Writer: David Lynch
Cast: Laura Dern, Justin Theroux, Jeremy Irons
As an actress starts to adopt the persona of her character in a film, her world starts to become nightmarish and surreal.
If you consider the trilogy of David Lynch films set in LA-'Lost Highway', Mulholland Drive' and 'Inland Empire', all of them can be interpreted that events depicted are similar to the short story, by American author Ambrose Bierce, 'An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge'. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/An_Occurrence_at_Owl_Creek_Bridge
In Lost Highway, the reality part occurs in the beginning and the dream part, possibly when Fred Madison is about to be electrocuted, happens possibly in the second part of the film but it ends up as a cyclical loop. In Mulholland Drive, the most accessible and straightforward of the three, we start with the dream/fantasy and ends up with reality. In Inland Empire also we mostly see the fantasy and in between we are shown the presumed Reality of the Susan character.
The film was shot without a script and David Lynch used to give the dialogues daily to the actors. There are deleted scenes available as extras with which more sense can be made of it. The themes are infidelity, woman in trouble, redemption from purgatory and kind of very spiritual in nature. There are very detailed interpretations done along these lines available in internet for those interested. Seen some interpretations wherein which Lost Highway with its cyclical and eternal nature compared to 'Hell', Mulholland Drive as 'Purgatory' and 'Inland Empire' as redemption from the purgatory. Kind of make sense.
It is a challenging watch but a must watch for David Lynch fans. For those who haven't seen any Lynch films, it is better to leave 'Inland Empire' as the last one to watch because of its level of mindfuckery.
Rating: 4/5
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