Okay, so... Here are some little but curious new thoughts and things I got with my umpteenth viewing of Mulholland Dr. last night.

- In the car accident scene, there is a bit elaborated editing on the point where the smoke starts scattering around. The same kind of shots & editing returns in the finale, right after Diane shoots herself.

- It is quite evident to me that the elderly couple are not Diane's relatives. In the dinner party scene she only talks about an aunt. There are no men in the picture. Those two people, who first appear for a brief and hazy moment at the end of the opening sequence with the jitterbug contest, are beside her head. They first appear as a white, unfocused blob and the three of them are a whole thing, you know... So, I take that Lynch thought those two characters as some representatives of her own self. It's her brain, that sets in motion a dream, that that will eventually release them again at the end, out of the blue box, to drive Diane to the suicidal bed. They are the Giant and the Little man from another place of Mulholland Dr.. They are the ones that keep custody of her own mental processes. They are no grandparents or uncle & auntie.

Also, the parallel between this and Twin Peaks seems prettynatural since in the Lodge they like to play little scary tricks and games, illusions and exchanges of persona... Just like the dream in Diane's mind likes making fun of her/us...

Diane's mind has her own dwellers and it's no surprise that Mike Anderson (the little man) appears again in the role of Mr. Roque

Have you ever thought of the film in these terms? 

"Did they scoff the whole damn Smörgåsbord?" (Audrey) 

"Gimme a donut!" (Coop)

Nice observations.

I watched MD for the second time just now. I've deliberately steered clear of any definitive "explanation" up to now, because I thought watching it again I would understand more. I'm still no the wiser really though. To be fair, the first time I watched it was ages ago, but did most of you work it out on your own? I always think of myself as quite an intelligent movie-watcher, but I feel stupid now that I can't be sure who is who.

I think after reading this: http://archive.salon.com/ent/movies/feature/2001/10/23/mulholland_drive_analysis/index1.html  I will have a pretty definite idea of things, but I can't really make up my mind whether I should read it. I'm tempted to just keep on watching it until I've got it figured for myself.

I was just reading Roger Ebert's review of MD.

He says, "One of the scenes also contains the funniest example of pure logic in the history of sex scenes.". What is he referring to??
He also says, "you cannot hope to explain the mystery. There is no explanation. There may not even be a mystery." I know a lot of you would refute that.

"Did they scoff the whole damn Smörgåsbord?" (Audrey) 

"Gimme a donut!" (Coop)

 He didn't say that though, he said that you cannot explain it at all.

I think the 'funniest piece of logic in a sex scene' he was referring to is when Naomi Watts asks Laura Harring if she has ever done this before and Harring says "I don't know". Good line, but hardly hilarious.

"Did they scoff the whole damn Smörgåsbord?" (Audrey) 

"Gimme a donut!" (Coop)

 When did you have Mike Anderson sitting next to you?

Betty definitely gives off an air of naievety, and a giddy kind of constant joyousness but I never thought she was 'corny'. I think she's definitely a likable character (when we think she's actually Betty anyway).

 We see the old couple at the beginning of the film, as Betty just steps out of the airport. She chatted with them in an obviously very warm way, and when they're into the cab they look overly happy (to the point it's vaguely sinister). So it's a very positive, reassuring image, but vaguely seems too positive and too reassuring.

 So in my opinion, when they chase her at the end, they represent the whole first part of the film, how Diane would have wished things would have turned out with "Rita" being a harmless doll in her power, her being an excellent actress etc. : overly positive.

 So I think the couple is here to illustrate the gap between what she wished for and what she did (kill "Rita"), with all the horror and guilt and irony it represents.

 I don't think the characters themselves mean much.

 I disagree. They really just look like they're very, very, very happy to be here. It's joy, but too much, which hints at the whole thing being artificial.

 Also, remember Lynch loves overly joyful faces (Lady Behind the Radiator in Eraserhead, Laura at the very end of Fire Walk with Me in the Lodge, etc.)

Good point

I think you're right.
 

"Did they scoff the whole damn Smörgåsbord?" (Audrey) 

"Gimme a donut!" (Coop)

We really do see them ? Never noticed that.

Well, she could have met them there and made friend with them like she does in her dream in the plane. It would make sense. And if so, they represent her hopes when she went to LA, and therefore the first part of the movie as a whole (what she wished happened).

"Did they scoff the whole damn Smörgåsbord?" (Audrey) 

"Gimme a donut!" (Coop)

I think it's from "Pretty as a Picture" :

Lynch : she's beautiful !

Interviewer : why ?

Lynch (as if it was obvious) : because she looks so happy.

I always thought that it's kind of creepy indeed!

"Did they scoff the whole damn Smörgåsbord?" (Audrey) 

"Gimme a donut!" (Coop)

Here you can look back at the opening sequence and be aware of what I was trying to point out.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h9Q15zSm_xo

"Did they scoff the whole damn Smörgåsbord?" (Audrey) 

"Gimme a donut!" (Coop)

"Did they scoff the whole damn Smörgåsbord?" (Audrey) 

"Gimme a donut!" (Coop)

The aunt Ruth we see in the dream and her perfect life and house, the friendly recommendation handed to Mr. Wally Brown for young and naive Betty,  is all for show of course. This means, like Diane has a Betty and a waitress look-alike, like Camilla has a Rita and a blonde stand-in (Melissa George), like Coco is both Adam's mom and the manager at 1612 Havenhurst, Ruth, which is evidently a pillar in Diane's life (thus we are never really pleased to meet her,since she's dead) has Irene the old airport woman and the red-haired woman playing the aunt... and a halo of mystery surrounding her name of course.

The uncle is the missing link in the story of her relatives. Why didn't she mention him? Is he dead? Was he killed perhaps? Who knows. See, just for fun and without seriousness, similarities and references to the federal code scene where Lyl pops up in Fire walk with me "Cole said Lyl was his mother's sister's girl.... Now what's missing in that sentence? The uncle"...

And wasn't there an abusive uncle named Pooch in Wild at heart? Wasn't there a uncle Henry and an aunt Emma in the evergreen most-homaged movie The Wizard of Oz?

The audition with Woody Katz playing Chuck with her depicts a very "familiar" (take this term ambivalently) scene which configures pretty much, in my opinion, what could have happened in Diane's past life ("Dad's best friend goes to work" "Tell me where it hurts, baby"). Was she an orphan girl... or maybe she was sent away to her uncles in Canada to stay away from a dangerous father or step-father? Who knows.

 What we know is that all these characters are the dwellers of Diane Selwyn's mind. Since the brain works with metaphors, weird and circular logics and the stuff we all know about, it's ideal to start the film out with Diane accompanied by two elderly people standing beside her (both their heads leaning towards Diane's at both its sides) and by making them appear again at the end to make her suicidal. Rewatch the first sequence and the way they are overlit and made out of focus creates a unique,undefinable mass that recalls the famous theories on the human brain, which has a feminine part (the right hemisphere) and a masculine part (the left hemisphere)

I know there is a mystical interpretation also that sees them as Angels in the beginning and Demons in the end, but I don't quite follow those kind of theories.

"Did they scoff the whole damn Smörgåsbord?" (Audrey) 

"Gimme a donut!" (Coop)

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