Mulholland Drive: an illusory puzzle

Mulholland Drive (2001) is one of the best-known films by the creator of Twin PeaksDavid Lynch. Like practically all of his work, it is a film that leaves no one indifferent and continues to arouse admiration and bewilderment in equal measure.

The passage of time has ended up giving the title of being one of the best films of the current century, although this does not mean we can speak of unanimous applause.

Making a synopsis is a bit tricky due to the structure of the film, but we could say that It all starts when a young woman survives death twicesince it seems that she was going to be murdered while traveling in a car when, paradoxically, the vehicle crashed, allowing her to survive.

In her bag, there is only money and a small blue key, but nothing that seems to give a clue about his identity. After the accident, she loses her memory and hides in a house that does not belong to her.

On the other hand, Betty is an aspiring actress to whom his aunt has lent his house in Los Angeles. After arriving at what will be her new home, he meets the injured young woman. who adopts the name Rita.

From this moment, the adventure of discovering who Rita really is begins, we will descend into the most hidden passions of the protagonists and we will end up attending a show that seems disjointed. Of the thriller initial, we pass into a kind of absolute darkness and a descent into hell, a game of appearances and symbols that we will try to decipher.

Mulholland Drive It was going to be a series, but the producers were so scandalized by the pilot episode that they were forced to turn it into a feature film.

Perhaps the problem is trying to see it from a linear point of view, trying to reach the final explanation and understanding of its entirety instead of simply letting yourself be carried away by the emotions and sensations that viewing it awakens.

Why do we feel the need to have everything explained to us? In this article, we will not try to provide an explanation for the film, but rather we will approach some of its keys.

Why explain yourself?

Mulholland Drive It is a true labyrinth, a film that appeals to the dreamlike and that we can relate to the very structure of our dreams. Over the years, attempts have been made to find an explanation, and although it seems that there are arguments with more weight than others, the truth is that Lynch himself has stated that he prefers not to give an explanation to the film.

In a time when we are accustomed to excess information, it is revitalizing to see a film like Mulholland Drive. A film that allows the viewer to respond to what has just happened before their eyes.

Art should not always be seen as something that can be explained with words, but, sometimes, it can involve us on another level and simply awaken a certain emotion in us.

For a moment, let’s think about some pictorial works or even music or poetry, they don’t always have a clear message and we don’t care too much either, we just delight in it and let ourselves be carried away by our emotions. Cinema can also create these types of sensations and should not be seen only as pure entertainment.

Still, the mere fact that Mulholland Drive makes us ask ourselves endless questions and immerses us in various debates with our environment, it is already a path towards entertainment.

Lynch’s filmography usually points towards the dreamlike and, in this sense, we can see the film in a dreamlike way.. When we dream, the images and stories that appear in our minds are disjointed, and while we dream, they seem to make sense. But when we wake up, if we try to explain to someone what we have dreamed, it is difficult for us to do so and to be able to structure the dream in words.

Mulholland Drive: an illusion

When we dream, The people who appear in our dreams are people we have seen before.even if we do not remember them or assign them different roles than those they play in reality.

Likewise, spaces in dreams can differ enormously from reality and we can even perform unthinkable actions. So, If we try to establish parallels between Mulholland Drive and dreams, we find a theory that seems to fit perfectly. Furthermore, the film is endowed with a lot of symbolism and we even attend an absolutely revealing place: Club Silencio.

The Club Silencio scene is one of the most hypnotic in the film and, at the same time, it is responsible for marking a before and after. If until now it seemed that we were watching a story – or several – but with a more or less linear structure, after attending the club, we find ourselves facing what seems to be a new film.

This strange place acts a bit like the Magic Theater in the Steppenwolfthe hermetic work of Hermann Hesse. A place to find oneself, from which nothing will be the same again and that, perhaps, contains the key to the reality of the protagonist. In fact, blue tones prevail in this space and seem to evoke a certain duality that we will soon discover in the protagonist. The color blue alludes to the mind and also to introspection. We have seen this color in Rita’s key and now we also see it in the box that Betty keeps.

So, The key will open the box, giving rise to a new reality, a succession of stories that, now, seem to fit together. Everything we had seen before takes on a new meaning, we witness a clear splitting of personality and, thanks to Club Silencio, we discover that we have been deceived. Everything we have seen was an illusion, a falsehood, like art, dreams and like the film itself.

The club magician seems to speak to the protagonists, but also to us as viewers, making us wake up from the dream that Lynch has placed before our eyes.

From a first part in a detective key, we move on to a darker second part, with a turning point that is disconcerting as well as revealing. From the optimism of a young Betty who seems to live the American dream, we travel to the decadence and instability of Diane, to the duality that seems to take over the protagonist.

Despite all its virtues and successes, we still find critics who cannot fully digest it and there are those who suggest that, perhaps, it is overrated, and that may even be the case. Her performances stand out enormously and it was the film that launched the career of Naomi Watts, who here we see shine and fade in a masterful way.

We cannot deny that Mulholland Drive It is a real puzzle whose final resolution is quite subjective, an exercise for the viewer who will try to dialogue with the film. Definitely, an invitation for our mind, an illusory puzzle, not exempt from passions and deceptions.

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