Mulholland Drive

Seen by many as legendary director David Lynch’s masterpiece, and voted eighth best film of all time in the 2022 Sight and Sound poll, Mulholland Drive explores the mysteries of identity and sexuality, and a deeply paranoid, troubled view of America’s cultural institutions that dominate his work. Naomi Watts stars as Betty Elms, a fresh-faced aspiring actress who arrives, beaming and hopeful, in a Hollywood that soon emerges as a far more baffling and more threatening environment than she ever imagined. Amidst a swirl of bizarre subplots and intimations of sinister conspiracies, Betty takes in the mysterious amnesiac, Rita, after she narrowly survives a murder attempt and car crash on the titular street. The women’s burgeoning relationship as they try to uncover Rita’s past develops into a deeper attraction, indicative of Lynch’s close sensitivity to the female experience in America. Mulholland Drive may be best known for its abrasive, unresolved twist, but it would be a great disservice to spoil the film for anybody lucky enough to be drawn in and astonished for the first time.

James O’Connell Nash

Mulholland Drive is a surreal dreamscape of a movie from David Lynch, the director of such films as Twin Peaks and Blue Velvet. Lynch is famous for his bizarre style of filmmaking that leaves viewers thinking and doesn't condescend to explain all that happens. Mulholland Drive is no exception and unfolds in a sequence of cryptic events that at first seem unrelated and leave you to unravel the links between them.

The plot centres on two women; Rita (Laura Harring, a former Miss USA!), a mysterious survivor of a car crash and an attempt on her life, and Betty (Naomi Watts), a wannabe actress from smalltown Ohio. Betty, who is staying at her aunt's house, returns home to find Rita in her bathroom suffering from complete amnesia and with no idea of who she is. Together they try to unravel the mystery of Rita's identity and soon become close friends. So close in fact that they diffuse the tension with a lesbian sex scene.

Meanwhile the subplots reveal a twisted world of dreams coming true in a downtown restaurant, and midget mobsters blackmailing a movie director. Reality becomes illusion and the truth is revealed to be far from what it seems.

This movie is a pleasant change from the usual Hollywood blockbuster and will take you on a wild and thought provoking ride. Lynch's style of filmmaking may leave some viewers behind with its strangeness but those who enjoy deciphering his filmic puzzles will still be pondering its mysteries for a long time after.

Joseph Peel