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Mulholland Dr. (2001)

Starring Naomi Watts, Laura Elena Harring, Justin Theroux, and Dan Hedaya.  Cinematography by Peter Deming.  Edited by Mary Sweeney. Produced by Neal Edelstein, Mary Sweeney, Tony Krantz, Michael Polaire, and Alain Sarde.  Written and Directed by David Lynch.

Betty Elms (played by Naomi Watts) is a young and ambitious actress who has just moved to Los Angeles to pursue a career in film.  Betty’s Aunt Ruth (played by Maya Bond) has invited her to stay in her apartment while she is away shooting a picture in Canada.  As Betty makes herself familiar with her new residence she finds a woman in the shower.

The woman introduces herself as Rita (played by Laura Harring), but it is soon discovered that she can not remember who she is or what she’s doing there. The only clue that Rita has towards discovering her past is a purse with a blue key and one hundred and twenty five thousand dollars in it.  Betty decides to help Rita solve her mystery between auditions.

Meanwhile, director Adam Kesher (played by Justin Theroux) is learning the hard way about Hollywood politics.  Despite his protests, Adam is being forced to cast an unknown actress named Camilla Rhodes (played by Melissa George) as the lead in his upcoming picture. This is the same role that Betty is auditioning for, but Adam and Betty will meet soon enough when everyone’s true identity is revealed.

Mulholland Dr. was first conceived back in the early 1990’s when David Lynch was working on “Twin Peaks”.  After “Twin Peaks”, and a handful of other attempts in television, failed, he vowed to never work in the medium again. But Lynch is a self proclaimed sucker for a good continuing story and so when his friend Tony Krantz presented him with the opportunity to turn his “Mulholland Drive” into a new TV series, Lynch eventually took the bait. 

The quirky premise was pitched to executives at ABC who immediately fell in love with the idea.  They put up four million dollars for a two hour pilot, and Touchstone Television pitched in three million more. Lynch shot his footage, but the story’s bizarre eccentricities, which were initially a selling point, proved to be too much for the conservative television company. Citing that they were cutting back on violent programming, ABC passed on “Mulholland Drive”, leaving Lynch to find out through third parties. 

A year later Studio Canal Plus, the French company that funded Lynch’s The Straight Story, offered to purchase the footage from ABC and give Lynch the opportunity to turn it into a feature film. In a mere thirty minutes Lynch hashed out a conclusion to his story and just like that Mulholland Dr. was born again.

When asked to describe his film in one sentence, Lynch offered that Mulholland Dr. is “a love story in the city of dreams.” Dreams, as well as common Lynch themes of identity, duality, and reality, would play a major role in the film, but would be presented in a plot that is more indecipherable than any other in Lynch’s filmography.  In fact, Mulholland Dr. is incomprehensible to a fault.

The complete turnaround that the film takes in its later third leaves most of its audience alienated and ultimately comes off as gimmicky.  The persistent Lynch fan will likely be rewarded by multiple viewings, but in the end it just doesn’t seem worth the effort.  Sorry everyone, but Mulholland Dr. is just too much.

Budget: $15,000,000

Total US Gross: $7,219,578

Genre: Mystery

Runtime: 147 Minutes

US Release Date: 10/19/01

Aspect Ratio: 1.85:1

Awards: Academy Awards:  Nominated for best director.  Golden Globes:  Nominated for best score, best screenplay, best director, and best dramatic picture. Cannes Film Festival:  Won for best director.  Nominated for the Golden Palm.

Tagline: A Love Story In The City Of Dreams.

Quote: “I had a dream about this place.”

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