Mulholland Drive

A film about the purity and vulnerability of the human soul, about life’s dreams and the desire to fulfil the expectations that are placed on us. A film about the fear of touching the ideal, about disappointment, desperation and hatred, about the ugliness of the world outside (specifically Hollywood in this case). This film doesn’t have one clear point, there is no “right key” to it. Mulholland Drive is a mosaic of multiple ideas that could have been put across in a much simpler, but not as interesting and compelling way. The number of connections in the film that tell you something depends on your personal experiences and your awareness of their place in your life. A simultaneously cruel and beautiful soap opera. (04/10/2005)

A really tough nut to crack, even the squirrel from Ice Age wouldn't be able to handle it. Lynch plays an unequal game with the viewer and it may not be to everyone's taste. I appreciate Lynch's disregard for sales and going about his business, but I guess the distributors of Mullholland Drive weren't jumping for joy at the $7 million US box office. If I were them, I would announce a competition "Whoever understands this film wins a dinner with Lynch in person". It wouldn't cost them anything because no one would come and they would at least get some interesting advertising. Lynch not only gives no answers (and that's a good thing), but he gives no clues to understanding his visions. He only mumbles, but very skillfully. For the first twenty minutes I had a hard time getting into the action on the screen, but gradually Lynch wrapped me around his finger and I devoured one scene after another. I didn't ask for an explanation, I took the whole thing as a sequence of mini-stories that may or may not have a connection. I enjoyed putting the pieces together, I embraced Lynch's game. And why I’m not giving it five stars then? Because Lynch overdid it with the final half hour. Everything has its limits, even Lynch's riddles and plot twists. I can totally see him having royal fun over all the "what was that about" discussions. Once again he took a shot at the audience and got away with it. And by the way, Naomi Watts is amazing here, acting and visually. (16/03/2004)

This is either a masterpiece or a bad trip, but an excellent and unusual experience in any case. Also, since my first encounter with Lynch, I have learnt how to watch his films (to accept that most of the action doesn’t take place in the real world), so this time I’m convinced that I know what this one is roughly about, and it actually begins to make sense in the last half hour. Basically, it draws attention to feelings and conditions that are common in a person’s daily life, even if they are not always aware of them: desire, disappointment, pain, escape, revenge. PS: Or it’s something completely different. (05/03/2009)

Lynch's Mulholland Drive is a great lesson in perception. As well as a great lesson from the power of the narrator - power over the fictional world, its inhabitants, but also over those who try to decode it. In the first part of the film, the director entices us into the trap of traditional narrative perception, into the straitjacket of the unity of time, action and characters. He unfolds before the viewer a seemingly unambiguous thriller plot about a woman who lost her memory during a car accident and, with the help of the beginning Hollywood actress Betty, tries to look for clues about what happened to her. She finds three material constants that will soon remain the only constants in the chaotic vortex of dream and reality – house number 17, the blue key and $ 25,000. The ensuing earthquake, which destroys the plot that has been carefully constructed and reconstructed by the viewer, is typical Lynch. The characters change names, and the plot and time become relative... And the key remains, which does not unlock anything for the viewer, house number 17, whose inhabitant is known and yet unknown to us, and $ 25,000, the determination of which we suspect, but we do not receive anything to support this theory of ours. What is real and what is a feverish dream? How do the strange and disturbing episodes that Lynch seems to associatively insert into the flow of narration fit into the plot of the film? What, in fact, is Mulholland Drive? I do not know the answer. It's a classic mental time bomb that confuses and annoys you, but you don't really think about anything else. Lynch created a disturbing labyrinth in which he shatters the mirrors of the classical narrative structure, in which the hypocritical and empty world of Hollywood (a masterful scene with the revival of meaningless and empty text on casting) is reflected, in which the viewer is necessarily lost if he or she perceives in a learned manner - materially, causally. A labyrinth with a brilliant and almost schizophrenic performance by Naomi Watts... Lynch is a great magician of dreams, hints and riddles. A bandleader who creates the illusion of instruments to then reveal that everything is played only from the tape - it’s fake, artificial... confusing. I am not going to give it any stars until I see the film a second time, maybe a third time... I confess without torture that I don't really know if I've actually watched a film. Formally, undoubtedly masterful (sound, editing, camera, music and the overall atmosphere resulting therefrom is freezing, dark, enchanting...), but in terms of its interior, I am still too far from its core to make any judgments. (30/07/2004)

A psycho(il)logical and strange picture that is hard to grasp... So, in fact, the type of classic that we are used to getting from Lynch. If it had ended twenty minutes earlier, this would have been maybe the most graspable Lynch movie ever, but at that moment is breaks into the most bizarre movie ever. Lynch on his best film-making (not series-making!) form. (12/05/2012)

Mulholland Drive is not a film for viewers who need a clearly defined script, who want to know the answers and a clear resolution. On the contrary, it is suitable for all those who like to play, enjoy a mysterious atmosphere, and have a solid dose of imagination. Mulholland Drive is primarily a typically Lynchian play with genres and pop-cultural references, a film with excellent music, great performances, precise editing, and interesting cinematography. A film that turned Naomi Watts into a major star. Overall impression: 95%. Along with the much darker "Lost Highway," it is probably Lynch's best piece. (24/09/2007)

As a series, it might not be bad. Yet as a standalone film, it rides the wave of films with unreliable narrators, and that perpetual dreamlike atmosphere and the combination of Lynch and his favorite films just makes for a new collage. However, the latent Sapphic themes and the crush on the Paramount gate are elements I’m always interested in. (23/10/2016)

Brilliantly told...... hypnotic. Once I figure out exactly what the poet was trying to say, I'll pack my bags, drive to LA, and tap a celebratory keg on Mulholland Drive in Lynch's honour, but until then I'll just have a few beers to celebrate a disarming cinematic puzzle that harbours big ideas and never before seen narrative mastery, though it perhaps unnecessarily stretches out the action in the first two acts and delays the final big bang, during which I shuddered even at parts whose inflection is entirely inappropriate for this database, and I was already grasping for potential explanations, only to be outwitted again by Lynch, who has done something that only Jindra Petáková and her high school maths textbook have so far managed to do: weld my brain and condemn me to a grade between 4 and zero. I'll give it a four this time, because I admire the flamboyant command of attention on the level of so many characters, which turns out in the end to be so gripping and mutually motivated, and I'm looking forward to the second viewing, from which I'm already promising myself pure five-star ecstasy over the hypnotic cinematography, the music, the breasts of Watts and Harring, and of course the story, which has something to say, even though it utters it only in unknowns. I'm really eager to figure out how everything works, and with that David has clearly done his bit... 85% (25/10/2012)

I divide my life according to the period before I saw Mulholland Dr. and after. (28/06/2009)

I can't help it, but I guess I've seen too many Lynch films in too short of a time, which leads to the fact that I don't like "Mulholland Drive" as much as I could. But when I watch this film, I see elements from all of Lynch's previous works that he has directed. There is something from "Twin Peaks", there is something from "Lost Highway", from "Blue Velvet" and also a certain intensity from "Wild at Heart". It's great that Lynch maintains his style, that it's still him, but his mind games are rather painful for me. The craziest thing is that there are people here trying to analyze the film with the belief that there is a clear explanation of what we're watching. With Lynch's films (especially the recent ones, except for "The Straight Story"), there is simply no key. It's not about understanding what the director meant, but simply taking something from the film, finding your own path, but not expecting that yours is the only correct one. Lynch is brilliant in this respect, but he is also repetitive in this aspect. (19/03/2014)

A chilling drama that kept me up at night and forced me to think. I really gave the film my utmost attention, and I was desperate not to miss the slightest detail that might then cost me a shred of explanation. Up to about the 110th minute, everything is understandable, but what takes place in the final scenes is something unbelievable, completely incomprehensible to me (though I felt at times that there were some clues to an explanation, ultimately I was "disappointed" in this respect) and fascinating. For another half hour after the closing credits, I remained sitting on the couch, staring dully at the DVD menu screen. For a moment I considered playing it again. :) Bottom line – David Lynch is the man, so very much the man, the direction is absolutely amazing, as is the music, sound, cinematography, and actors. A totally unique and almost "otherworldly" cinematic experience. (03/05/2009)

The atmosphere, the actors, the music, etc. are superb, but then comes the conclusion, and nothing. Over the years, I have become used to the way Lynch or P. T. Anderson make films, which follows one rule: outline a lot, explain a minimum, and I thought I could mentally prepare myself for their films. But what the director shows here in the end knows no measure and some people can simply bear it and others, like me, cannot. Usually, if I don't get the film completely the first time, I enjoy looking for connections, but when you see that the author's willingness to accommodate you is zero on purpose, you can't expect any effort on my part in return. (01/06/2015)

My first encounter with David Lynch was quite a hard nut to crack. One expects a denouement, but in the last thirty minutes something completely different comes along to mess with your head even more. Furious at the lack of denouement and total incomprehension, I went to Google to find some explanation, and when the AHA! moment came, I decided that the film was actually very good :D My great admiration goes to those who got it :D (Is anyone really like that? If so, I'm expecting a message) Naomi Watts is amazing here and the strange dark and mysterious atmosphere has a lot going for it. Usually with films like this I feel the need to rewatch them to let it all sink in, but here I'm hesitant because it's quite long and actually pretty grim and heavy, just hard. Nevertheless, I am happy I watched it. (20/09/2017)