My Interpretation of Mulholland Drive (2001)

Have you seen Mulholland Drive? If you haven’t DO NOT keep reading. This article contains an abundance of SPOILERS! I reveal all of the well hidden secrets that’s begging to be discovered beneath the surface of this intentionally plastic feeling film. Seriously though, if you consider yourself a true thinker, Mulholland Drive is your kind of movie. If you read this article, and have no idea how to interpret this film you really are sucking all of the fun out of what makes it a great head trip. It has baffled many a intelligent film critic as well as audiences. Many film lovers have nothing but pure hatred and disgust for the “disconnected and incoherent” scenes presented throughout the entire film. Yet, David Lynch received the Prix de la mise en scène (French for the Best Director award) at the 2001 Cannes Film Festival, and a Oscar nomination for Best Director. In general the film is critically acclaimed, not that this should sway you. If you despise Mulholland Drive, you of all people, are who I want to read my interpretation.

Before I wrote this detailed explanation of what the hell is going on in Mulholland Drive, I decided to first define what precisely a “thinking movie” is. When you have time, please give it a read. In it, I make a comparison to the movies Memento and Mulholland Drive. Believe it or not, I identify Memento as NOT a movie for the independently thinking film goer, as intelligent as it may be.

https://moviefilmreview.com/7004/what-is-a-thinking-movie-memento-vs-mulholland-drive

The City of Dreams, and the mind of Diane
There are 2 major ideas that might result in your mind having a domino effect in putting together the rest of Mulholland Drive’s many smaller details.

The first is at the beginning of the film. After a brief memory of the Jitterbug Contest that the main character, Diane, won in Canada, we see a pink pillow and bed sheets. This is a depressed Diane waking up and falling back asleep. However you are in her perspective. So she remains asleep, as do we, for the majority of Mulholland Drive. No wonder the title appears next. This same bedspread is shown later in the sleeper’s apartment (Sierra Bonita, #17). Turns out, the entire movie is being channeled to you through Diane’s mind. About 4/5ths of it is a dream, a fantasy world. The rest is Diane recalling her memories or having delusions, and then committing suicide. You could even challenge the “non-linear” label this film often gets in light of those facts. Like I brought out in my Memento Mori Review, dreams and memories are still experienced by a character in real time. 

The second idea is that both characters “Rita” and Betty are in fact parts of Diane’s personality. Since it is her dream world, they are of her subconsciousness. Well, all of the dream world sequence is devised by Diane. She is the author of her dream, so much of it is derived from who she is as a person, who she would rather be, and her actual real life experiences. So everyone in it is Diane in some way. This is much like how the film itself can reveal to you how David Lynch’s characters are somewhat like him, or even how this article tells you a bit about yours truly. Let’s next focus on the personalities of the film and what they symbolize.

Diane in Self Denial
Every memory Diane had in Hollywood has been precisely the opposite as she had hoped for. What directly propels her to escape reality through dreaming however, is the psychotic guilt she receives from her own intentional murder of Camilla Rhodes. We know this from her meeting at Winkies with Joe Messing (a paid killer), near the very end of the film. As soon as she wakes up from the dream the blue key is on her coffee table which confirms that the murder took place.

We will now examine what each character in Diane’s dream represents, and how her memories at the end of the film might contradict them.

Betty Elms is who Diane wishes she was, but definitely isn’t. She’s a fantastic actress, a happy person, innocent, at peace with her family, and beloved by everyone. “Rita” appreciates Betty, and depends on her. Betty is in love with Rita.When the director Adam Kesher, first sees her, he’s almost in love, and most likely wants to cast her in his film. Her career seems likely to be successful. It’s not surprising that Betty is more like Camilla, since Diane originally adored her, and kind of wants to be her. Betty Elms is how Diane Selwyn would live her life if she had the charm and prospects of Camilla Rhodes. She is a nice Camilla. Betty is also Diane from the past, before she became corrupted by Hollywood’s personalities, and with her acting dreams intact.

 In Reality, Diane is not a good actress that can’t compete with the manipulative personality of Camilla’s magnetism. Diane feels like a failure, is bitter, and haunted by her family. Aunt Ruth is Dead. No one from her Hollywood life seems to care about her well being.  She is responsible for Camilla’s murder. Camilla is getting married with Adam and was never interested in a monogamous relationship with Diane. Diane is infatuated with Camilla and she depends on her through her ties in the acting world.

“Rita,” has amnesia. She’s kind of like an awkward wooden doll. She plays an innocent victim that was just in a car accident. She is carrying a bag of money, and has no idea where it came from. There seems to be influential people of the underworld chasing her. Betty sincerely wants to help and cares for her, and allows her a temporary home. Betty is much more compassionate to the lost woman, completely unlike Camilla is with Diane. 

Diane Selwyn
“Rita” is Diane Selwyn. Unlike Betty, the spirit of Diane’s previous self, she is from the present. She represents her current emotionally shipwrecked state, and everything she hates about herself. “Rita” though, is how Diane would rather see Camilla be. This amnesiac part of Diane’s personality feels so lost, insecure, ignored, downtrodden, pathetic, hopeless and worthless, that she doesn’t know who she is anymore. She gives these unwanted feelings to her source of them, an imaginary version of Camilla, Rita. Her love for the beautiful actress has been rejected, without return, and left her betrayed, jealous, and envious.

Rita’s amnesia, which she is consistently afraid of , also depicts a form of Diane’s own self denial. She was once an innocent and naive victim of the deceitful personalities found in Hollywood, but she has allowed even it’s association to corrupt her. Her interaction with this two faced facade of civilization in a way causes her to retaliate by conjuring up her own artificial world. Now she is responsible for the murder of the woman she thought she loved. There are two detectives looking for her. She cannot face the impossible guilt she has covered herself with. So she creates illusions in her subconscious world to shield herself from the doom inspiring reality that she must face when waking up. Rita is still carrying the bag of money, because Diane wishes she never gave it to the contract killer. It is as if Diane gave the money to Camilla instead, or kept it to herself, so therefore Camilla Rhodes is still alive in her safe dream.

Adam Kesher’s personality in Diane Selwyn’s dream isn’t changed much because she doesn’t really know him enough personally. How can she change what she doesn’t know? Besides she wants to be more like Camilla, not Adam. However the director’s goals and the events that befall him is completely flipped upside down in her world. We are first led to believe that he is being forced against his will to cast an unknown blonde (“Camilla Rhodes???”). Adam Kesher instantly falls in love with Betty Elms when he first sees her. It really seems like he wants her for the lead role immediately. Soon he discovers that his wife is carelessly cheating on him and reacts to it with jealously and childishness. Short after he is blackmailed to cast the actress he loathes, or his career, money and living situation is in jeopardy.

Are we starting to see a pattern here? Adam’s affairs are again how the self deceptive Diane wishes them to be. The last thing that Diane wants to see is Adam casting Camilla Rhodes, never mind the director getting married to her, and certainly not after how Selwyn has been treated. So here the director is being forced against his will to insert a different girl (not really Camilla) into his film. Isn’t that as Diane wants it? Adam is left in the exact same lowlife state that our dreamer imposes upon Rita. The director’s reactions to his wife’s debauchery in the dream, mirror Diane’s jealousy towards the heartless Hollywood couple that propose right in front of her. This dream is Diane’s justified revenge, unlike the ugly one she regrets taking.

Camilla Rhodes is very different from the rest of the characters I’ve mentioned. Though her face is there, her personality is never even close to properly represented in Diane’s dream. She is the one character that exists only in the real world. This is because the real life version of this femme fatale reminds our dreaming storyteller of everything she is not, and especially the pathetic humiliation she cannot shake off. She wishes she never met her. The ex-lover brings nothing but conflicting torment to Diane’s life, both when she was alive and especially in her death. Camilla Rhodes exerts way too much power over the emotional and mental state of Diane; a power that she receives and abuses effortlessly. It is an understatement to say that Diane Selwyn would prefer to never remember this person as she really was ever again.

Camilla is successful, eloquent, seductive, sophisticated, charming, desired by everyone, independent, brutal, narcissistic, and very cold. It is irrelevant whether she is a fantastic actress or not, because Adam has become biased enough to cast her. She is a insincere illusionist. Although she tries to make friends with Diane in one point of the film, it’s mostly because Camilla isn’t used to being hated. After all, a prominent goal in the life of an actress, is to convince everyone to love them both on and off the screen. That doesn’t necessarily translate to a need to being a good person. No doubt it’s an effortless task to wrap everyone around her little finger to get what she wants. It is ironic that Diane has very much become like Camilla, but not at all in the ways she had wished for.

The significance of the blond Camilla Rhodes is quite simple. You’ll notice that Rita is basically Diane’s personality to every detail. The only thing switched by wishful thinking is her face. Since she has already attached a face to Rita, she would much rather someone she didn’t know getting the part of the film, if not Camilla or her personally. At the same time Diane hates the blonde since she is obviously involved in a relationship with the real Camilla. Her emotions are how she wishes Adam viewed her, “There’s s no way that girl is in my movie! …There’s no way! There’s no way!” Diane wants no part of this film anymore after how she has been treated by those associated with it. This is why she doesn’t have the part in her dream. She’d rather destroy the whole production or use it to manipulate Adam Kesher. This is another way that Diane can feel at ease about not being the actress that she so badly wants to be, while stealing Adam’s heart.

“I like to remember things my own way, not necessarily how they happen.” Mulholland Drive Quotes
David Lynch’s Lost Highway used this line of dialog to clue you in about what was really going on in the film. This exact line is also very appropriate for Diane’s character. There are tons of lines with double meanings in Mulholland Drive. Now that you know my psychological analysis of Diane’s many representations you’ll see dialog in a different light. This section is mostly to support my above theory. If you only desire to know the rest of the interpretation skip this subheading. Here’s what I noticed.

The first thing Betty says is, “Oh… I can’t believe it…” in absolute awe as she’s getting off the plane. The lighting is very bright and sort of surreal. Also when she first sees Aunt Ruth’s apartment she says, “It’s unbelievable!”

When speaking of her excitement to be in Hollywood to Rita, Betty says, “I just came here from Deep River, Ontario, and now I’m in this… dream place! …You can imagine how I feel.” Rita (Diane) is definitely imagining Betty’s feelings in a dream place right now.

Before Joe Messing kills Ed for his black book they seem to be speaking of Rita’s car accident:
“An accident like that? Who could have foreseen that?”
Ed: “It’s unreal right?”
Joe: “Unbelievable.”

When confronted by Betty, Rita is crushed, “I thought when I woke up, I thought sleep would do it. …I don’t know who I am.” When sneaking into Aunt Ruth’s apartment the first thing Rita does is sleep. She continues to sleep more after meeting Betty. Her accident causes her exhaustion. This mirrors Diane’s depressed behavior as she dreams for perhaps a few days. She starts having delusions and memories of very insecure moments she had with Camilla  as soon as she wakes up from the dream. Her depression is caused by both the party and her hit on Camilla since the blue key from Joe is on the table.

In a quick scene of Adam driving on the phone with his secretary informing him of his movie being shut down, the director just gives up without a fight, “I’m going home.” The secretary says, “Adam, please, this isn’t like you.”

Betty suggests calling anonymously for a police report to Rita, “C’mon, it will be just like in the movies. We’ll pretend to be someone else.”

When Adam goes home, his wife Lorraine, is cheating on him with Gene. Now remember, the hopeless events befalling Adam in the dream mirror Diane’s, and the director is behaving similarly. Diane wants Adam to feel the same way as she did at the Mulholland Drive party. Gene says, “Just forget you ever saw it. It’s better that way.” What a strange and impossible suggestion… Adam takes the jewelry and pours pink paint on it. He outrageously fights with his wife. Gene says, “That ain’t no way to treat your wife Buddy. I don’t care what she’s done.” Yes Diane, forget you ever saw the party. It’s better to dream. Perhaps Camilla didn’t quite deserve murder either no matter what she did. Later on, Gene and even Lorraine, get beaten up by a large man no doubt trying to “teach” Adam the ways of film. Diane has all of their asses handed to them.

Now here’s probably the most prominent scene. Pay attention to which part of Diane’s personality says what and why. When going back to Ruth’s apartment after spotting Diane’s name tag at Winkies, Rita says, “Diane Selywn. Maybe that’s my name!”
They look up D. Selywn in the phonebook and call.
Betty to Rita: “It’s strange to be calling yourself.”
Rita: “Maybe it’s not me.”
“Hello, it’s me. Leave a message.” (Ha! The message immediately contradicts what Rita just said)
Rita: “That’s not my voice (It certainly sounds like Betty), but I know her!”
Betty: “Maybe that isn’t Diane Selwyn’s voice, maybe it’s your roommate. Or if it is Diane Selwyn, she could tell you who you are.”
Rita: “Maybe. Maybe.”

Betty rehearses for her audition with Rita.
Betty: “This will be the end of everything… so get out of here before… I kill you (While holding a knife).”
Rita: “Then they’d put you in jail.” Both of them laugh like it’s absurd.
Betty: “Then I cry, cry, cry, and say with big emotion, I hate you! I hate us both! …Such a lame scene…”

Here is the scene the old lady babbles nonsense to Betty at Ruth’s apartment.
Louise Bonner (the “confused” old lady): “Someone is in trouble. Who are you? What are you doing in Ruth’s apartment?”
“My name’s Betty.”
Louise: “No, it’s not. That’s not what she said. Someone is in trouble. Something bad is happening… (Now she says to Coco) That one is in my room and she won’t leave. I want you to get her out now. …No she said it was someone else who was in trouble.” Coco: I’m taking you home. Rita seems freaked. It’s hard to make sense of this scene, but Diane did switch apartments with her neighbor who doesn’t seem happy about it. Louise received her info from the dream version of Ruth. She says someone else is in trouble while looking at Betty, and says it again when looking in the room for someone else without seeing Rita. It’s most likely Diane who is in trouble. She will commit suicide soon. There literally is no other character left we can pin this status on with both Aunt Ruth and Camilla now currently dead during this dream.

In Sierra Bonita’s courtyard, both women speak for a moment when they discover they are about to go to Diane’s apartment #17.
Betty: “…I guess your not Diane Selwyn.”
Rita: “…I guess I’m not.” She is her. Notice how neither of them say this with certainty, but with playful fun. Rita doesn’t say, “I’m not Diane.”  It’s fairly suspicious that Rita first believes her name is Diane Selwyn. Shortly after both women see Diane’s corpse rotting in bed, but they don’t know it’s her. It’s like a vision of the future, or it’s just Diane’s current emotional state. Rita freaks out because she may subtly sense who it is or is just scared that it has to do with her past. She’s right. Betty remains relatively calm. She doesn’t know that this is who she will become.

The Accident
The accident is a physical representation of what was about to happen to Diane emotionally at the Mulholland Drive Party. Notice that the moment just before when Rita meets Camilla is when the accident intervenes. The driver even holds her at gunpoint forcing her against her will to proceed just like how intensely skeptical Diane is over the phone in the later version of the scene. Diane would rather be hit by a car and suffer from amnesia than go through that humiliatingly heartless experience again.

Mr. Roque
Mr. Roque (the no nonsense dwarf), is the head of both the film industry and the shady one underneath. He simultaneously blackmails Adam to cast the Blonde Camilla Rhodes while searching for Rita with what seems to be unlawful henchmen. When he informs, “The girl is still missing,” his message is relayed to 2 unknown men with telephones, but it ends up at Diane’s phone in the real world! It has the red lampshade with a cigarette infested ashtray next to it. Diane receives Camilla’s call to tell her the car is waiting outside from this same phone.

So Diane is the head of it all and she is briefly awakened. Of course she would rather chase Camilla (or Rita) for her betrayal rather than be found out for her crimes. Diane’s neighbor mentions how two detectives have been looking for her when she’s awake. Diane Selwyn certainly doesn’t want Adam to have his way with his life or his movie. You’ll notice the ring of that particular call echos and fades into the background of the next scene where Betty gets off the plane. This is because she hears it less as she escapes back into her dream.

The Audition
The performance that Betty puts on at her audition is actually the one that Camilla portrayed for the film, “The Sylvia North Story.” Camilla got the part. Bob Brooker didn’t think so much of her. The two hints for this are at the dinner scene at the party, and the audition itself when her partnering actor mentions, “I want to play this one real close like we did with that black haired woman.” Not only that, but Betty certainly plays the scene like Camilla’s overall personality, not hers. She makes her mind up to do so in the middle of the performance.

The Cowboy
I don’t think the Cowboy has too much significance other than Diane knows him in real life, and is using him to blackmail Adam in his dream. You’ll notice his hat is hung up on a coat rack during Rita and Betty’s love scene. He’s also at the party in the background, and it is him who almost wakes up Diane. I would like to believe the main note of interest is that the Cowboy makes a deal with Adam that Diane would much prefer. It contrasts the deal she made with Joe Messing. Although we see Herb and Dan in Winkies, like we do with Joe and Diane, that scene is more about guilt and how it harms our main character. There is no bargaining happening with Herb and Dan. The deal the Cowboy offers is directly from Diane with her own terms. It’s to wreck Adam’s movie and his dream, instead of unintentionally destroying her own by paying Joe Messing. If she ends up in jail for hiring a killer, she’ll never be the actress that she so desires to be.

Club Silencio
Rita (or Diane) knows Spanish because she learned it from Camilla. Betty never met the deceptive actress before so she doesn’t know a secondary language yet. It is likely that Diane has been to the club outside of her dream before. This must be so, since we see the location towards the very end of the film right after our main character commits suicide. Her memory of the place ignites the dream version of it.

We might as well call this place “Club Illusion,” since it features music that isn’t really there as well as magician’s tricks. The Spanish club is named after Silence, and yet contrarily the acts are all musical throughout. As the announcer of the show mentions, there is no band and yet we hear a band. The music is all a recording. It is an illusion.

Rebekah Del Rio sings Roy Orbison’s song “Crying” in Spanish. The result of course is crying as well as fear. Rita, Betty, as well as the entirety of Diane, are sad and afraid because they sense they are dreaming right now.

The singer dies during her beautiful performance and yet the song’s illusion continues. The wonderful dream is dead, and Diane will have to wake up soon to the nightmare that is her life.  She learns of it through the announcers words. The blue box most likely appears in her purse as he performs his “magic.” He disappears right after since as he stated, “It is all an illusion,” which would include himself. Betty now possesses the blue box in her purse. The key is in Rita’s purse as well. It really is the same purse. Diane had everything she needed all along similarly to Dorothy in the Wizard of Oz. The difference is that Diane does not want to wake up.

The Key and the Blue Box
Who gives a key and why? I’ve seen some confusion on the internet about this David Lynch clue on the DVD jacket. Although Coco gives a apartment key to Betty there is absolutely nothing substantial that can be derived from this fact. Coco really is just Adam’s mother, nothing more. However, Joe Messing definitely gives a key to Diane although we never see the exchange. By giving it, Diane knows Camilla is dead. Rita and Betty are the same person and Rita never actually gives Betty a key. It is hidden for her temporarily in a closet. Betty does however leave Rita the blue box before she vanishes.

The Blue box contains nothing. Unlike Diane’s subconsciousness or Club Silencio there are no illusions in it. It swallows up Rita along with the dream world. In a sense, Betty herself represents her dreamworld. Like Rebekah Del Rio dies as her song continues, Betty vanishes while her creation of her ideal world stays intact for a few more moments. Betty receives the box. She, as Diane’s once innocent self, has all the hope and wishful thinking to erase her memories of the real world. She replaces her scary life with a safer dreamworld. She constructs her whole warm environment, and everything else that isn’t Rita. She is the shield from inadequacy, guilt, and Diane’s failed dreams. It is very fitting that our dream’s creator is an actress, who pretends to be anyone but herself. Rita has the key since she contains the internal knowledge of who Diane is personally outside of the dream. Though the blue box itself can be viewed as an illusion, it is the only one within Diane’s vast distortion that reveals the entire truth. Opening the blue box wakes Diane up.

The Bum behind Winkies
Let’s look at the first scene in Winkies where Dan has a conversation with his friend Herb.

Dan: “I just wanted to come here… this Winkies. I had a dream about this place. It’s the second one I’ve had, but they’re both the same. I’m in here, but it’s not day or night. It’s kind of half night. I’m scared like I can’t tell you. Of all people your standing right over there, by that counter. Your in both dreams, and your scared. I get even more frightened when I see how afraid you are, then I realize what it is. There’s a man in back of this place. He’s the one who’s doing it. I can see him through the wall. I can see his face. I hope that I never see that face ever outside of a dream.”

Herb: “So you came to see if he’s out there.”
Dan: “To get rid of this god awful feeling.”
As soon as Dan sees the bum he dies. Herb checks for his pulse.

Later, we see Diane staring at Dan, the second the deal has been closed with Joe, the contract killer. Dan is at the counter. The ownership of the blue key has been transfered but not given. This precise moment with Dan is the start of her impossible guilt, and is the main motivation for the dream and amnesia.

The homeless bum is the guilty part of Diane who has lost all sense of having a place in her life to call home. The bum also represents an immeasurable amount of worthlessness. A branch of guilt is a mean spirited sense of inadequacy. In the dream world Dan’s words are Diane’s yet again. Instead of making a deal with the devil, she is the victim confessing to a helping friend instead. It’s also conveniently not even her who is guilty or in fear. Dan’s fear exchange with his friend also seem to describe Rita and Betty’s experience at the Silencio Theater.

Her first dream was at day (Dan and Herb/Diane and Joe). The second is at night at Club Silencio and when she contemplates suicide. She sees the bum through the wall of her apartment. “He’s the one who’s doing it.” She wants “to get rid of this god awful feeling” she has. When Diane sees the face of the bum and what he’s released, she dies. The blue box is in the bum’s hands. Although it is outside of her dream, the bum is clearly from Diane’s imagination by having the item. Now Diane has the blue key. Note how the possession of such items are where they should be according to Diane’s emotional personalities. Rita/Diane has the key. Betty/The bum has the box. Go back to my explanation of the Key and the Blue box if you still need clarification.

The Old Couple
You’ll notice in the credits that Betty is the first character listed in order of appearance. Therefore the old couple embracing Betty as the winner of the Jitterbug contest in the very first scene is also a dream. Why are they with her here? Later, the only thing Irene really says is that she one day hopes to see Betty on the silver screen and that they both loved her company. Diane speaks of how scared and nervous she was on the plane and was glad to have them with her. It is also very notable that in the dream they are complete strangers, yet they are the very people that drive her to suicide outside of the dream. Betty doesn’t know anyone she meets in her dream world of Hollywood either.

So logically since literally everyone else has been misrepresented by Diane in her sleep, Irene and her mate there are just the opposite as well. They are family (grandparents most likely), and revoked Diane for her unrealistic dream of becoming a Hollywood actress. They are not supportive at all but discouraging. No doubt their harsh treatment was a fuel for her driven focus in life. This couple means a lot to Diane personally and her failure to show them wrong is like a big laughing “told ya so.” All Diane ever wanted was their approval. She commits suicide because despite her insanity inducing efforts she is nothing, and her real life dream of being a great actress is laughed at as well as scorned. It’s the only thing she values more than Camilla. Laughing at a person’s dreams is just evil. I can’t think of anything more horrible than for my loved ones to reduce my pursuit in life as a mere joke, and for them to be right about it. What a frightening scene.

The bum releases guilt yes, but at this point mainly feelings of inadequacy as they are related. The hidden original source of them is the old couple. Although the bum is not the cause of them, the guilt is what pulls the trigger on Diane to remind her of her harshest fears of worthlessness. It’s far too much for anyone to swallow. Diane kills herself.

Aunt Ruth and the Money
Aunt Ruth is dead and the money Diane used to pay off Joe Messing is likely from the inheritance. It’s explained during the dinner scene. I believe that Diane also feels very guilty about using her family’s savings for evil intent. You can see the connection between it, Joe Messing, the bum, as well as the old couple. The red haired woman absolutely can not be Aunt Ruth, even though it says so in the in-order-of-appearance credits. She’s introduced as Aunt Ruth during the dream. It’s irrelevant who she really is. Diane once saw this random stranger, that happened to be renting the apartment of her dreams. She most likely resembles her Aunt.

Death, the end of Mulholland Drive
I’ll refer to the images after Diane’s suicide. As we see the bum for the last time, the judgmental guilt has been appeased now that she is dead. She doesn’t have to feel worthless and lesser than value anymore.  She leaves the bum alone and will never have to see it’s face again. The next images are very similar to Betty with the older couple in the very beginning. Her original wish of being admired for being a great actress with her family’s approval can never be realized now that she is dead. Since the nightmares of the real world no longer exist with Diane, Betty and Rita can live on over the city of dreams instead as we see them pictured next. It as Diane wishes.

The last scene shows Club Silencio engulfed in the blue magical light we’ve seen though out the movie. It calms and stops. The illusions as well as delusions of Diane are over. There is no audience. There is no performance. The Blue haired lady looks at us. As the head of the club, she too is an audience to her own illusions which now peacefully come to an end. She whispers, “Silencio.”

The Dream is over
I hope you have enjoyed my analysis of Mulholland Drive. I did my best to use only the film as the source of my thoughts. Most of this interpretation I extracted from my first viewing, almost all of it from the second, and the much smaller details from the third a year later.

David Lynch has claimed that he has included all we need within his movies to understand them properly. His explanation to Naomi Watts is very fitting when she perhaps asked him to reveal his film. In the Special Edition DVD features, Naomi speaks of the director’s illustration: The author of a critically acclaimed book had died before it was released. Even though there are many questions about this book, which everyone loves, they cannot be answered from the source. They must be thought out.