MULHOLLAND DR. (2001)
David Lynch's bewildering masterpiece:
By Jerry Saravia
Originally written in November, 2001: updated
Cynthia: "It's been a strange day."
Adam Kesher: "It's getting even stranger."
A film professor of mine at the University of the Arts in Philadelphia once said to the class after seeing David Lynch's "Lost Highway," "What was it about? What did it mean? Can anyone tell me what it was about?" Who can ever argue with such a statement when it comes to a David Lynch film. Even I had my doubts regarding some of Lynch's more obscure works like "Twin Peaks: Fire Walk With Me" and "Lost Highway," not to mention "Eraserhead" (an abomination as Lt. Kinderman called it in the novel of "The Exorcist III"). But my doubts centered as much on the validity of what was occurring on screen as much as the meaning of the films per se, and the doubts were, mind you, centered on the first viewing. Upon second viewing, one can see "Fire Walk With Me" as an extension of the "Twin Peaks" cult series beyond the show's setting into an otherworldly existence, or as the story of Laura Palmer's emotional descent into madness as perpetrated by her incestuous father and an ominous forest where inexplicable things occur (or are not occurring). "Eraserhead" could be seen as an anti-abortion film where we must respect the lives of our newborns even if they look like extra-terrestrials (though, again, the extraterrestrial, ugly, mutated baby may not be taken literally). "Lost Highway" seems to center on jealousy and denial in a saxophonist who may or may not have killed his wife (and the body-swapping or switch in identities may, again, not be taken literally). I also believe that "Mulholland Dr." is an extension of some of Lynch's continuing themes of guilt and denial, though that is only my interpretation as I investigate the secrets and mysteries of Lynch's latest, most befuddling and most beautifully emotional work to date. Let's say that my theory will include suspicions that his work may have as little to do with the supernatural or time-twisting trips as initially thought.
"Mulholland Dr." begins with a fifties jitterbug number that seems to come from some other movie entirely (composed by Angelo Badalamenti, by the way, not an actual number from that period). Slowly, a superimposition gradually appears of a blonde woman smiling and gazing with an elderly couple, watching a jitterbug number populated by several young couples. This is the first of many scenes that involves the 1950's as a counterpoint to the story of current Hollywood. Thus, the presentation of a clear personal identity begins to take shape. Who is this blonde woman and why are couples dancing to a jitterbug number? Is this the Hollywood of the past or is this a reminder of her own innocent background in Toronto, as we later learn that she had participated in jitterbug contests?
The smiling blonde is Betty Elms (Naomi Watts), a pretty, energetic, kind woman who is flustered with excitement as soon as she arrives by plane at LAX to the city of dreams. She is welcomed to this world of artifice by an elderly couple (the same couple we see in the pre-credit sequence) who laugh behind her back as if they were aware of something she was about to experience. Betty arrives in high spirits at her aunt's luxurious apartment (at 1612 Havenhurst) and is greeted by the owner, Coco Lenoix (Ann Miller). Coco tells Betty a hysterical story of how a former tenant once kept a prizefighting kangaroo that went wild all over the courtyard (this story is sprung after she notices dog feces on the floor of the courtyard). But I am getting ahead of myself a bit. Before Betty arrives at the apartment, a striking, anonymous brunette (Laura Harring) is unknowingly staying at Betty's apartment after getting into a bad car accident on Mulholland Drive the night before. She is supposedly an actress who was almost killed at gunpoint by her limo driver until a gang of teen youths, out for a joyride, drove by at alarming speeds and collided with the limo. The actress suffers from amnesia as a result, unaware of her personal history. Betty eventually discovers that this woman is staying at her very apartment, hiding behind a shower stall as they meet in the bathroom. The woman names herself Rita after noticing a Rita Hayworth poster for the film Gilda and Betty becomes good friends with her, though she is curious why Rita is in the apartment in the first place. Instead of calling the police, Betty decides to help Rita. The neighbors get suspicious, as does Coco and Betty's aunt whom she talks to on the phone, but she keeps everyone at arm's length. A little mystery in Hollywood yields more excitement for Betty in this strange land. It only gets stranger.
"Mulholland Dr." centers mainly on Hollywood and its inhabitants, specifically actors, directors, producers and financial backers. A hotshot young director, Adam Kesher (Justin Theroux), is ready to make what appears to be a cheesy fifties musical and has cast his female lead of choice (read: Betty Elms - read below for further info on "No Hay Banda" analysis). The backers, a group of gangsters known as the Castigliane brothers (played with devilish glee by Angelo Badalamenti and Dan Hedaya), are opting for a different actress than the one director desires. This angers Adam so much that he smashes the windows of the Castigliane brothers' limo with his golf club. Later, Adam's secretary, Cynthia (Catherine Towne), warns him that unless he meets with someone called "The Cowboy," their filmmaking future might be cut short. All this after Adam finds his wife in bed with a musclebound pool cleaner (Billy Ray Cyrus) and, consequently, spills pink paint on his wife's jewels. Adam agrees to meet with the Cowboy at night at a ranch. The Cowboy (Lafayette Montgomery) basically tells him (after much talk about how a man's attitude determines a man's way of life) that the chosen lead actress by the Castigliane brothers will remain the only choice despite the number of expected auditions. The Cowboy is like Robert Blake's Mystery Man in "Lost Highway" in that he is aware of Adam's private life and uses it as a means of getting what he wants.
The Cowboy: "You'll see me one more time if you do good. You'll see me two more times if you do bad."
Meanwhile, Betty gets the good news that she has a scheduled audition for a project by a has-been director Wally Brown (James Karen). Her audition is exceptional as she plays the role of a conniving, sensual woman who is ready to kill her new lover (Chad Everett), who may be trying to blackmail her. The scene turns from silly melodrama to pure eroticism, proving to the casting agent and director that Betty is a damn good actress indeed. Afterwards, she is told by the casting agent that she was solid but the project may never take shape. The casting agent shows Betty to a studio where Adam Kesher is directing one of several auditions for the fifties musical. Briefly, Adam and Betty's eyes meet, though nothing is said between them. Two actresses audition for the scene, the latter being Camilla Rhodes (Melissa George, resembling actress Olivia D'Abo. By the way, George has appeared in two of my favorite 90's noir tales, "Dark City," where she played a prostitute, and "The Limey" where she played Terence Stamp's daughter who dies on Mulholland Drive!) Camilla is of course the actress Adam is supposed to cast in the film. His eyes meet again with Betty, and then he turns away disappointed that he has to settle for the expected actress. Just as Camilla is performing, Adam calls Jason (Michael Fairman), a movie executive, and tells him, "She is the one."
At this point, everything in "Mulholland Drive" flows smoothly and expertly, always keeping us involved and intrigued in this city of dreams story. There are moments, though, that are deliberately askew. One scene that takes place early in the film is a scene at the Denny's-like diner called Winkies (in the original script for the pilot, it was named Denny's). Two men, Herb (Michael Cooke) and Dan (Patrick Fischler), sit at the diner eating breakfast. We do not know who they are or their relationship to each other (someone said it could be a psychiatrist and his patient). Dan tells Herb a dream he had where behind a wall, outside the diner, layed the eyes of a man he hoped to never see outside his dream. Before long, Dan shows Herb the outside wall and a monster pops out and Dan falls to the ground, possibly dead. This event is shown in the film early on and feels like a distraction until we realize the significance, sort of, in the last third of Lynch's mind-bending puzzle.
Another seeming distraction is the introduction of a clumsy killer-for-hire, Joe (Mark Pellegrino), who has a conversation about a car accident with some lanky, long-haired guy in an unnamed office (possibly the very same car accident we see at Mulholland Drive). Joe shoots him, takes some mysterious black book with him, and then accidentally shoots a woman behind the wall. This hit man reappears later in the story, asking an unhealthy-looking prostitute if she has seen any dark-haired women, presumably Rita though the name is not mentioned. And Joe also pops up in the latter third of the film planning a hit with...well, keep reading.
Everyone seems to be looking for Rita, including Mr. Roque (Michael Anderson, the little man from "Twin Peaks") who sits in a wheelchair speaking on an intercom. There are also the back of people's heads shown as they speak in phone conversations about Rita, but why she is being sought is a mystery. Yes, she escaped from a car accident alive, but who wanted to kill her in the opening sequence, and why?
"Mulholland Drive" is really about the two women, Betty and Rita. Rita is unsure of her whereabouts or who she was prior to the car accident. Betty is determined to help her recover her memory. All Rita knows is that she has a purse full of cash, recalls being on Mulholland Drive, and knows the name Diane after seeing a waitress at Winkies with the same name. In fact, Rita remembers a full name - Diane Selwyn. Could Rita be Diane? Is Diane some famous actress? Or is Rita about to open a Pandora's Box? Their investigation leads to many loose ends, including an eerily funny scene where Betty suggests that Rita call this Diane from a number they find in the phone book and thereby suggesting that Rita may be Diane and calling herself. They drive to the apartment and find the corpse of Diane Selwyn, laying in bed! And then what follows is Rita donning a blonde wig to escape the possibility of being a suspect in Diane's murder.
Afterwards, there is an incredibly hallucinatory sequence inside a theatre for the terminally strange, essentially a Lynchian palace called Club Silencio which Rita and Betty attend. An emcee appears and speaks in front of a mike, explaining the mystery of what is heard is not necessarily what is seen ("A band is playing and yet there is no band.") A Spanish singer is introduced (Rebekah Del Rio) who lipsynchs to Roy Orbison's "Crying," though it is sung in Spanish in what is the emotionally powerful scene in the entire film (and in Lynchland by far). Betty and Rita are overcome by the song in tears, though Betty starts shaking in her boots. The singer collapses near the end of the song but the song continues. A magical blue box appears on Rita's lap. And then Lynch pulls the rug from our very eyes and shakes us in our boots.
Just as we are pulled into the mystery of Rita's amnesiac condition, not to mention some business involving the inept hit man, espresso-drinking gangsters, a red-eyed monster who looks a bit like a noisy neighbor of Coco's (played by an unrecognizable Lee Grant) and a cowboy who is as threatening as any villain in Lynch's ouevre, there is a switch in time and space as we zoom into the blue box that Rita discovers on her lap at Club Silencio. This is where the last third of the film takes place, and where the switch in identities begin. Betty somehow becomes Diane Selwyn, lying in the same position as the corpse that is discovered by both Betty and Rita. Rita suddenly becomes Camilla Rhodes, the actress played by Melissa George, the desired choice for the female lead of Adam's new film. Now Rita's Camilla is a starlet dating Adam and also carrying an affair with Diane whom she abruptly dumps. Diane does not take this well, and begins to masturbate while she stares at the wall in agony and the camera goes out-of-focus. And let's just say that I will not reveal much more about "Mulholland Drive" except when revealing my theory in investigating the mysteries and ambiguities in the film. Suffice to say that the mystery of the film is being able to determine what exactly is happening and to whom. It is more than a whodunit or whydunit but whatdunit, if that makes sense. I suppose I will paraphrase Roger Ebert in saying that there may not be a mystery at all, which has been instrumental in developing my personal theory about the film.
"Mulholland Drive" is not meant to be easily understood but to diehard Lynch fans, this should come as no surprise. Is it all a dream or is some of it a reality? Who is Betty really, and did she ever exist? Does Rita exist, or is there some supernatural force taking over the city of dreams? Is Mulholland Drive a road not unlike the otherworldly forest in "Twin Peaks: Fire Walk With Me" where changes in identity occur or are reinforced, or is it manifested through the blue box? Let me explain my theory of the film as best as I can but be forewarned, there are spoilers so if you have not seen the film, do not read further.
The possible meaning of Mulholland Drive
My experience with David Lynch films has always been about the emotional, visceral, intellectual reaction to them. Ever since "Fire Walk With Me," Lynch has gone on a mind-bending, mind-expanding journey where we have to judge for ourselves the context of the films and what is imaginary, nightmarish, realistic and literal in them. But Lynch plays games and is playful so often that it is hard to decipher what is real or not. Case in point would be the opening scene of "Lost Highway," his most puzzling trip until "Mulholland," where Bill Pullman's Fred receives a call in the intercom with the ominous words, "Dick Laurent is dead." At the end of the film, before being chased by the police, Fred comes to his own house and speaks into the intercom saying the exact same words to himself. Now, one can surmise that this scene is possible and real since it is a way of Fred reminding himself that he in fact killed Dick Laurent. But we must also assume that Fred's double does not exist and is not in the house hearing this confession. If so, then Lynch is merely toying with us, insinuating a supernatural force when in fact, there may not be one. We also have to take into account that the film is subjectively told through Fred's mind, and his mind's exploration is the film we are seeing. This theory of mine concerns all of Lynch's films, with the exception of "Blue Velvet," "The Elephant Man" and "Wild at Heart." As for "Mulholland Drive," the monster behind the wall may not be real but a demon force that forces Betty to come to grips with her own reality and her own actual identity. It may be a figment of Betty's imagination or nightmare reality, or the whole film is her own nightmare. But make no mistake, Lynch doesn't just create stories and make them weird and fascinating for the hell of it - there is meaning and purpose but you need a key to open the box and find the clues.
So what is "Mulholland Drive" finally about? Well, my guess is that the story is about Betty Elms, a naive, dreamy, starry-eyed girl who came to Hollywood expecting fame and fortune, courtesy of her aunt who is a famous actress and can get her connections. Instead, Betty fails (walking away from a successful audition to help her lover, Rita), becomes Diane, loses Rita who dumps her, becomes increasingly jealous of Rita's affairs and her stardom and plans to get her killed, thanks to that inept hit man she hires (This would explain the money in Rita's purse. It may never have been Rita's but actually Betty's all along, or Diane's if you like). This theory of Betty hiring the hit man makes some sense when you consider the scene where Rita and Betty return to the apartment after crying their eyes out at the Club Silencio. Rita finds the blue box but Betty has mysteriously vanished and Rita can't find her. When the switches in identity occur, Betty wakes up as if she just had a nightmare, and is someone else, namely Diane Selwyn (if you look carefully at the pre-title sequence, you'll notice a superimposition of a woman disturbed in her sleep which could be Betty/Diane). Also consider that Rita only remembers the name Diane Selwyn, which is the name of the waitress. The waitress's name changes in the last third of the film to Betty, and it is at Winkies where Diane discusses the hit on Camilla to the hit man who holds the blue key to the mysterious blue box! Got that? One minor detail is that the key is at Diane's house, not Betty's, before Camilla visits her. But later on the hit man is holding the key, so maybe there is more than one key? I'll let you know when I see it again. (Check "No Hay Banda" analysis below - there are definitely two different keys and both have different shapes).
Another possibility is that Diane is not only jealous of Camilla for leaving her but that Camilla got the role Diane desired, or Diane never knew she was going to be cast and discovered later on she was to be cast. It is a moot point but it is possible.
The point is that it doesn't matter who is really who as much as the ideas that Lynch presents us with. Had he told this story simply and in a linear fashion, it would be clearly about the rise and fall of an actress coming from a small town in Toronto trying to make it in La-La land that ends in tragedy (a literal translation of any of the real-life stories in Kenneth Anger's "Hollywood Babylon" books). That also justifies the use of 1950's music and movies as analogous to the forgotten Hollywood of the past where overnight stardom was desired and where actresses like Betty could succeed and just as easily be spit out and thrown to the winds of obscurity. This is no doubt a reality Ann Miller endured in her own career where she had seen her share of young actresses come and go (she had worked with Mickey Rooney on "Sugar Babies," who has had his share of career setbacks). Various cowboy actors who were real-life cowboys (Tom Tyler, for one, who died nearly destitute and in poor health) also confronted similar career setbacks. This also explains the character of the Cowboy who is something of a recluse, lost in some kind of obscure, unseen ranch - a modern update of Kane's Xanadu. Yes, this is the city of dreams but dreams can also wither away when reality takes over.
But the real story may be that Betty/Diane is in denial, as we witness the first two-thirds of the movie possibly being a complete dream. Betty/Diane refuses to acknowledge her participation in Rita/Camilla's death as we see in the opening sequence, which means Rita never survived the car accident and was actually shot (she should have had more than just a slight gash after walking away from the accident). Lynch serves to confuse us further when Diane is in a limo at night where it makes a similarly unscheduled stop. The difference is she is not killed but welcomed by Camilla who takes her to a house party and further alienates her. Reminders keep popping up about Betty's real life, such as the monster witnessed by Herb and Dan - only the character of Dan is seen later at Winkie's where Diane plans the hit on Camilla. The monster is seen later behind the wall, unleashing the two elderly people from the airport in Lilliputian size from the blue box. At the conclusion of the film, the two smiling elders threaten Diane in her apartment with outstretched arms. She goes crazy, yelling and screaming until she kills herself - a gunshot wound to the head. Then we are back at the club where a blue-haired woman says the last line, "Silencio," to an empty stage where only a microphone stands.
Judging by repeated viewings of "Lost Highway" where I theorized that the impotent Fred might have denied his involvement in his wife's death by imagining himself as a virile garage mechanic, the same theory stands to reason in "Mulholland Drive." We all sometimes imagine ourselves as other people, forgetting who we really are and denying some of the unsavory truths about our own well-being. Murder is one crime a lot of us would probably deny. Therefore, Betty/Diane is not so innocent as one would believe, in direct contrast to Rita/Camilla whom we thought was involved in something seedy and mysterious.
"Mulholland Drive" holds you in a vise-like grip from the first frame to the last, always keeping one involved and enraptured by the story and the labyrinthian twists and turns. The two actresses are exceptional, probably the most full-bodied, sympathetic female characters in all of Lynch's films. Naomi Watts as Betty/Diane contrasts beguiling innocence with a hardcore realism of someone beaten down by life, as evidenced in the latter part of the film. As for innocence crossed with soothing sensuality, you need not look further than her audition with Chad Everett - one of the best audition scenes ever shown on film that is a stellar example of how to take slipshod material and transform it into art. Laura Harring is a stunning beauty to watch on screen, as glamorous, sexy, captivating and alluring on screen as any screen siren from the past (yes, including Rita Hayworth). These actresses form a loving bond and have sparkling chemistry to boot. The scene of their bedroom encounter where Rita makes a pass at Betty could have been ludicrous in the wrong hands, but it so affectionate, bittersweet and humanistic that I was shocked Lynch could direct such a tender scene.
Betty: "Have you ever done this before?"
Rita: "I don't remember."
I will not soon forget the Club Silencio sequence, which typifies Lynch's puzzles in a manner he never verbalized before. But the emotional volcano is the song "Llorando," which drew silence in the audience at the screening I attended. It is so powerful that it surpasses Roy Orbison's original model. It is this scene where we see Rita and Betty are among the spectators of this club, crying as they share the moment. Yes, Betty is noticably shaking as the previous act consists of determining the unseen and the audible. Her shaking and twitching could be a result of coming closer to her own reality, the reality of Diane Selwyn, the murderer. The sequence is so undeniably earth shattering that I could not help but shed tears...this coming from a director who is often coldly detached from the scenarios he concocts. Then I remembered the final triumphant moment of Laura Palmer smiling in tears at the angel hovering above in the Red Room from "Fire Walk With Me." And Henry hugging the Radiator Lady at the end of "Eraserhead" was a poignant moment. Here is a director who shows he can be just as sensitive to his characters and their emotional crescendos as anyone else.
Every scene in "Mulholland Drive" is murky, stylized and dreamlike, photographed by Peter Deming who also lensed "Lost Highway." The murmurs and heightening of sounds also alleviates the mood tremendously. Most of the scenes take place during the day and a handful only at night (the discovery of the monster is at breakfast time). Daylight is not the usual time of day in noir and ever since Roman Polanski's "Chinatown," it has become more commonplace.
There is always an indication that something is not quite right and that something is off in the way a character is introduced. For example, a huge mob henchman arrives at Adam's house looking for Adam, and throws Adam's wife and lover around as if they were made of paper. One of the Castigliane brothers drinks espresso at a studio meeting and spits it out on a napkin. The Cowboy is introduced by a lamp light that burns a little too brightly. The nervousness of Dan at Winkies where the camera seems to move as if it was nervous as well. Even a hotel manager who inquires about Adam's bill is slightly askew (and he reappears at the Club Silencio introducing Rebekah Del Rio!)
"Mulholland Drive" was originally a television series for ABC, but the execs balked and scrapped it when they saw the pilot. Lynch was distressed and planned to never work in television again and so the project was left in the back burner. Studio Canal Pictures (a French company, not American, which only proves that America is not interested in its own artists) gave him additional money to complete it and make it into a theatrical release. Very wise move though why television execs gave up on it is a mystery. Forget about "Twin Peaks," look at all the bizarre commercials broadcast nowadays or programs like "The X-Files," "CSI," and the numerous twisted shows about aliens. There should be room for Lynch somewhere. Nevertheless, its television origins may be evident in the casting of Robert Forster ("Jackie Brown") and Brent Briscoe ("A Simple Plan") as detectives in the opening sequence - Forster is given top billing but never appears again in the entire film. But why carp? It all fits into the frenzied world Lynch has created.
For those who loved and admired "The Straight Story" and "The Elephant Man" (count me among them) and wished Lynch would continue showing what is in his heart rather than in his head, "Mulholland Drive" will not win any new fans. Without a doubt, Lynch's newest puzzle is as intriguing, emotionally overwrought, exasperating, exhausting, entrancing, and as complexly woven as any film he, or anyone else, has ever made - it also greatly satisfies the heart and the mind. For pretentious film students and aficionados, they may dismiss Lynch as the director who makes films that pretend to be films - an egocentric director who simply wants to alienate his audience by making them undergo labyrinthian trips through lost highways and endless hallways with no obvious connections. The weirdness and bizarre nature of these stories will make most uncomfortable and unwilling to think about the overall meaning, wrongly assuming there is no meaning. There is a mystery and yet, there is no mystery. To that I say, see it again. I will soon.
No Hay Banda - It is all a recording!
This section was written in early 2000 and has been updated
"I like to remember things my own way. Not necessarily the way they happen."
- Fred Madison, Lost Highway (1997)
I saw "Mulholland Drive" a second time in Wayne, NJ on a cold December night. All I can say is wow all over again. The film is not so much a dream as much as it places you in a dream state. And it is still somewhat confusing, to say the least.
I confess I made a huge mistake in my analysis above. The scene of the studio meeting where Adam Kesher is told that Camilla Rhodes is to be the lead actress in his new film does not feature a publicity photograph of Betty Elms but of Camilla Rhodes (as played by Melissa George). The notion is that Adam wishes to pick his own actress for the project rather than being forced to pick one starlet admired by the financial backers. Adam never intended to cast Betty because he does not know her nor has he ever seen her. Naturally, through the progression of events in the film, Rita transforms into Camilla Rhodes and we learn that she has the lead part in Adam's new film. We also learn that Betty who becomes Diane tried to get the part that Camilla eventually landed, settling for smaller parts in Camilla's films. This develops the jealousy angle further into murder and finally suicide.
There are scenes that still irk me, notably the famous blue key. There are two blue keys in the film, one that is shaped as something that would open a box. The key to open the mysterious blue box is the first key we see in the film. Then there is a regular shaped blue key that Diane has in her apartment before her neighbor arrives to pick up her belongings. The key is seen on a coffee table and it is an objective shot meaning it is information we see but not through the character's eyes. Later on, Rita and Diane are half-naked on the couch next to the same table only this time, the key is gone. Several scenes later, Diane meets with the hit man at Winkies and he holds the very same blue key that is found on Diane's table. He says, "When you find this key in your place, you'll know the job is done" or something to that effect. The significance of the key still makes no sense to me but perhaps it has some correlation with the key used to open the strange box where Betty/Diane's true identity lies.
There is also the deal with the elderly people who are shown during the opening montage sequence prior to someone's heavy breathing while having a strange dream (supposedly Betty/Diane). They are seen smiling next to Betty in the montage, perhaps at a jitterbug contest that Betty/Diane won. They are next seen at the LAX airport to wish Betty good luck. But then they are also unveiled inside the blue box by the monster behind the wall. And in the final sequence, they are chasing Betty in her own apartment. There is the distinct possibility that they are Betty's parents or simply people she envisions as her own parents - perhaps, Betty's own parents died or they remind her of her own aunt and uncle (though Betty's own aunt, the movie star, looks nothing like the elderly woman). Lynch doesn't tell us and it is never made clear.
One particular scene that was fascinating in its depiction of Betty/Diane's internal mind state is when she first sees Camilla at her apartment during her transitional period. Betty who is now Diane smiles at something or someone after her neighbor picks up her belongings (she is seen standing by the sink.)There is a cut to Camilla smiling, looking as glamorous as ever. Diane smiles and gets teary-eyed and then there is a jump cut where she seems to be standing in the opposite side of the room, near the kitchen, looking rather glum. It is clear that Camilla was actually not present in the apartment - Diane only imagined she was there.
Finally, who is the Cowboy really? In his first appearance, the Cowboy warns Adam that he better stick with the casting choice the gangsters have decided on. Then he appears during Lynch's break in time and space where the identities of characters shift and become other characters. The Cowboy is supposedly still the Cowboy as he appears in Diane's apartment and calls her a sweetheart. We see Diane lying on her bed, then she becomes a corpse, then back to a healthy-looking Diane still lying in bed with her back to us. The Cowboy reappears and then exits her apartment. What the heck is Cowboy's relationship to Diane? And why does he appear at the pool party later in the film? The Cowboy is one of the most enigmatic villains in all of Lynch history but I cannot begin to explain his significance in the last third of the film. I will revisit "Mulholland Dr." in the future and I am sure I will find more clues and subtleties that I missed out on. As it stands now, in early 2011, having revisited the film numerous times, "Mulholland Dr." is
the film of the 2000 decade.
