Cinematography

• The pools of darkness, long tracking shots, and points of view leading to entrances and around corners, all build an ominous aesthetic, added by the soundtrack with often disturbing echoes or humming (recalling Eraserhead), an obsession with 1950’s popular music, and the unnerving synth score of regular composer Angelo Badalamenti

• The lightning and composition of many shots are reminiscent of the paintings of Edward Hopper. Despite having a contemporary setting, this gives the film a feeling that it is set in the 1950’s

• Cinematographer, Peter Deming, often lights characters using ‘night’ lightning even when the background is broad daylight. This adds to the dreamlike atmosphere of the film

Mise en Scene

• Noir (the gangsters, the city as corrupting for the new arrival, the Pandora’s box key and safe, the femme fatale, the killings)

• Musicals (the curtain, performance microphone, the singers, previously seen in Blue Velvet (1986)

• Hollywood itself (famous road signs, landmarks, and intertextual auteur references to his own films, as well as Vertigo (Hitchcock 1959) and Sunset Boulevard (Wilder, 1950)

• Adding to the 1950’s feel to the movie, many of the characters dress and wear hair and make-up more associated with that decade. This was also a period of ‘Classic Hollywood’ and is a nod to one of the film’s main inspirations Sunset Boulevard (Wilder, 1950)

• Lynch often uses repeated motifs, meaning of which can shift and change throughout the narrative

Sound

• Lynch consistently uses a deep throbbing bass sound to create a sense of unease and fear. Often this sound effect is used while the camera focuses on an unassuming object, imbuing the everyday with a malign energy

• In Mulholland Drive, this bass throb is combined with a sound like muffled wind that reminds us Los Angeles is a city in vast desert

Editing

• In many of Lynch’s films, he creates a nightmarish atmosphere by filming and editing sequences. We feel there is something just out of shot that is lurking and there are repeated closeups of the characters’ confused or terrified faces, the sequence in the diner is a perfect example of this

How does Mulholland Drive exemplify Lynch’s Auteur approach to film making?

• In Mulholland Drive, Lynch creates a dreamlike atmosphere through sound design, surreal imagery, and experimental narrative. Since Eraserhead (1977), Lynch has made films with consistent aesthetic, narrative, and ideological approaches. Many explore a dark underbelly lurking beneath polite traditional US society; particularly in his TV series Twin Peaks 1990-2017).

• Lynch is noted for juxtaposing surreal or sinister elements with mundane, everyday environments, and for using compelling visual images to emphasise a dreamlike quality of mystery or menace.

• David Lynches ‘Lynchian’ cinematic style can be used to describe films with similar odd images and similar macabre themes. A tone, sense, atmosphere or experience that you fully understand but can’t quite describe.

• Mulholland Drive is a surrealist neo-noir that explores concepts of identity, sexuality, and memory. It’s also a satire on Hollywood and the American lust for fame. David Lynch was named Best Director at the 2001 Cannes Film Festival and was nominated for an Academy Award. A BBC poll ranked Mulholland Drive as the ‘Best Film of the 21st Century’ in 2016.

• The plot of the film is deliberately ambiguous and mysterious, with no clear explanation of the plot, or closure at the end, giving audience opportunity to watch repeatedly and discuss endlessly to interpret their own ending and meaning of the film.

• Critic Roger Ebert said such an experimental narrative works as a movie because every scene is vignette (a perfect and self-contained story); this makes it emotionally satisfying, even if the pieces don’t all add up.

• Others have said the narrative is working on three different levels of reality; first, in a dream (Betty’s); then the subconscious (what Rita/Betty is trying to suppress); then thirdly, in ‘reality’ (Rita and Camilla).

• Lynch often creates a dreamlike atmosphere in his films through sound design, surreal imagery, and experimental narrative

Social / Institutional / Political

• Mulholland Drive is a satire on Hollywood. Lynch, an auteur with a unique and bizarre vision, has often struggled to get financing and support from Hollywood studios.

• Mulholland Drive originally started as a pilot for a TV show, though it was abruptly axed only weeks into production, Lynch turned the existing footage and some extra scenes into a feature film.

• An obvious comment on this would be struggles of Adam, the director character in Mulholland Drive in the surreal and shadowy Hollywood system.

• Movements like #MeToo (2006) and #TimesUp (2018) have drawn attention to sexism and misogyny in the film industry, though predating these movements, Mulholland Drive is critical of the way the Hollywood system treats people, and young woman particularly.

• The portrayal of fame, celebrity and the entertainment industry in film is shown to dehumanise people.

Cultural

• Mulholland Drive is surrealist, inspired by the European surrealist movement of the 1920s – 1950s with the aim to unite the conscious and unconscious mind.

• The film can be categorised as part of the American postmodern film movement of the 1990s/early 2000s.

• Diane’s world is hyper-real; the narrative is disjointed, and the film contains intertextual references.

• The plot is somewhat inspired by Sunset Boulevard (Wilder, 1950) another film noir about a desperate actress in Hollywood, set on an intersecting road to Mulholland.

• There are also references to Gilda (Vidor, 1946) and the paintings of Edward Hopper.

Lynchian refers to the mood and aesthetic found in most David Lynch films. Usually, it is used to label something which has a dark, ominous tone with a surrealist feeling. Lynchian can also describe the dark underbelly of something which seems innocent on its surface (as Lynch repeatedly investigates). But Lynchian isn’t just about themes, it can also apply to eerie visuals and unsettling sounds.

Uncanniness – the fact of being strange and mysterious often in a way that’s slightly frightening

Use of doppelgangers – someone who looks spookily like you but isn’t a twin, usually seen as a harbinger of bad luck

Ominous sound design – vital in setting an ominous tone so the audience know something bad is going to happen

Heightened performances – acting is very over the top or theatrical to intensify a scene

Themes of tarnished idealism – a theme where characters or narratives start with high hopes or noble ideals, but those ideals are ultimately challenged or corrupted by harsh realities

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

Surrealism – a style of art and literature developed principally in the 20th century, stressing the subconscious or nonrational significance of imagery arrived at by automatism or the exploitation of chance effects, unexpected juxtapositions, etc.

Photograph of Surrealist artist Salvador Dali titled ‘Dali Atomicus (c. 1948), by Philippe Halsman

BrainChain (2001) by Willem den Broeder

7/10 – I enjoyed watching this because it was so random and I wasn’t sure what would appear on screen next so it was entertaining, however the concept of it confuses me because of the lack of meaning, though I think they have done this so audience can interpret it themselves, which is something I quite liked about it.

• The look of the film reinforces the underdevelopment of this society: people’s simple but traditional clothing, the limited physical resources and the basic buildings and spaces

• The inside of the state Prosecutor’s office is not very modern but the simple office set-up shows the importance of addressing all forms of injustice

• The documentary looks and feels raw, with a visual style capturing realism and authenticity

• The clothing and mise-en-scene correlate with the lives of those whose stories are central to the narrative

• Lack of glamour works with the documentary’s movement towards revealing the truth and giving a narrative space to the stories of the vulnerable women and children in this village community

• Dress code distinguishes between the legal representatives of the court and those attending from within the community

• Realism captured through real lives unfolding in real locations, as the narrative is constructed – real people, not actors, reinforcing truth and the authenticity of the story

Social Contexts

• The position of women is determined by patriarchal views of men who may regard women as their property, these views are often reinforced by family, friends and the village community

• Those who follow Sharia Law still believe that women are not allowed their independence

• Under sharia law, women’s rights and freedoms are very limited and they must defer to a male guardian, a father or husband (for example, permission to leave the house)

• The rights and freedoms of children within this community can be precarious

• Schools are set up and compulsory in Cameroon up to the age of 14, but books and uniforms must be paid for so often sons rather than daughters are prioritised, perpetuating women’s scope for opportunity and financial independence

• Young children are often expected to help out with farming chores

• Female judge in the court-room challenges the traditional views held by men, which work against women’s rights and fundamental freedoms

Production (Economic) Contexts

• Florence Ayisi and Kim Longinotto were supported by the non-profit media organisation ‘Women Make Moviews’ (set up in New York in 1972), running workshops teaching women how to make films. Women Make Movies distributes ‘Sisters in Law’ within the context of its wider aims to support filmmaking by female directors who embark on themes about women globally and it has supported the other documentary work by Kim Longinotto

• The idea for the documentary grew from a visit to Kumba Town, West Cameroon, which is Florence Ayisis’s home town, whilst she and Kim Longinotto were going to organically film a documentary about the police