David Lynch, the visionary filmmaker, passed away on January 16th at the age of 78. Among his films are "Eraserhead", "Blue Velvet" and "Wild at Heart", considered his masterpiece. He brought his singular vision to the small screen with "Twin Peaks". His family announced his death on social media on Thursday, but did not provide further details. In 2024, Lynch said that, after developing emphysema after years of smoking, any future films would have to be directed from a distance.
Lynch's style has often been described as surrealist and, indeed, with its unsettling juxtapositions, extravagant non-sequiturs, and eroticized aberrations of the mundane, the Lynchian has obvious affinities with classical surrealism. However, Lynch's surrealism was more intuitive than programmatic. If classical surrealists celebrated irrationality and sought to liberate the fantastical in the everyday, Lynch used the ordinary as a shield to protect himself from the irrational.
Mulholland Drive
Synopsis: Betty Elms (Naomi Watts), a young aspiring actress, arrives in Los Angeles to become a movie star and stays in her aunt's apartment. There she meets the enigmatic Rita (Laura Harring), a woman suffering from amnesia due to an accident on Mulholland Drive. Together, they decide to investigate who Rita is and how she got there. To help the woman remember her identity, Betty searches Rita's purse, where she finds a large amount of money and a blue key.
In 2001, David Lynch directed the erotic thriller Mulholland Drive. Named the best film of 2001 by the New York Film Critics Circle, it was praised even by Roger Ebert, a long-time detractor of Lynch. Widely considered Lynch's masterpiece, it ranked eighth in the Sight and Sound poll of 2022 on the greatest films of all time.
Mulholland Drive is set in a version of Los Angeles that is both seductive and malevolent. Created from the remnants of a rejected television pilot, the film follows the misadventures of two aspiring movie stars, one dark and mysterious (Laura Elena Harring), the other blonde and cheerful (Naomi Watts). The atmosphere is ultra-lynchian. An ominous rumble underscores the sinister delirium as the film shifts from one violent absurdity to another, literally taking the notion of Hollywood as a dream factory.
During the film, we can see Laura Harring nude in some scenes, as well as Naomi Watts, but Laura Harring looks especially sexy:
Originally conceived as a television pilot episode, a large part of the film was shot in 1999 with Lynch's plan to keep the ending open for a possible series. However, after seeing Lynch's version, television executives decided to reject it. Lynch then provided an ending for the project, turning it into a feature film. The result, half-pilot, half-feature film, along with Lynch's characteristic style, has left the overall meaning of the film's events open to interpretation. Lynch has refused to offer an explanation of his intentions for the narrative, leaving the audience, critics, and cast members to speculate about what happens. He gave the film the tagline "A love story in the city of dreams".
The blue key in Mulholland Drive
Although David Lynch has never revealed the meaning of the blue key, there are theories that could suggest that the blue key is a key that opens the door to reality, as Betty finds the key after Rita's accident and it is a tool to access the truth.
Another theory is that the blue key represents the world of dreams and fantasy. In Mulholland Drive, the boundaries between reality and dreams are blurred, and the blue key could be a symbol of transition between both states.
My theory is that the blue key is a kind of contract between Betty and a hitman, who is hired to eliminate Rita. The hitman delivers an envelope to Betty, which contains money and a note with the word "Silencio" (Spanish for "Silence"), as well as the blue key, which could be a signal or indication that Betty must remain silent about certain events or secrets she has discovered.