Lynch as Auteur

Lynchian – Characteristic, reminiscent, or imitative of the films or television work of David Lynch. Lynch is noted for juxtaposing surreal or sinister elements with mundane, everyday environments, and for using compelling visual images to emphasize a dreamlike quality of mystery or menace.

Uncanniness – the fact of being strange or mysterious, often in a way that is slightly frightening, the producer’s body proportions is warped in this scene, making the spectator feel uneasy and fearful of him, allegorically commenting on the fearful and unfair nature of the industry.

Use of doppelgangers – Lynch does this to elicit confusion and a connection between two characters, in this scene the gap between Betty and Diane is closing and they are merging into one, foreshadowing to how their identities are about to be complicated and switched.

Ominous sound design – leading up to this scene, we can hear a gradually louder and more intense humming/ rumbling score, eluding to a build in tension following Betty finding out Diana isn’t her Aunts friend.

Heightened performance – The heightened performance in this scene elicits to how Betty is an extremely optimistic and whimsical person in the beginning, contrasting violently to her switch into madness. Lynch plays into the star struck actor in LA trope to amplify Betty’s innocence and naivety in the exposition. The grandparents in this scene also have a heightened performance, signposting them as a vital character in the film to be brought back later.

Themes of tarnished idealism – Lynch uses the concept of tarnished idealism to show the deuteriation of Betty/Diane at the hands of the detrimental and sexist industry. In the beginning, Betty presents as a very innocent and optimistic person, full of hope and wonder. But after the switch, following what she has endured at the hands of the patriarchal industry, she now is reidentified as Diane, a tarnished and broken individual who appears more worn-out and experienced.

Uncanniness: The fact of being strange or mysterious, often in a way that is slightly frightening

Doppelganger: a mysterious, exact double of a living person

heightened performance: The acting is over the top and theatrical

Tarnished idealism: the idealisation of Hollywood is distorted throughout the film being portrayed as shady and leading to bad things happening to people like Diane calling a hit on Rita.

uncanniness: shown through the deformed man who gives an off-putting vibe to the scene. This matched with the low lighting creates an enigma of what the higher ups at Hollywood’s intentions are.

uses of doppelgangers: shown through Diane who is shown originally to be cheery to a more serious attitude as she discovers what she has done becoming a new person both emotionally and physically dressing more causally and having unkept hair.

ominous sound design: an ominous hum is used as the film closes to leave a big impact upon the viewer being suspenseful and thought provoking.

heightened performances: Shown through Diane and coco’s first interaction, they act overly positive to the point where it appears fake and unnerving furthering the point of the film being dream like building on peoples over glamorization of Hollywood.

themes of tarnished idealism: the idealisation of Hollywood is distorted throughout the film with Diane representing what peoples idea of Hollywood is being joyful and excited to become an actress before later on being portrayed as shady and leading to bad things happening to people like Diane calling a hit on Rita.

Score – 9/10 I really enjoyed this film because I thought it had a really good plot twist and although the storyline was confusing, watching the end and the plot being pulled together was really entertaining.

My memorable scene would be the scene in which ‘Betty’ and ‘Rita’ visit flat 17 and discover the corpse of a woman. I think this is when the storyline becomes really sinister and makes us question who the woman is and what is happening.

Iconic Shot

How does Lynch make use of or subvert traditional narrative techniques to tell the story?

Lynch makes use of a non-linear narrative to construct a more though compelling story, an often theme with in his work. With his use of a non-linear narrative he chooses to create many questions about what goes on within the film with the inclusion of other elements such as Sub-plots (e.g. Adam the director or the mysterious film executive) and Narrative hooks (e.g. the enigma behind the characters identities). These are all combined to create an effect of mystery to the story.

the narrative of Mulholland drive could be described as non-linear. This gives the film a sense of confusion and mystery as the viewers would have to piece scenes together to get the full story. This would give the film good rewatch value as people will not understand the film on first time watching it.

The use of a non-linear narrative fits into the ideas of surrealist film as it tries to link to link the ideas on the conscious and unconscious mind. and create the feeling that there’s more to the film that meets the eye on first glance.