The Dreams That Blister Sleep: Latent Content and Cinematic Form in Mulholland Drive

The Dreams That Blister Sleep: Latent Content and Cinematic Form in Mulholland DriveJay R. Lentzner, Donald R. Ross American Imago, Volume 62, Number 1, Spring 2005, pp. 101-123 (Article) Published by The Johns Hopkins University Press DOI: 10.1353/aim.2005.0016 For additional information about this article http://muse.jhu.edu/journals/aim/summary/v062/62.1lentzner.html Access provided by University of Puerto Rico (14 Nov 2013 13:58 GMT) Jay R. Lentzner and Donald R. Ross 101 JAY R. LENTZNER AND DONALD R. ROSS The Dreams That Blister Sleep: Latent Content and Cinematic Form in Mulholland Drive “The dreams that blister sleep boil up from the basic magic ring of myth.” —Joseph Campbell, The Hero with a Thousand Faces Introduction Few motion pictures have bedazzled, confounded, or provoked viewers more than David Lynch’s Mulholland Drive (2001). Dismissed by Rex Reed (2001) as “a load of moronic and incoherent garbage,” but hailed by Philip Lopate (2001) as “compelling, engrossing, well-directed, sexy, moving, beautiful to look at, mysterious and satisfying,” it has garnered both some of the harshest epithets and some of the most lavish praise in recent cinematic history.1 Never intended as a theatrical feature, Mulholland Drive was conceived as a television pilot, but rejected by network executives after its first screening as “too dark and too weird” (McGovern 2001). For more than a year the project languished on the brink of abandonment, but it was ultimately acquired by a French production company that enjoined Lynch to transform it into a feature motion picture. The director recalls having had no idea how to proceed. Then, in a thunderclap of epiphany, inspiration struck him: “it was a most beautiful experience. . . . Everything was seen from a different angle. Everything was then restructured, and we did additional shooting. Now, looking back, I see that [the film] always wanted to be this way” (Macaulay 2001). American Imago, Vol. 62, No. 1, 101–123. © 2005 by The Johns Hopkins University Press 101 . you wince. This paper is based on the premise that the key to understanding Mulholland Drive begins with the recognition that its diabolically intricate form is a dream that obeys the rules set forth a century earlier in Sigmund Freud’s The Interpretation of Dreams (1900).102 The Dreams That Blister Sleep Lynch’s own coyness and teasing refusal to reveal much about the film has only added to the confusion surrounding his masterpiece. you hold your breath.” Kenneth Turan (2001) dubbed the movie “a mystery that doesn’t want to be solved. . they resonate with unconscious meaning. Despite Lynch’s disavowals of interest in psychoanalytic theory. you fall in love. . beholding this movie through the lens of Freudian dream-analysis throws it into sharper focus by revealing much of its hidden psychological complexity. especially when viewed from the perspective of a dream.2 Indeed.’ . who describes the plot as “a pretzel that never connects with itself.” “If David Lynch’s goal is to baffle. while a second described it as being “constructed entirely in the language of dreams” (Taubin 2001). While the nineteenth-century scientific community largely viewed dreams as nonpsychological phenomena. “Mulholland Drive has done him proud.” while Glenn Kenny (2001) quipped: “You laugh. His Interpretation of Dreams stands for the proposition that while dreams often appear to be inexplicable and bizarre.” writes Owen Gleiberman (2001).” adds Jean Tang (2001). has found the movie to be so maddeningly incomprehensible. the convergence between Mulholland Drive and Freud’s royal road to the unconscious should not be greatly surprising. Freud revolutionized our understanding by finding them to be purposeful mental communications linked to the happenings of waking life. however. The only problem is exactly what the hell happens in this movie?” Not every critic. but have found this pathway to be too difficult to follow. Some have argued that it makes sense. “The movie proceeds not with logic but with dream logic. “Don’t look for answers in David Lynch’s Mulholland Drive. you mutter ‘Oh my God. Others have concurred that the dreamlike design provides a gateway into the meaning of the film.” wrote one critic (Allen 2001). you cringe. formed a deep romantic attachment. From what can be pieced together from the Part B day-residue. which then came unraveled once Camilla’s career began to soar. a psychiatrist who was interviewed by Tang (2001) for her piece in Salon. however. When he asks whether she truly wishes to go forward. Ross The Movie as a Dream 103 From the first moment that the lights go down. the dream also reflects Diane’s conflicted feelings toward . in a Sunset Boulevard diner. Lentzner and Donald R. she contracts with a hit man to kill Camilla. At that moment. Not long after. in search of fame and stardom. Diane Selwyn (Naomi Watts).Jay R. the film divides into two parts: Part A comprises the first two hours and represents the manifest dream content as experienced by the dreamer. ambitious actresses. reveals a far more complicated mental state. who cast her as the new leading lady both in and out of his picture. This occurred when she was discovered by the hot young director. which are the keys to unlocking the dream’s latent content. she replies. The sting of Camilla’s sexual rejection comes as Diane witnesses her brazenly kissing another blonde-haired woman and Adam unexpectedly announces his and Camilla’s wedding plans. Adam Kesher (Justin Theroux). Much of its meaning concerns her desire to undo and displace responsibility for Camilla’s killing. has argued. Diane’s envy and jealousy turn murderous. Diane Selwyn’s dream in Part A follows the murder of Camilla Rhodes (Laura Elena Harring) and represents her deeply conflicted wishes in its aftermath. Diane is not only brought face to face with her former lover’s betrayal but is also forced to acknowledge her own static professional career. Finally. signaling the viewer’s passage into a Lynchian dreamscape. “More than anything in this world!” Diane’s dream. at a dinner party at Adam’s Mulholland Drive home celebrating Camilla’s triumphs. Diane and Camilla began as two young. As Frederick Lane. each of a different Hollywood type. On a deeper level. while Part B spans the final twenty minutes and presents fragments of her day-residue along with both her preand post-dream waking reveries. Along the way they met. Mulholland Drive projects an otherworldly quality. then disappears into the darkness of her crimson pillow. who in an earlier subplot of the dream is summoned to the office of the head of studio productions and. she “will kill for. The dream also involves the misadventures of the glamorous. Betty Elms. whom she sees reflected back in the mirror along with her own image. The panicstricken woman adopts the name Rita. before the full impact of this triumph can be registered. However. ordered to accept . dirty linen. The main plot of the dream concerns the adventures of Diane’s blonde. with her raw sexuality breaking forth to reveal a smoldering talent. and yet aware of the danger that surrounds her. Initially.104 The Dreams That Blister Sleep her parents. who. comes to Hollywood to pursue her fantasy of becoming a famous actress. This screen memory quickly dissolves into a current dream-fantasy after a brief glimpse of Diane’s unmade bed. Betty’s audition turns out to be an unexpected tour de force. under an ultimatum from nefarious business interests. but when this is unsuccessful she woodenly helps Betty rehearse for her approaching screen test. the camera snakes along the path of the rumpled. like the dreamer herself. Rita tries to escape from her troubles by retreating into sleep. who opens the drama by averting death twice over. who smile back at her approvingly. Betty is whisked away by a maternal casting agent to see a director “who is ahead of all the rest” with a project that. who become mocking persecutory objects when she cannot disguise her failures. plucky alter-ego. At that point. Mulholland Drive starts with colorful flashes from an adolescent dance contest with the superimposed photographic image of a triumphant Diane Selwyn standing alongside an aging couple. the raven-haired beauty flees the accident scene and takes refuge in a nearby Hollywood apartment where the newly arrived Betty finds her naked and cowering in the shower. Dazed. based on an off-hand glance at a framed movie poster featuring the sultry femme fatale Rita Hayworth. it is promised.” The director turns out to be the brash and arrogant Adam Kesher. narrowly avoiding both a late-night contract killing and a tumultuous high-speed car crash along the winding turns of Mulholland Drive. the lights go out and both the movie (Part A) and the dream begin. Ominously. mysterious Rita. amnestic. which is at the center of the ensuing drama. Lentzner and Donald R. where reality and fantasy become impossible to distinguish. Adam jerks himself back into the moment and carries out the Cowboy’s instructions by awarding Camilla the star-making part. Ross 105 the unknown actress. Their subsequent sleep is interrupted by Rita’s repetition of the word “Silencio” and by her ominous sense that things are awry. Camilla Rhodes. where they attend a supernatural performance in the early hours of the morning. but following a Joblike day of hell in which he appears to lose everything—his wife. Later that night. Betty helps Rita to disguise herself. The women’s presence here leads to the discovery of a mysterious blue box. with a Cinderella-like turn. As the camera makes its way into the recesses of this unfathomable blue . fortune. At this point. is like a dream itself. the recalcitrant but chastened director finally comes around. The hallucinatory interior of the club. the two women end up sharing the same bed. Betty’s appearance causes Adam to become momentarily distracted. Rita prevails on Betty to accompany her downtown to the Club Silencio. as the lead in his sought-after film. Adam initially refuses. bolts from the movie set without looking back. The quest leads this pair into the heart of darkness. who then. an eerie. where they discover the dreamer’s rotting corpse lying across her bed.Jay R. Another exchange of soulful looks passes between him and Betty. With the aid of a blonde wig. which in this case turns out to be the bedroom of Diane Selwyn’s apartment. and their lovemaking unleashes in Betty a torrent of passion. and control of the movie—and which culminates with a starlit rendezvous with the venomous Cowboy (Lafayette Montgomery). Reluctantly. dilapidated theater. the dream also changes course as the highspirited Betty rejoins Rita to search for her identity. and their exchange of glances carries with it such electricity as to overshadow Camilla with its glow of movie magic. giving her a look not unlike her own. Betty arrives at Adam’s sound stage just as the audition of the inauspicious Camilla is taking place. It also brings the two women increasingly closer together both physically and emotionally. the opening of which causes them to disappear. Adam’s eyes follow her vaporous trajectory with abject and profound yearning. This joyful reverie quickly gives way to images of abandonment and loneliness that Diane seeks to counteract by self-soothing through masturbation. With the police knocking on her outer door. fantasy. She. who represent her mocking parents. first glimpsed at the very beginning. and pyrotechnic cinematic art all dazzlingly merge. . she appears trapped in her dreary apartment.106 The Dreams That Blister Sleep receptacle. Diane awakens with an unshakeable depression and haunted by Camilla’s murder. was hoping that sleep might afford her some relief. In the closing scene. A series of flashbacks of sexual abandon with Camilla overtake her. is nothing more than a delusion. as confirmed by the blue key lying on her table. Part B of Mulholland Drive begins with the same Cowboy who previously had delivered the midnight wake-up call to Adam now summoning Diane from her nocturnal slumber. like Rita in her dream. both professionally and personally. where her dreams are finally laid to rest. with the daunting task of trying to sort out what has just taken place in this convoluted phantasmagoria. silent and darkling. Mulholland Drive can therefore be summed up as the harrowing tale of a young woman’s descent into despair once the bitter taste of rejection forces her to realize that her dream of becoming an object of adoration. The locus of her fantasies now becomes her death bed. haunted by Camilla’s death. but instead arises from her bed looking dispirited and haggard. she ends her life after being chased back into her bedroom by terrorizing hallucinations of a Lilliputian elderly couple. It is in what might easily be taken as an old-fashioned movie theater that Lynch leaves his audience. By the end of the movie. With her depression deepening into paranoid psychosis. Diane loses all ability to distinguish between waking reality and oneiric fantasy. It is at this point that she seems forced to recall the disquieting events leading to Camilla’s murder. the screen is once again thrown into darkness and the dream comes to an end. the dizzied viewer is transported once more to the deserted stage at the Club Silencio and given one last glimpse of the site where reality. is mostly about. to me. Painting is the one thing that carries through everything else. writes Glen Gabbard (2001).Jay R. Dramatization or concrete pictorial (plastic) representation is the essence of the dream-work and involves the conversion of latent thoughts into pictorial images. There are words and there are stories. the mechanisms of the dreamwork transform the dreamer’s latent thoughts into a more primitive pictorial language that aids the censor in obscuring and concealing their meaning. As is true of all David Lynch’s movies. Freud viewed this process as a regression to an earlier mode of thinking. In a similar way. It’s just the beautiful language of cinema. which reflects his early training in the fine arts. Ella Freeman Sharpe compared dramatization to “a film of moving pictures projected on the screen of our private inner cinema” (58). “certain films defy conventional analysis and understanding unless they are viewed as dreams subject to condensation. To interpret a dream. And it has to do with time and juxtapositions and all the rules of painting. 26–27) . (Rodley 1999. Ross The Manifest Content of Mulholland Drive 107 According to Freud (1900). In her classic work Dream Analysis (1937). and other elements of Freud’s dream-work” (8). In an interview. Lentzner and Donald R. Mulholland Drive has an arresting visual style. one must undo the effects of these processes and work back through free association to the sources of the disguised elements in the manifest content. And that’s sort of what painting is all about. he argued. displacement. And that’s what film-making. but there are things that can be said with films that you can’t say with words. Lynch has compared the nonverbal aspects of painting and film-making in a way that aids us in understanding the emphasis on primary-process mentation in his dreamscapes: There are things that can’t be said with words. analogous to the plastic arts of painting and sculpture. seductiveness. Betty/Diane is relegated to a supporting role. in her effort to coax Rita to search for her identity. tells her they will don a disguise: “It will be just like in the movies. Perhaps the most obvious example of condensation in Mulholland Drive is the way that the dreamer’s entire acting career is telescoped into a single enigmatic screen test. Condensation is the process by which latent thoughts are combined in the manifest dream content so that a single figure or situation may bear qualities emblematic of a number of different counterparts in real life. Lynch uses this language of pictorial representations wittily to evoke associative links to his own past pictures as well as to other notable examples of Hollywood art. Diane’s dream in part represents her unsuccessful efforts to free herself from constricting maternal attachments. In the dream he becomes the espresso-drinking Italian businessman who had earlier spit out the coffee and excoriated Adam with bilious rage. Rita’s character may also synthesize aspects of the dreamer’s mother and rekindle childhood issues of dependency. and competitiveness. the dream at the center of Mulholland Drive is formed from a pastiche of other Hollywood movies and as such invites a kind of free association to popular culture.108 The Dreams That Blister Sleep In Mulholland Drive. On a deeper level. In the process. she becomes trapped by her dependency on Camilla/Rita/Mother. Indeed. Betty’s love scene with Rita is also part of a much more complicated relationship between Diane and Camilla. We’ll pretend to be somebody else” (italics added). One of the most elegant examples of displacement occurs in the exchange of names between Diane and the blonde waitress in . This mechanism appears continuously throughout Diane’s dream in a variety of ways. It is even described in the scene where Betty. Displacement shifts psychically intense elements in a dream away from their original sources onto objects more acceptable to the censoring ego. This results in the conceit that Diane’s fantasy of becoming a movie star is not only inspired by the cinema but is also a reflection of the movies themselves. The rage that Diane feels when the full extent of Camilla’s betrayal finally becomes known to her is displaced onto a middle-aged man whom she sees at that same moment sitting on the other side of the room.3 While visually arresting. While struggling to break out as a leading actress. however. her attempts at concealment and physical alteration. In the dream. and other containers as symbols of female genitalia. misshapen figure behind the Hollywood diner are harbingers of Diane’s own demise and symbols of her self-destruction. and her link to the “Club Silencio” all serve to associate her with death. with pink and pale tones being associated with Diane and Betty. Indeed. As in Blue Velvet (1986). Symbolism in dreams also serves to disguise and replace unacceptable latent abstract thoughts with less threatening visual images. In Diane’s dream. Lynch again uses lush shades of blue as emblems both of mystery and of the loss of innocence. serves as a symbol of Camilla’s death. the various blondes—the waitress. viewed boxes. her unspoken love of Betty and general inability to express herself. Lentzner and Donald R. Rather than construing the box as a generic Alice-in-Wonderland rabbit hole. and to see it as capturing the paradox of its ultimate mystery and bottomless nature. purses. A further aspect of symbolism can be discerned in the palate of Lynch’s dreamscape. The Cowboy and the dark. Betty. to whom she bears a close resemblance. which both unlocks and deepens the mystery. No symbol in Mulholland Drive is more prominent or initially more bewildering than the blue box discovered by Betty inside her purse.4 It is therefore comprehensible that the unlocking of the blue box should come at a point in the dream sequence shortly after Betty’s sexual awakening and the unleashing of her passion. while darker reds and blacks are linked to Camilla and Rita.Jay R.5 . The blue key. Freud. Rita’s amnesia. it seems more compelling to equate it specifically with Diane’s dream. and it is also symbolic of Diane’s wish to despoil Camilla’s genitals for her sexual betrayal. and Rita (in a wig)—all look alike enough to confuse the movie audience and thus keep the dream censor off-guard as well. Ross 109 the Sunset diner. the identity of Camilla Rhodes is displaced onto the blonde-haired woman whom she kisses at Adam’s dinner party. the pearl earring lost by Rita at the time of the near-fatal car accident becomes linked to the pearl-filled jewelry box that Adam desecrates out of rage over his wife’s infidelities. The enigmatic Cowboy whom Diane also spies on the far side of Adam’s dining room as he hastens to make his exit returns in her dream to become yet another powerfully menacing presence. At the party. Diane locks eyes with a blonde-haired woman who at that same moment is planting a sensual kiss on Camilla’s mouth. .110 The Dreams That Blister Sleep Sorting Out the Day-Residue Freud’s discovery that dreams are cobbled together from the scraps of day-residues is central to appreciating the manifest content of Part A in Mulholland Drive. in the dayresidue scene at the Hollywood diner where Diane contracts with a hit man for Camilla’s murder. This same character substitutes in a pivotal early scene of Diane’s dream for the dreamer herself. who later makes polite. there is a fleeting moment just after the money changes hands in which her glance wanders across the room and meets the doe-eyed gaze of a male customer as he is standing at the register innocently paying his check. Upon her arrival at the party. knowing inquiries into Diane’s tale of Hollywood sorrow. blunted. Diane’s experience both at Adam’s dinner party and in her subsequent meeting with the hit man introduces many of the characters who figure in her dream and it informs our understanding of its displaced affect. this same woman is recast as the blonde Camilla who is forced upon Adam and whose lip-synching audition leads to the role in his movie. In Diane’s dream. Diane is greeted by Adam’s mother. The sober-faced Italian gentleman who is glimpsed by Diane sipping a cup of espresso on the other side of Adam’s living room is transformed in her dream into an intimidating studio investor whose rage toward the director is a projection of her own. serving as a projected expression of her guilt and fears and desire for undoing. Coco. Similarly. The woman stares back brazenly with Camilla’s lipstick markings clearly visible across her lips. While Diane reacts at the party to all these events with a steely anger. and transformed into their opposites. In Diane’s dream. in her dream these feelings are displaced. Coco plays the role of the solicitous apartment manager who counsels Betty following her arrival in the city. if only I can sleep. Diane’s dream represents a desire to redress childhood hurts and to repair her bond with a narcissistic mother. Rita makes a series of attempts to escape into sleep. he considered that dreams gratify through fantasy our unacceptable instinctual wishes. When Betty awakens and attempts to reassure her friend that everything is “okay.” Diane’s dream in Mulholland Drive weaves a narrative tapestry that expresses her latent fantasies and agonizing unconscious conflicts. after her evening of lovemaking with Betty. . Lentzner and Donald R. with the distortion of the dream-work serving to ward off both the inner and outer disturbances that threaten to awaken the dreamer. but awakens to find herself unchanged. Diane’s desire to flee reality through sleep is expressed in her dream by the concussed Rita: “It will be okay. Ross The Latent Content of Mulholland Drive 111 Central to Freud’s understanding of the function of dreams is the notion that every dream represents a disguised fulfillment of a repressed wish (1900. the origins of which can be traced to early childhood. In short.” Following her accident.” she is met with Rita’s fierce protests. Freud’s premise that dreams are the disguised fulfillments of repressed wishes is at the heart of Lynch’s movie. She longs to rid herself of this alluring competitor and to merge with her in a transcendent union. From a genetic standpoint. Near the end of the dream. At a deeper level. Rita is gripped by a nightmare in which she talks aloud in the throes of fitful slumber.Jay R. Diane’s dream is not only a plea for penance but also a wish for punishment. It is a declaration of hate and a confession of love. With a depth and complexity that rival Freud’s famous “Irma Dream. It is both a statement of her desire to destroy her more glamorous and successful rival as well as a wish to abrogate those feelings of envy and jealousy. Doubtless this reflects Diane’s own uneasy awareness that sleep as a defensive retreat has failed her. Freud regarded the simplest wish-fulfillment of dreams to be their satisfying of the desire to sleep. 121). and thus serve as a safety valve for discharging such impulses. The assassination attempt on Rita is aborted at the very outset of the dream by a deadly car collision that miraculously leaves her as the only survivor. Other Man: So. to everyone’s astonishment. then the actress continues to live. The episode occurs early in Diane’s dream. probably the dreamer’s own. Other attempts at undoing occur in the apartment of Betty’s aunt when Rita reaches into her purse and. here playfully named “Winkie’s”—in a pun on the act of sleeping—where Diane had plotted Camilla’s murder. Rita’s possession of the money means that the payment never happened.112 The Dreams That Blister Sleep Diane’s dream is also designed to exculpate her from the responsibility for Camilla’s death. with the implication that as long as this emblem remains in her possession rather than where it was supposed to be at the time of Camilla’s death. [smiles] That’s it. I hope that I never see that face ever outside a dream. (italics added) . immediately following the failed attempt on Rita’s life. The scene shifts to the Sunset Boulevard diner. But perhaps the most powerful expression of Diane’s wish to undo Camilla’s murder involves a male dreamer haunted into retelling his dream within her dream. There sits in the same spot an embarrassed man who finds himself compelled to confess to having “had a dream about this place. Rita also produces an ornate blue key. Later. by depicting the hit man as a hopelessly inept bungler who loses the trail of the missing woman. Diane’s dream further serves to deny and reverse the reality of Camilla’s murder. I can see his face. Betty’s efforts throughout the dream reverse the dreamer’s murder of Camilla through her intrepid caring for the childlike Rita and the assistance she renders Rita in the search for her identity. Dreamer: He’s the one who’s doing it.” His dream is terrifying and conjures up the specter of a ghastly face. an amount that appears to be several times greater than that handed over by Diane in the diner. that is sensed to be lurking behind the building. you came to see if he’s out there. Dreamer: To get rid of this god-awful feeling. pulls out three stacks of tightly wrapped onehundred-dollar bills. I can see him through the wall. the dreamer’s exuberant alter-ego is moved to reveal her own ambitions. that what has been “dreamt” in the dream is a representation of the reality. The dream-work makes use of dreams as a form of repudiation. an altruistic. the material is of special significance: What is dreamt in a dream after waking from the “dream within a dream” is what the dream-wish seeks to put in the place of an obliterated reality. To include something in a “dream within a dream” is thus equivalent to wishing that the thing described as a dream had never happened. the true recollection. on the contrary. Lentzner and Donald R. In the portions of the dream that follow. Ross 113 As Freud argued. It is safe to suppose. who spends much of her time befriending Rita in a doomed attempt to undue Diane’s murderous feelings and behavior towards Camilla in waking life. merely represents what the dreamer wishes. when the act of dreaming becomes the subject of the dream itself. Betty confides: . 338) Diane’s male alter-ego expresses her wish both to forget and to reverse her murderous actions. self-sacrificing. Diane’s wish to achieve popular and artistic success is also given clear expression in her dream-fantasy. The grotesque figure who remains fixed in her mind’s eye and looms uneasily at the rear of the diner represents her displaced sense of self-loathing and fear of retributory vengeance. idealized version of herself. In other words. Shortly after Betty’s arrival on the Hollywood scene and her discovery of Rita cowering in the bathroom shower. and so confirms the discovery that dreams are wish-fulfillments. While admitting she is a guest in her Aunt’s lavish apartment. this implies the most decided confirmation of the reality of the event—the strongest affirmation of it. She accomplishes this by conjuring up Betty. if a particular event is inserted into a dream as a dream by the dream-work itself. therefore. while the continuation of the dream. Diane struggles to substitute a more pleasing fantasy in place of this harrowing specter. (1900.Jay R. ” Perhaps. Rita’s narrow escape from death twice over in the opening moments of the dream. Diane’s destructive impulses toward Camilla are manifested also in other portions of the dream. then nobody can. Betty notes.6 And now I’m in this dream place. I hate us both. Unless. The script. Her murderous rage. I guess you’d say. Another indication of the dreamer’s underlying hostility occurs in the scene where Rita helps Betty prepare for her screen test. It reveals Diane’s unbridled yearnings to get ahead. And yet. I mean I just came here from Deep River. Betty brandishes a butter knife in Rita’s direction and with a theatrical flourish threatens to kill her. If Diane can’t have Camilla. sort of why I came here. word is tethered to the action. Thus. Ontario. to cry out to her acting counterpart. and the strong regressive and narcissistic forces at work in her dream as well. You can imagine how I feel! (italics added) This confession provides one of the clearest statements of the design in Part A.114 The Dreams That Blister Sleep I could never afford a place like this in a million years. remains largely displaced and stripped of its affect. in this play within a play. while present throughout the dream. and that is. in a torrent of tearful emotion. I’m just so excited to be here. but sometimes people end up being both. While reciting her lines. I’m discovered and become a movie star. and within both lurks the truest expression of the dreamer’s sentiments. “I hate you. the hit man travels the back streets of Hollywood making inquiries about Rita’s whereabouts. the dream equates Rita to a common whore. calls for her. searching for leads among the local hookers. Diane’s dream represents a compromise-formation between her id impulses to destroy Camilla and her superego constraints tempering these urges for vengeance. and her ominous sense of being pursued. a symbolic genital defiling of the unfaithful Camilla. is an ever-present portent of the danger in which she finds herself. when Camilla jumps from Diane’s bed to Adam’s. the dream is saying. Of course I’d rather be known as a great actress than a movie star.7 . Adam responds to his wife’s infidelity by pouring a canister of pink paint over the pearls that she keeps in her jewelry box. of course. Together they sit huddled in the smoke-filled theater. Later that evening Betty and Rita make love. The earnest. their differences begin to fade.Jay R. both women embark on a quest for identity. while the full-figured Rita is a throwback to such 1940s femme fatale icons as her namesake Rita Hayworth. “You’re really good!” coos Rita. As the awe and excitement generated by her audition work their magic on the small audience. One’s panic triggers in the other a similar alarm. Rita’s amnesia allows Betty to assert her own ambitions while at the same time making use of Rita as a source of support. Beyond Diane’s desire to surpass and destroy Camilla.” she surprises even herself. she succeeds in capturing everyone’s attention and outshines the efforts of the darkhaired. But it is not until Betty’s actual screen test that her talents emerge in a wishful fantasy that is both hypnotic and arresting. her dream-fantasy reflects primitive yearnings for merger. After Rita allows herself to be transformed by Betty into her platinum-wigged Doppelgänger. In Diane’s dream. signifying a progression of their physical and psychological merger. This is illustrated in the dream-fantasy where Betty is seen rehearsing for her screen test with the amateurish Rita woodenly cuing her lines. they head off to the Club Silencio and. in matching hair styles and in similar dress. and as their journey leads them down the same path. The mysteri- . Ross 115 Diane’s malignant envy and wish to destroy Camilla are replaced in her dream by a less venomous desire to neutralize her rival by pushing her out of the way. the two women stare questioningly at their converging images in the bathroom mirror. at the time of their chance meeting they appear emblematic of antithetical Hollywood types. hands clasped. Lentzner and Donald R. wholesome Betty represents a cross between the 1950s stars Doris Day and Grace Kelly. prompting Betty to respond with a mocking expression of gratitude in a voice reminiscent of Garbo. for the remainder of their time together. are so synchronized in action and manner that distinctions between them seem no longer to exist. Thereafter. One’s tears are reflected in the other’s eyes. unidentified actress who had auditioned for the part just before her. When “it gets real. heads touching. While the two dream-women are of similar age and striking beauty. wishing her a fond farewell. as she arrives at the Los Angeles airport.116 The Dreams That Blister Sleep ous blue box that Betty pulls from her handbag is unlocked by the equally ominous blue key that Rita retrieves from her purse. complex. In the end. The subplot involving the calamitous day in the life of the brash young director not only provides a pretext for Diane’s inability to achieve stardom. Adam’s selection of Camilla over Diane and his coming between the two women both professionally and sexually are played out in the dream through fantasies of denial. doting Irene. Despite Betty’s electrifying screen test and ability to capture Adam’s attention upon her arrival at his set. even though Diane’s dream makes her appear to be the lesser talent. the elderly couple who are paired with the blonde-haired ingenue in and out of the dream function as parental figures. Our first glimpse of Betty. Diane is seen standing in the background of Adam’s production set staring sullenly as Camilla and Adam rehearse a romantic interlude. and impossible to deny. In the Part B day-residue. were he not otherwise constrained. she would be the one whom he would want in his movie. the connection between them in the mind of the dreamer is deep. who up to this point has been her traveling companion. so too Diane’s dream rationalizes the lack of success in her career. reversal. Indeed. when Betty first walks onto Adam’s sound stage. and pledges to keep a close eye on her . taking on both protective and persecutory functions. and retribution. The maternal attachment of the older woman to the younger one appears fulsome and idealized. the dream excuses her failure to become a star as the result of unsavory studio politics. but at the same time satisfies her wish to punish Adam for his complicity in unsettling both her professional and her personal life. Although Diane’s parents are never explicitly mentioned. Just as the Irma dream explains away Freud’s professional derelictions. and he casts a look of such palpable yearning as to leave little doubt that. The psychological dissolution of one woman presages the demise of the other. is in the company of the grey-haired. the director is forced to accept Camilla Rhodes. In the Part A fantasy sequence. Irene embraces Betty with open arms. her presence wholly distracts him from the Camilla surrogate. The woman is an obese. While aspects of the manifest content provide veiled glimpses of Diane’s wish to deny her complicity in Camilla’s destruction. he treks compulsively to . perhaps the superficially random nature of these crimes serves as a cover for the dreamer’s sinister wishes. Ross 117 even in their separation. now seated in the back of a luxury car. someone we can’t afford. Diane’s dream hints at her hostile feelings toward her parents. however. Later. Their attentions seem both gratifying and uncomfortable.” Both producer and agent fuss over Betty following her star-making performance. Most notable is the scene where the hit man. on the trail of the vanished Rita. Overwhelmed by guilt. Diane’s dream constitutes a compromise-formation between her warring id and superego agencies over the consequences of her murderous actions. while the “dream-within-a-dream” sequence at Winkie’s represents Diane’s wish to undo Camilla’s murder. and the man is a taciturn janitor. This notion is reinforced in the next dream segment where this same couple. foul-mouthed cleaning lady. guns down two middle-aged office-workers. possibly representing Diane’s debased parental surrogates. antiquated movie producer is reunited with his former wife. during Betty’s auspicious screen test. This occurs when the fatuous. and pull the ingenue in opposite directions. although these are masked through heavy distortion. Lentzner and Donald R. it also conveys her dread that this is impossible. Thus. undergo a sinister change in demeanor and delight in some wicked joke that appears to be at Betty’s expense. another parental pair shower her with affection. the dream also expresses a deep sense of revulsion and desire to punish herself for all that she has done. before ambling away with her shadowy husband. The male dreamer-within fervently hopes that he might never again look upon the face that he knows is staring at him behind the wall at the back of the diner. As we have argued. While both murders appear to be gratuitous and to involve two innocents who happen unluckily to find themselves in the hit man’s path. whom he introduces as “the best casting agent in town but. alas. The artificial quality to the airport scene suggests that the dreamer’s desire for parental love and approbation is more a wish than a reality.Jay R. Rita is stirred from the depths of a restless sleep and issues a similar warning. signaling the retributive lengths to which the dreamer soon will go when she takes her own life upon awakening. the dream turns from id gratification to superego punishment. “Certainly the pivotal sequence. The Club Silencio Sequence: Where the Real and the Fantasy Meet The centerpiece of Lynch’s dreamscape in Mulholland Drive is the phantasmagoric interlude that takes place at the Club Silencio. comes face-to-face with the dreamer’s rotting corpse and recoils at the ghastly spectacle. juridical. As Betty turns to run.118 The Dreams That Blister Sleep behold that fearsome specter. the studio head who seems to control all these nefarious machinations without issuing any explicit orders—all of this gives the dream a haunted. following her break-in at the apartment of Diane Selwyn. Indeed. At that moment. the cascade of telephone callers pressing for information about the missing woman’s whereabouts. All of these incidents speak to Diane’s unpardonable guilt and her wish for self-destruction. as indeed befalls the dreamer. and the scene ends in his collapse and death. The sinister Cowboy also admonishes Adam that anyone who does “bad” will see him thrice.” Later in the dream. Despite its lush-colored tones and optimistic leitmotifs. The persistent knocking at the dreamer’s apartment door. who appears in the night at Betty’s door to advise her that “something bad is happening” and “someone is in trouble. there are deeper chords of foreboding and despair. Diane’s entire dream enacts the same fateful trajectory. Louise Bonner. the frame shudders as if to symbolize the shockwaves of anxiety pulsing through Diane’s own body.” notes one commentator. There is also the Cassandra-like premonition offered by the black-veiled interloper. the nondescript men lurking in the shadows behind the wheels of unmarked cars. persecutory quality. it represents “not only an important clue in this . But no scene in the dream provides a more telling indication of this desire than the one where Betty. Jay R.” notes Mike Nichols. most heartbreaking moments in contemporary cinema” (Freeman 2002). Freud sounds a metaphoric note similar to that of the impresario at the Club Silencio: Dreams are not to be likened to the unregulated sounds that rise from a musical instrument struck by the blow of some external force instead of by a player’s hand.8 In The Interpretation of Dreams. “If there is one scene. Even as the woman’s body is unceremoniously dragged away. “A motion picture is a dream. “When you see it. Lynch is also exploring the production of dreams. he intones. they are not absurd. Although on one level the mystery being celebrated here is that of sound-image synchronization or. when the lights go down and the viewer is lured into the hallucinatory projection. A movie involves drawing on your unconscious in the same way that dreams come out of the unconscious” (Pettet 2003. the craft of movie-making. Ross 119 puzzle. or any one of a number of instruments. more generally. half-empty cabaret theater where a lip-synching Spanish singer belts out a soul-wrenching a capella rendition of the Roy Orbison ballad “Crying” before collapsing dead on the stage. On the “other scene” of the movie screen. the line between reality and fantasy blurs in much the same way as it does in the dream itself. The preternatural happenings on the blue-lit stage of the Club Silencio are at once cinematic special effects and dreamfantasies. they are psychical phenomena of complete . see also Chappell 2001). In the spine-tingling theater of the Club Silencio. but one of the saddest. the effect is like that of being submerged into a dream-state. they do not imply that one portion of our stores of ideas is asleep while another portion is beginning to wake. You may hear a trumpet. where none. 24). On the contrary. they are not meaningless. in both literal and metaphorical senses. in fact. this is it” (Chaw 2001. her singing continues uninterrupted. The scene occurs in a dilapidated. It is all an elaborate fake. is playing. “that encapsulates the main themes of the film and Lynch’s recurring concerns as an artist.” writes another. a maniacal-looking impresario steps forward to explain how theater is built on trickery. Lentzner and Donald R. Just prior to this disquieting drama. There is no orchestra. you are in the dark. and denial. the Club Silencio is anything but quiet. in recognizing her failed career and her act of cruel murder. As Diane draws increasingly closer to embracing her awful secret. This appears to be at variance with Lynch’s nihilistic challenge to the distinction between fantasy and reality. Diane Selwyn’s dream in and of Mulholland Drive is a master class in Freudian dream theory. The message of the club that reality cannot be distinguished from artifice represents a desperate reactionformation against this nascent clarity. It illustrates many of the cardinal tenets of The Interpretation of Dreams. With the death of the cabaret singer. Yet Freudian theory allows us to apprehend the happenings at the Club Silencio as Diane’s last desperate attempts at projection. (1900. they can be inserted into the chain of intelligible waking mental acts. If all is illusion. then where does the border between dreams and our waking life lie?9 The Club Silencio sequence occurs when the dreamer’s defenses are beginning to crumble. there is no longer a safe place in the dream for her to hide. Despite her best efforts to escape through sleep. then so too is Camilla Rhodes’s death no more real than the demise of the Spanish singer whose voice continues to be heard despite her collapse upon the stage. the censor is overwhelmed by a rush of anxiety that causes the dreamer to awaken. reality and unreality are finally starting to come into focus. particularly exemplifying the precepts of wish- .120 The Dreams That Blister Sleep validity—fulfillments of wishes. If all is an illusion. reversal. they are constructed by a highly complicated activity of the mind. when rightly interpreted. At this juncture. represent communications of high import and definite meaning. Conclusion As this paper has tried to illustrate. it offers a portal to the other side of the grave and a baleful reminder of Camilla’s death. 122) Freud was convinced that dreams. Despite its name. All that is left is Diane’s psychotic decompensation and her final act of suicide. Uncertainty and confusion give rise to panic and possibly a glimmer of insight. hypnotic score. as well as by leading critical groups in New York. MD 21285 dross@sheppardpratt. . And in a subsequent dream fragment. lush cinematography. The scene in the conference room where Adam comes face to face with two Mafia business types who present him with an offer he can’t refuse comes from The Godfather. It was awarded Best Picture by the National Society of Film Critics. David Lynch’s movie is also a piece of sublime tragic art. Lentzner and Donald R. Diane strives to be the producer of her own dreams. Still other 2.net Sheppard and Enoch Pratt Health System 6501 N. Lynch’s heroine reaches a dead end in Babylon with her dreams transformed into nightmares. which follows the trajectory of human emotions from blissful hopes and youthful desire to abject dissolution and loss of innocence. 1475 Bryant Drive West Long Beach. In an interview in The Village Voice (Lim 2001). Ross 121 fulfillment and intrapsychic conflict at the heart of the underlying metapsychology. 3. which led to the founding of Goldwyn pictures. Like many an aspiring soul who has come to Hollywood in search of the promised land. and Boston. Do you pay much attention to them? Lynch: No. Chicago. . whose name was sutured together from his collaborations with the Selwyn Brothers. Selwyn. Baltimore. Despite being lauded for its powerful acting. . .Jay R. and the ingenuity and pyrotechnics of its screenplay. It is no accident that Diane’s surname. is linked to the early film pioneer Samuel Goldwyn. Interviewer: Are you familiar with psychoanalytic theory? Lynch: Not really. While failing to recoup even half of its fifteen-million-dollar production costs during its United States theatrical run. the “unflappably tight-lipped” director responded to the following questions: Interviewer: Your work has inspired many psychoanalytic and academic readings. Charles St. the movie earned Lynch his third Academy Award nomination for Best Director along with shared directorial honors at the Cannes Film Festival. the film failed to receive Academy Award nominations in any of these categories and was dismissed by host Whoopi Goldberg as an inexplicable curiosity. I don’t read them. but like the now-forgotten Selwyn Brothers she finds herself eclipsed by more towering figures.org Notes 1. CA 90815 jlentzner@pol. the same hit man hired to kill Camilla triggers a chain-reaction of burlesque violence leading to the deaths of two unsuspecting office workers that pays homage to Pulp Fiction. Like Goldwyn. ” In a world where illusion and fakery are the coin of the realm. see Eberwein (1984). Betty replies negatively to Coco the landlady’s inquiry about whether she owns a dog. the Club Silencio sequence functions as Lynch’s allegory of the unreliable nature of dreams and cinematic artifice. it would occur to us at once that caskets are also women. . and courage. Blue Velvet and Mulholland Drive both employ a hallucinatory style to probe beneath the façade of conventional normality. Jeffery Beaumont and Diane Selwyn. As Freud drew an analogy between sleep and the return to the womb. the Deep River apartments are the domicile of another lost woman-child. In a narrower sense. a movie repeatedly referenced by Lynch both in tribute and as savage parody. For further incisive analysis of Blue Velvet. haunted protagonists. In “The Theme of the Three Caskets” (1913). 9. and finally to a despairing death. Freud (1900) believed that every dream contains a “navel” (111n1. The youthful. where this same idea is given poetic expression. 7. In a more sardonic vein. and therefore of a woman herself—like coffers. heart.206– 24). boxes. and so on” (292. Dorothy Vallens. upon arriving at her Aunt’s courtyard apartment. baskets. For a scholarly exploration of how dreams have been used in movies. she is counseled by the enigmatic director not to play it like it’s real “until it becomes real. 6. Diane’s results in role confusion and psychotic decomposition. how can any such advice be of value? If the voice of a Spanish singer is no more real than the disembodied notes of a glittering trumpet sounded without a player. Perhaps most of all. 5. Indeed. its first object. Given that the hooker in this scene extracts a cigarette from the same shirt pocket of the hit man from which Diane brings forth the blue key. Bertram Lewin (1946. the dreamer may well be feeling that she has sold herself out as well.122 The Dreams That Blister Sleep parts of Diane’s dream bring to mind Chinatown and other hard-boiled noir films of a still-earlier era. Mulholland Drive invites comparison to The Wizard of Oz. see also Freud 1900. see Kael (1986. cases. 4. 354). symbols of what is essential in woman. 1109–15) and Atkinson (2000). Perhaps this is the realization that causes the dreamer to awaken. rekindling traumatic feelings of enmity and passion toward both parents. Lynch’s clue that Diane Selwyn is no Dorothy Gale comes in the scene where. While Dorothy’s journey is one of adolescent growth and integration. and the location represents a terrain of sinister foreboding. but they arrive at very different destinations. 8. just prior to Betty’s screen audition. Lewin linked the “screen” onto which the dream is projected to the nursing infant’s view of the mother’s breast. are each drawn into a detective hunt that propels them back into the heart of childhood darkness. 525) that makes it impossible to interpret fully and serves as the point of contact with its unplumbable reaches. The orphaned female protagonists in both Mulholland Drive and the 1939 classic embark on a dream-quest leading them over the rainbow. 1948) was among the first psychoanalysts to see affinities between dreams and movies. In Blue Velvet.1. then Diane’s dream is also a counterfeit and Camilla Rhodes is dead. See also Shakespeare’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream (4. Their odysseys evoke not only sexual desire but also fantasies of murder and revenge that are played out in their dreams and given conscious expressions in both movies. Freud discusses the symbolism of boxes in Shakespeare’s The Merchant of Venice and King Lear: “If what we were concerned with were a dream. 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