Post by Boomzilla on Feb 11, 2013 12:11:16 GMT -5
Mr. David Lynch, wild man of cinema (along with David Cronenburg), rips Hollywood to shreds with this one. The movie, told in two parts, shows how aspiring actresses are chewed up and spit out.
The movie, taken at face value, makes little sense until one realizes that the first half or more of the movie is all a dream. The wake-up point comes when the cowboy awakens the sleeping Betty (Naomi Watts). Betty's life is not a happy one...
Betty's arrival in Los Angeles begins the story (although this part is still in her dream). Events unfold within the dream...
The old folks who get off the plane with Betty are cackling so gleefully (and with such malice) because they know what Betty doesn't: That her chances of being a Hollywood star are less than an ice cube's in Hell.
The dream sequences at the first half of the movie inform the "realities" that follow. Betty, even in her dream, knows the significance of the mysterious blue key - That her revenge is complete, that her faithless lover has been murdered at Betty's hand. Betty has killed the person whom she loved most.
The dream also illuminates both Betty's hopes and her fears: That the "hit man" she has hired is so incompetent that he'll be unable to complete his job (the hope) and that finding the blue key and the dead body (the fear) shows that the deed is done.
The "No hay banda" dream sequence in the theater is a look into Betty's feelings that the entire situation is both sad and surreal. Betty would like to disassociate with the entire situation, thus the transference to the singer who can then feel & sing the sorrow that Betty feels, but is unable to express. Betty wants to convince herself that the murder of her unfaithful lover is both justified and sane. Betty is unable to recognize (at that point) that killing who she loves the most is also killing herself. That aspect of self-destruction is shown at the end of the song where the singer topples over dead. But the song continues, both in the theater sequence (it's all on tape) and in real life, which Betty is not yet willing to face.
The portrayal of the Hollywood executives (a bunch of crazy old men run by an even crazier one in a wheelchair) give us a look at Betty's perception of how Hollywood really works. Even with Betty's superior talent, she's unable to get roles, acceptance, and fame (her ultimate goals) because of the "Hollywood Mafia" who reject her without even considering her talent. "This is the girl," they say of another, without even considering Betty.
The Hollywood mafia's "enforcer," the cowboy, is himself a paradox. He seems so detached and reasonable, but he asks the producers (the one portrayed was a caricature of them all) to obey the Mafia's edicts with devastating effects on the truly-talented (like Betty).
Betty awakens - all after this point is "actual."
The sequence where Betty is invited to Camilla's house for the party is the culmination of the movie. Betty reads the invitation as evidence that Camilla wants Betty back as her lover (the other of Betty's highest hopes).
As the limo comes to a halt on Mulholland Drive, the sequence that follows is every bit as devastating as the dream car crash at the beginning of the movie. Camilla comes down the slope to escort Betty up the path. The implication is that Betty is being brought up not only to the house (the reality) but also "up" the business and social scale of Hollywood. Betty thinks she is being offered fame, success, the woman she loves, and affluence. The physical ascent (with Camilla pulling Betty up by the hand) implies all the things that Betty thinks are awaiting her at the top.
At the top, however, the bitter reality awaits. Camilla is marrying the producer to cement her own professional success. Camilla has taken Betty's rival as her new lover. The betrayal and devastation are the end of all Betty's hopes and dreams.
Betty won't be a Hollywood success; Betty won't have Camilla (the one she truly loves); Betty is being betrayed and abused by Camilla in the worst possible way. To salt the wound, Camilla flaunts her new lover by kissing and then looking directly at Betty. Camilla's mother-in-law to be (Coco) doesn't miss the gesture and adds her disapproval to Betty's humiliation.
In the end, Betty has lost everything to Hollywood - Her career (despite the fact that she's an excellent actress), her lover, her aunt's inheritance (spent to kill her faithless lover), and even her own sexual functioning (she can't even bring herself to orgasm with fantasies about her former lover).
In the end, the old people come back to torment Betty with their (implied) I-told-you-so's, and the police are knocking at the door to seal the remainder of Betty's fate. Betty feels, and with some justification, that death is preferable to the future that awaits her.
Overall, the film remains an artful and devastating portrayal of Hollywood.
My favorite critic, Jonathan Valin, also commented on Naomi Watts' performance in this movie: "Naomi Watts shows that it is not the very rich who are so different from us, but rather the very talented."
I concur.
The movie, taken at face value, makes little sense until one realizes that the first half or more of the movie is all a dream. The wake-up point comes when the cowboy awakens the sleeping Betty (Naomi Watts). Betty's life is not a happy one...
Betty's arrival in Los Angeles begins the story (although this part is still in her dream). Events unfold within the dream...
The old folks who get off the plane with Betty are cackling so gleefully (and with such malice) because they know what Betty doesn't: That her chances of being a Hollywood star are less than an ice cube's in Hell.
The dream sequences at the first half of the movie inform the "realities" that follow. Betty, even in her dream, knows the significance of the mysterious blue key - That her revenge is complete, that her faithless lover has been murdered at Betty's hand. Betty has killed the person whom she loved most.
The dream also illuminates both Betty's hopes and her fears: That the "hit man" she has hired is so incompetent that he'll be unable to complete his job (the hope) and that finding the blue key and the dead body (the fear) shows that the deed is done.
The "No hay banda" dream sequence in the theater is a look into Betty's feelings that the entire situation is both sad and surreal. Betty would like to disassociate with the entire situation, thus the transference to the singer who can then feel & sing the sorrow that Betty feels, but is unable to express. Betty wants to convince herself that the murder of her unfaithful lover is both justified and sane. Betty is unable to recognize (at that point) that killing who she loves the most is also killing herself. That aspect of self-destruction is shown at the end of the song where the singer topples over dead. But the song continues, both in the theater sequence (it's all on tape) and in real life, which Betty is not yet willing to face.
The portrayal of the Hollywood executives (a bunch of crazy old men run by an even crazier one in a wheelchair) give us a look at Betty's perception of how Hollywood really works. Even with Betty's superior talent, she's unable to get roles, acceptance, and fame (her ultimate goals) because of the "Hollywood Mafia" who reject her without even considering her talent. "This is the girl," they say of another, without even considering Betty.
The Hollywood mafia's "enforcer," the cowboy, is himself a paradox. He seems so detached and reasonable, but he asks the producers (the one portrayed was a caricature of them all) to obey the Mafia's edicts with devastating effects on the truly-talented (like Betty).
Betty awakens - all after this point is "actual."
The sequence where Betty is invited to Camilla's house for the party is the culmination of the movie. Betty reads the invitation as evidence that Camilla wants Betty back as her lover (the other of Betty's highest hopes).
As the limo comes to a halt on Mulholland Drive, the sequence that follows is every bit as devastating as the dream car crash at the beginning of the movie. Camilla comes down the slope to escort Betty up the path. The implication is that Betty is being brought up not only to the house (the reality) but also "up" the business and social scale of Hollywood. Betty thinks she is being offered fame, success, the woman she loves, and affluence. The physical ascent (with Camilla pulling Betty up by the hand) implies all the things that Betty thinks are awaiting her at the top.
At the top, however, the bitter reality awaits. Camilla is marrying the producer to cement her own professional success. Camilla has taken Betty's rival as her new lover. The betrayal and devastation are the end of all Betty's hopes and dreams.
Betty won't be a Hollywood success; Betty won't have Camilla (the one she truly loves); Betty is being betrayed and abused by Camilla in the worst possible way. To salt the wound, Camilla flaunts her new lover by kissing and then looking directly at Betty. Camilla's mother-in-law to be (Coco) doesn't miss the gesture and adds her disapproval to Betty's humiliation.
In the end, Betty has lost everything to Hollywood - Her career (despite the fact that she's an excellent actress), her lover, her aunt's inheritance (spent to kill her faithless lover), and even her own sexual functioning (she can't even bring herself to orgasm with fantasies about her former lover).
In the end, the old people come back to torment Betty with their (implied) I-told-you-so's, and the police are knocking at the door to seal the remainder of Betty's fate. Betty feels, and with some justification, that death is preferable to the future that awaits her.
Overall, the film remains an artful and devastating portrayal of Hollywood.
My favorite critic, Jonathan Valin, also commented on Naomi Watts' performance in this movie: "Naomi Watts shows that it is not the very rich who are so different from us, but rather the very talented."
I concur.
