questions about film. He has made a film

about making film and about how the medium of film can be so effective. (Meta... I know)

Somewhere towards the end of the movie, we see the opening scene reenacted again, and once we get to the final scene, we realize we’ve already seen it, twice. By the time the credits roll I’m so confused that I have long since given up trying to figure it out. This is not some psychological thriller whose pieces can be rearranged to make a comprehensible image, this is surrealism. If anyone claims to “get it” upon first viewing I'm willing to bet they are lying or more confused then they know. The beauty of Mulholland Drive is that it doesn't take thinking to feel it.