Mulholland Dr. (2001)

In Best Director-nominated David Lynch's surreal, confusing, mystifying, mind-twisting, dream-like modern neo-noir, it told about the illusion of Hollywood fame in the 'city of dreams.' The film's themes included unrequited love, exploitation, corruption, false hopes and dreams, half-truths, and doppelgangers, with elements including strange blue keys and boxes, a red lampshade, the Silencio nightclub, a conflicted Hollywood director pressured by mobsters to cast a certain actress, a diner named Winkie's with a monstrous creature outside by the dumpster, and other unusual settings and characters.

On a budget of $15 million, Lynch's dramatic mystery-thriller grossed only $7.2 million (domestic) and $20.3 million (worldwide).

The most confusing aspect of this mystery drama with a non-linear narrative was that it told a twisting and turning tale involving dual characterizations (or personas, or split psyches) of the two female protagonists. A viewer would benefit by realizing that the first three quarters of the film (roughly 111 minutes of the 147 minute film) was an idealistically-portrayed, wholly-imagined, and romanticized fantasy dream by one of the two females. A mysterious blue 'Pandora's' box with a blue key signified the break between the first part of the film's DREAM (told in traditional linear fashion) and the second part's REALITY. Both parts were enhanced with flashbacks, subconscious thoughts, memories, and further dreams-hallucinations.

The first major character (although not introduced first) was Diane Selwyn (Naomi Watts) - a dirty-blonde (and cocaine junkie) who was the fantasized, idealized flip-side of aspiring, wholesome, pert blonde starlet Betty Elms (also Watts). Betty had come to Hollywood to hopefully find fame. In a nutshell, Diane and Betty were the same person (most of the film was Diane's fantasy dream and play-acting of being successful in Hollywood as Betty). When Diane's unrealistic dream of stardom and becoming an actress wasn't fulfilled, she became seriously depressed, delusional, irrational and murderous. Rejected by both a director and lover, the now-jaded starlet Diane sought retribution.

The second major character was Diane's brunette lesbian lover Camilla Rhodes (Laura Elena Harring), who jilted and betrayed Diane by being selected for a film role by the director and then falling in love with him. At first, Camilla was revealed as a dependent and lost amnesiac, temporarily named 'Rita' (Laura Elena Harring) - she was named after Rita Hayworth on a Gilda (1946) poster. She had suffered a car wreck on Mulholland Drive, a possible attempted murder, and a head concussion. She happened to meet up with Betty who was residing in an LA apartment building. At first, Betty took it upon herself to care for the dependent and memory-impaired 'Rita'. However, after the struggling Betty/Diane found herself competing and losing against the full-bodied, competing femme fatale actress 'Rita'/Camilla (both Harring and Melissa George), Diane jealously put out a hit contract on her ex-lover.

Guilt-ridden and remorseful after ordering the murder of Camilla who had ascended to stardom, and knowing that the hit had been made, Diane committed suicide; her rotting corpse was found on her bed. During her own extended death throes, she didn't blame her personal failings or problems, but had found comfort in conspiratorial ideas and other imagined ways to cast blame elsewhere, but all ended in tragedy.

• as the film opened before the title credits, a perky, smiling, excited, strongly-willed, successful blonde ingenue named Betty (Naomi Watts) won a teen jitterbug dance contest in Canada
• just before the appearance of the road sign for "Mulholland Dr," a POV shot was displayed of a person (unseen) - after snorting coke? - laying his/her head on a pillow; this was a hint that much of the film would be a delusional dream or have significant dream elements
• during the credits, at nighttime in LA, a black, chauffeured Cadillac limousine slowly wound its way up Mulholland Drive - a famous twisting and turning road in Hollywood; its occupant was an unidentified brunette; after the limo pulled over, the brunette found herself ordered by the driver (Scott Wulff), pointing his gun (with silencer), to vacate the vehicle; the headlights of a drag-racing car filled with teenagers illuminated the female before accidentally crashing into the limo, killing the driver and gunman, and the occupants of the other vehicle; the brunette stumbled from the flaming wreckage and viewed the shining lights of Los Angeles far below before wandering trance-like into the dark woods; later, she emerged in a residential area and crossed Sunset Blvd., before briefly falling asleep in some bushes

The Unnamed Brunette In a Limo Just Before Experiencing a Car Crash and Suffering Amnesia

• two detectives McKnight and Domgaard (Robert Forster and Brent Briscoe) back at the Mulholland Drive crash site investigated the wreckage; they had found pearl earrings in the limo's back seat; meanwhile, the brunette awakened and watched as a red-haired woman was departing from her nearby apartment building and leaving in a taxi-cab with her suitcases and trunk; the brunette snuck into the open door of the apartment and hid until she heard the door being locked from the outside, and then fell asleep on the floor
• one of the key scenes in the film occurred before the main plot went into high gear; at Winkie's Diner on Sunset Blvd., Dan (Patrick Fischler) hesitantly, in a long monologue (located at about the 12-17 minute mark of the film), told his well-dressed friend Herb (Michael Cooke) inside the restaurant about a dream that they had both been in:
  • "I had a dream about this place...Well, it's the second one I've had, but they're both the same. They start out that I'm in here but it's not day or night. It's kinda half night, you know? But it looks just like this, except for the light. And I'm scared like I can't tell ya. Of all people, you're standing right over there - by that counter. You're in both dreams and you're scared. I get even more frightened when I see how afraid you are and then 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. I hope that I never see that face ever outside of a dream. That's it."
• Dan ended by saying that the dream gave him a "god-awful feeling" that he needed to get rid of; afterwards with a foreboding feeling of dread, the two left Winkie's and walked around the side of the restaurant, and descended some steps (shot with a POV perspective) - proceeding stealthily and cautiously; from behind a graffiti-decorated concrete dumpster wall, a filthy, scary, monstrous and repulsive vagrant (Bonnie Aarons) briefly appeared to them in a quick flash - causing a great jump scare!; it caused Dan to have a heart attack, and he fell backwards into Herb's arms
• [Note: There was some resemblance between the faces of the Dan and the disheveled homeless vagrant -- a long face, prominent nose, and high cheekbones. He was symbolic of the 'demon' that would start to breed evil thoughts in Diane's disintegrating mind - to kill her girlfriend; metaphorically, Dan's story was actually the shocking and terrorizing fear of many individuals, including those who had failed in the "city of dreams," that they would end up homeless - sinking to levels of impoverishment and degradation before literally dying.]
• in the basic plot, Diane had a romanticized dream in which she presented herself as another character - as Betty (Naomi Watts); Betty was introduced as a wannabe newcomer to Los Angeles (the city of dreams) from Canada; after winning a jitterbug dance contest during the opening credits, it allowed her to travel to Hollywood: ("Oh! I can't believe it!")
• Betty arrived from Canada at LAX and was planning to stay in the vacant apartment of her beloved, older red-haired Aunt Ruth (Maya Bond) at 1612 Havenhurst; she was given the KEY (1st) by the building's manager "Coco" (Ann Miller), aka Mrs. Lenoix; Betty's Aunt Ruth was away on vacation, or possibly long-since dead, or as Betty shortly later claimed: "She's working on a movie that's being made in Canada"; Betty had been left an inheritance by her Aunt
• before meeting Betty, a confused, bruised and frightened dark-haired woman (not named yet) had just escaped a murder attempt on her life by a hit man in a limousine; the limo was rammed into by a drag-racing vehicle as the brunette was being driven to a party on Mulholland Dr. (#6980); Mullholland Drive was the location of the house of famed Hollywood director Adam (further information later); after the "accident," the brunette exited the limo and crime scene and walked downhill; afterwards, she wandered about - with amnesia induced by the car accident - and fell asleep in the vacated apartment where Betty was going to be staying
• Betty met the dark-haired, amnesiac young woman in the apartment, who claimed she was showering after suffering a car accident; Betty assumed her Aunt Ruth had given her permission to stay; the confused brunette didn't know her name - so she plucked the name 'Rita' from a 'Gilda' movie poster that mentioned star Rita Hayworth; both Betty and 'Rita' were presumably aspects of Diane's imagination [Note: in Diane's dream of stardom (in the person of Betty), she at first took charge of the relationship with the dependent, glamorous brunette dubbed 'Rita'.]
• Betty told the female about her Aunt's upscale place:
  • "I couldn't afford a place like this in a million years. Unless of course, I'm discovered and become a movie star. Of course, I'd rather be known as a great actress than a movie star, but, you know, sometimes people end up being both so, that is, I guess you'd say, sort of why I came here. I'm sorry. I'm just so excited to be here. I mean I just came here from Deep River, Ontario, and now I'm in this dream place"
• wounded in the forehead, 'Rita' insisted that she didn't need medical help and would be okay if she just slept: "It will feel okay if I sleep"
• meanwhile, casting director Adam Kesher (Justin Theroux) was being blackmailed, intimidated and threatened regarding his casting choices for the lead role in his new film; in the Ryan Entertainment building in downtown LA, Adam was being compelled by mobster-like agents - the Castigliane brothers: Vincenzo (Dan Hedaya) and Luigi (Angelo Badalamenti) - and an ominous, paralyzed and wheel-chaired Mr. Roque (Michael J. Anderson) calling the shots from behind the scenes, to cast their choice ("This is the girl") - an unknown, ingenue blonde actress (seen in a head-shot photo) named Camilla Rhodes (Melissa George) for the lead role in his new Hollywood film, The Sylvia North Story; Adam was highly resistant: "There's no way that girl is in my movie....That girl is not in my film!", but he was overruled

Actress Camilla Rhodes (Melissa George) (Headshot Photo)

• also in a foreshadowing, on the 6th floor of a downtown LA office building, inept hitman Joe Messing (Mark Pellegrino) was talking to his long-haired friend Ed (Vincent Castellanos), who jokingly mentioned a "f--king car accident" (the one that brought amnesiac 'Rita' to Betty's apartment); suddenly, Joe shot and killed his friend (with a silenced gun) in order to steal a "famous black book" (a phone book revealing phone numbers of Hollywood elites); while making the crime scene look like Ed had committed suicide, the gun accidentally discharged and wounded a Heavy-Set Woman (Diane Nelson) in an adjoining office; while trying to kill her before leaving, Joe also continued to flub his murder-for-hire job by murdering a Vacuum Man (Charlie Croughwell) standing in the hallway; he left three dead corpses in his wake
• once 'Rita' awoke, she admitted to Betty that she didn't remember her identity or real name: "I don't know what my name is. I don't know who I am!!"; a solid metal blue key and stacks of wrapped $100 dollar bills (about $125K) were unexpectedly found in Rita's purse; she could only remember "Mulholland Drive" - possibly the location of the car accident; Betty even suggested calling the police anonymously to see if there was the report of an accident there - with a crucial thematic statement: "It'll be just like in the movies. We'll pretend to be someone else"

Blue Key Found in Rita's Purse
	Waitress Diane (Missy Crider) at Winkie's Restaurant - Causing 'Rita' To Recall the Name Diane Selwyn

• besides other pressures (including the shutting down of his set), director Adam was also having marital problems with his wife; at his home, Adam's pool cleaner Gene (Billy Ray Cyrus), who was sleeping with Adam's wife, advised him to ignore his wife's infidelity; Adam was forced to vacate his home and seek refuge in a seedy, run-down LA hotel
• 'Rita' and Betty (who wanted to solve the mystery of Rita's identity and play the role of a detective) went to Winkie's Diner on Sunset Blvd. where the waitress (Missy Crider) who served them was named "Diane," causing 'Rita' to remember the name Diane Selwyn (Betty's alter-ego); 'Rita' was unsure whether it might be her real name or not: ("Maybe that's my name...Maybe it's not me"); a phone call to Diane's number in the phone book resulted in no answer, although 'Rita' recognized the voice on the message: "It's not my voice but I know her" - (Spoiler: Diane was already dead)
• at the cheap downtown motel, Adam was informed by Cookie (Geno Silva), the manager of the hotel, that his money was no good and had been frozen up: "You're maxed out at your bank and your line of credit has been cancelled"; Adam was being pressured and agreed to meet a mysterious, powerful individual known as the Cowboy (Monty Montgomery); Adam was told: "You will see me one more time if you do good. You will see me two more times if you do bad"
• while Betty was letting 'Rita' stay in her apartment, Betty was questioned by Louise Bonner (Lee Grant) about what she was doing in Ruth's apartment; Louise further warned: "Someone is in trouble. Something bad is happening!"; Coco appeared and vouched for Betty as Ruth's niece who was an aspiring actress; Coco helpfully presented Betty with "faxed pages of a scene for a big audition tomorrow" - with director Adam Kesher (revealed later to be her son!)
• before any further investigation into 'Rita's' identity, naive wannabe starlet Betty went to try out for a part in Adam's new Hollywood film; first, she performed in a creepy scene with a tanned and aging lothario and soap opera actor Jimmy 'Woody' Katz (Chad Everett), who shouted out to the director Bob Booker (Wayne Grace): "Hey Bobby, I want to play this one nice and close, like we did with that other girl, what's her name? The one with the black hair. That felt kinda good"; presumably, Woody had already auditioned the same scene with Camilla, although Betty would be unaware that Woody was referring to 'Rita'
• in the masterfully-acted audition scene with a sexually-tainted script, Betty found herself in a creepy situation; when she whispered into his ear and bit his lip: ("I hate you. I hate us both"); as a result of this audition, Betty was naively led to believe that she was gifted and talented ("exceptional") and was succeeding in her quest for fame in Hollywood
• after Betty's audition, she was taken to another set where casting director Adam Kesher was listening to actress auditions for the lead role; one of the ingenue actresses was blonde Camilla Rhodes (Melissa George), first seen singing Linda Scott's "I've Told Every Little Star"; Betty-Diane enviously and jealously watched on set as Adam chose Camilla for an actress role (who was competing with Diane); after Camilla's audition, Adam (who had been forcibly coached) decisively declared: "This is the girl" and kissed her; Betty locked eyes with Adam, then hurriedly excused herself: "I have to be somewhere. I-I promised a friend. I'm sorry. I-I must go"; Diane knew that she had been rejected and jilted, and her relationship with 'Rita' was in jeopardy, and her career was faltering

Camilla Rhodes (During Audition)

• after leaving the set, Betty and 'Rita' continued their investigation and noticed detectives snooping around Diane Selwyn's residence, marked as "Apartment 12"; when they knocked on the door, the female neighbor-occupant explained how apartments had been switched, and that Diane was residing in Apartment 17. [Note: She was covering up the fact that she and Diane had been lovers-roommates in Apt. 17, but then after a break-up, due to girlfriend Camilla's theft of Diane's heart, the displaced female had to move to a different apartment.]
• Betty and 'Rita' broke into Apt. 17 when there was no answer at the door; 'Rita's dark dress and shape were at first on a bed, then reverted to Diane's clothes and body; they found the corpse of aspiring actress Diane - more to be revealed later [Note: This was a terrifying foreshadowing -- Diane was really a dirty-blonde, failed actress and junkie - looking jaded, haggard, and beaten down, and had been living by herself in a cheap rented apartment.]

At First, 'Rita' on the Bed, Then Diane

• Betty and 'Rita' returned to their apartment, where 'Rita' was still very distraught by the sight of a corpse; when 'Rita' threatened to cut her hair, Betty refashioned 'Rita' to become a blonde by donning a blonde wig and pulling her in front of a mirror - another clue that the two identities of blonde Betty/Diane and 'Rita' were somehow integrally intertwined; the incident was symbolic of the relationship between Diane/Betty and 'Rita'; Betty remade Rita ("You look like someone else") to look more like her as a blonde in order to be transformed into her ideal
• during sleep in a possible DREAM sequence, they engaged in the first of two steamy, topless, hesitant and exploratory lesbian love scenes in the film; in this instance, 'Rita' removed her robe, slipped into Betty's bed naked; Betty mentioned: "It's more comfortable than the couch, isn't it?"; Rita leaned over and kissed Betty innocently on the forehead: Rita: "Good night, sweet Betty." Betty: "Goodnight"; and then Betty asked the question of Rita: "Have you ever done this before?" followed by a kiss on the lips, and Rita answered: "I don't know. Have you?"; Betty then confessed: "I want to with you. I'm in love with you. I'm in love with you"; this was accompanied by more kisses and sexual touching
• after having sex, in the middle of the night - signifying that this was their continuing dream sequence, the two visited a nightclub called Club Silencio, where a man named Bondar (the same actor as Cookie) appeared on stage and announced that the music and singing were all an illusion and faked: ("It's all recorded. No hay banda! It's all a tape. Il n'est pas de orquestra. It is...an illusion!"); on stage live, the blue-haired singer Rebekah Del Rio (as Herself) had been lip-synching a Spanish version of Roy Orbison's song about heartbreak: "Crying"
• back at Betty's apartment, Betty found a blue box in her purse; as the now-blonde Rita found a mysterious blue KEY (2nd) in her purse to open the box, Betty suddenly disappeared, as 'Rita' asked: "Donde estas? (Where are you?)" -- a KEY moment in the film - Diane's DREAM-like part of the film ended at the 111 minute mark; after being opened
• the blue box fell to the floor -- a zoom into the interior of the box signaled a transitional change from a dream to reality; Rita also disappeared when the box was opened [Note: The opening of the blue box signified that Diane's escapist false dream that she had created about her alter-ego Betty had ended.]
• at the same time, The Cowboy appeared in the doorway of Diane Selwyn's apartment bedroom; he spoke to the sleeping Diane (who resembled Betty), telling her: "Hey, pretty girl. Time to wake up"; when Diane was commanded to wake up at her apartment from her dream by the Cowboy, the remainder of the story in the film's last section was told as a flashback - and was an accounting of what had really happened
• the film now shifted entirely to the character of Diane Selwyn (also Naomi Watts), a failed actress with significant delusions; her earlier motivation to rescue 'Rita' (and express unrequited love for her) had been her attempt to conquer, possess and vanquish her competitive rival - aspiring actress Camilla (also played by Laura Elena Harring), but it appeared that she had utterly failed
• she became despondent and upset, snorted more cocaine, and feel into a deep sleep-stupor; she was awakened by her acquaintance (her former female roommate who had been displaced by Camilla about 3 weeks earlier) calling out with the same command issued by the Cowboy: "Hey, pretty little girl. Time to wake up"; she asked for the return of her belongings (lamp, dishes and ashtray); before leaving, she warned about the continuing investigation into Diane's location: "Those two detectives came by again, looking for you"
• the guilt-ridden, hallucinating and depressed Diane fantasized that a half naked, bi-sexual 'Rita'/Camilla was awaiting her for sex on a couch: (Camilla: "You drive me wild!"); (See uncensored version here) after Diane touched Camilla and they kissed for a few moments, she was coldly rejected when told: "We shouldn't do this anymore." Diane objected and was devastated: "Don't ever say that"
• afterwards, by herself, suffering from unrequited love over her lost girlfriend Camilla, the dejected Diane masturbated in a fevered state, crying and anguished; her vision blurred and she imagined Camilla and the blonde starlet Camilla Rhodes kissing
• after the fight and major breakup between Diane and Camilla, Camilla invited Diane to attend a dinner party at the Mulholland Dr. home of casting director Adam; a car would be sent to await her out front; now at the end of the film, the story circled flashed back to the beginning - dirty blonde Diane (not 'Rita') was in a limo on its way to 6980 Mulholland Dr.; she exited the vehicle and walked uphill

Two Different Trips on Mulholland Dr. to Adam's Party
'Rita' - Beginning of Film	Diane - End of Film

• at Adam's house-pool party, Diane met with the mother of casting director Adam - "Coco" - the same person who was her apartment building's manager; Diane discovered that Camilla was now engaged to director Adam Kesher, who had successfully divorced his wife; contrary to what was imagined earlier in the film, Adam's life was very much under control; he had successfully maneuvered through his divorce with legal representation: ("I wanted to buy that judge a Rolls-Royce")
• at the party, Diane described how she had arrived in Hollywood after her Aunt died, and auditioned for Adam's new movie The Sylvia North Story; on the set, Diane had met Camilla - who was also auditioning, and apparently was pre-selected for the role ("Camilla got the part"); Adam preferred her and gave her the role ("This is the girl"); obviously, Diane's fantasy was shattered - she had imagined how her life could have been better - unrealistically, from the beginning of the film; she had seen herself as naive starlet Betty with both a successful Hollywood career and a love affair with girlfriend Camilla (the film's major storyline) but everything had failed miserably; in her mind, Camilla was sleeping with the director, and had also found another lesbian lover - also named Camilla Rhodes

Camilla (also Laura Elena Harring) Seen Earlier by Betty/Diane as 'Rita'	Diane's Jealousy of 'Rita'/Camilla On-Set with Director Adam Kesher (Justin Theroux)
Diane's Blurry and Jealous Delusion: Camilla Kissing Blonde Starlet Camilla Rhodes - Another Lesbian Lover	Director Adam with Camilla - Announcing Their Engagement at His Pool Party

• rather than accept rejection on so many fronts, Diane was then seen arranging to hire a hitman at Winkie's diner (on Sunset Blvd.) to eliminate her competition; in the diner, she was served by a clumsy Winkie's waitress named Betty (formerly identifed as Diane!)

Waitress Betty (Missy Crider) at Winkie's Restaurant

• Diane contracted for $50,000 for the inept hitman Joe, seen earlier, to kill the voluptuous Camilla, identified by a head-shot photograph ("This is the girl"); the hitman pulled out a blue KEY (3rd) and told Diane that once the hit had been made, she would find the key in a prearranged location

Jealous and Resentful Diane Arranging Camilla's Death with a Hitman in Winkie's Diner

"This is the girl: -- A Head-Shot Picture of Camilla: The Target of Diane's Hit-Man

• a quick glimpse of the monstrous man behind the diner next to the dumpster showed him in possession of the blue box
• Diane found the blue key sitting on the coffee table in her apartment; Diane wondered whether Camilla had been eliminated (was her assumption correct or not?); she began wildly hallucinating, raced into her darkened bedroom, reached into her nightstand drawer for a gun, and suicidally shot herself in the head - she was found dead on her bed; the final spoken word of the film was "Silencio" uttered by a formally-dressed female sitting in a theater box - a pronouncement signifying Diane's death
• [Note: It could be conjectured that after Diane shot herself, her brain's electrical activity intensified before she actually died; and for those few seconds, it's possible that she triggered - literally - the fantasy visions that composed the first three-quarters of the film; one of her remorseful delusions might have been that 'Rita'/Camilla had survived the car accident at the film's opening, when in reality, that's when she died.]