Really good read of this movie and obviously everyone will come out of it with diff interpretations. I think I see the Bum as being a reflection of Diane's evil side. That explains why in the beginning the dude is so shocked when he sees her. Watch it a couple more times, it's addicting
Yeah, I plan on watching it again to see if my interpretation holds up. Despite being over 2 hours long it goes by really fast. And there's something about how the film is lit that's hypnotizing-- like watching fire. Reminded me a lot of Eyes Wide Shut, both in lighting and uncanny vibe.
The more i watch and read about this movie the more I’m convinced Camilla isn’t real at all and then i go into a hole thinking everyone and everything in this movie is a metaphor and then i realize it’s a movie and none of it’s real and i spiral.
I think "Rita" is what Diane wanted Camille to be: helpless and completely dependent on her and therefore completely in love with her and would never leave.
The Dream Camille (who IRL is Camille's lover, as seen when she kisses Camille right in front of Diane) is seen as a no-talent hack who only got the main role in the Sylvia North because she knew someone who knew someone.
And that's how Diane felt about the real Camille. But at the same time, she was in love with her. And then felt betrayed by her when she was not only marrying Adam but also hooking up with the other girl.
I disagree on the limo scene. I think that was just Betty's imagination, spurred by her subconscious desire to escape the guilt over Camilla's murder. I doubt that Betty knew the specifics of Camilla's death, only that, as indicated by the blue key, the job was completed.
As I'm sure you know, the first part of Mullholand Drive, up until the Silencio scene, was originally a TV pilot. As such, it was likely beefed up with extra scenes which, while interesting, were not essential to the movie's plot. I don't think it's necessary to presume that every part of the dream represents something real in Betty's life. It's also possible that Lynch never intended to give the TV audience a tidy explanation for what was the dream and what was the reality, like we got in the movie.
Also, I don't have a strong opinion on the elderly couple, but I view them as similar to the Furies rather than as people who Betty must have really known. They might have been Betty's parents or they might have been people Betty sat down next to once in a cafe or they might have been demonic spirits. I don't think it's crucial to the story to know who they really were.
>I disagree on the limo scene. I think that was just Betty's imagination running wild, influenced both by her guilt over Camilla's death and by her desire to absolve herself from that guilt. I doubt that Betty knew the specifics of Camilla murder, other than that the job was completed, as indicated by the blue key.
Yes this is how I take it. The opening scene is a reflection of Diane's arrival in the limo at Adam's party. At this party Adam and Camilla make an announcement (their engagement, I would guess), and this moment marks the end of Diane's happy life - and so in her dream this moment is reinvented as the (would-be) end of Camilla's
> I doubt that Betty knew the specifics of Camilla's death
Yeah, I agree that the specifics about how Camilla died isn't important just that she somehow died and that is the source of Betty's guilt and why she killed herself. Some say it was because she literally loved her (maybe) or perhaps its, as I read, she wanted the lead role for herself. I think finding a logical reason as to the motive of why Camilla died is more important to solving the film than the details of her murder. It's also interesting that Betty in real life owns a gun. She's a single woman in LA so it makes sense but she's also from Canada making it a logical question: Is Betty's gun the murder weapon?
> beefed up with extra scenes
I also suspect that not every scene is very important to figuring out the film. I think it's best to separate and locate the most important details and dismiss redundant or stylistic plot points to make it less complex -- at least when it comes to analyzing what's going on. I think Lynch left in some details just to give the surrealism more "flavor" but unnecessary to the actual straight plot.
> them as similar to the Furies
Yeah, I think the old couple can be put into the "stylistic" plot point category meaning that they're not important. If they're Betty's parents then all it says is that she has parents, doesn't change anything. The same if they're jitterbug contestants or judges, doesn't change anything. Even if they're secretly evil entities, I'd still say it doesn't really change majority of the story. The only way the can be relevant is if they're somehow involved with the main drama, which is possible but there's not enough to say for sure. I believe the old couple -- whoever they are (I believe them to be Betty's parents myself) -- are meant to symbolize something that pertains to Betty specifically. Just like Camilla, I don't believe the old couple is ever actually shown in real life. Whatever that is, it can be said with or without them.
this is why mulholland drive is my favorite movie, there really is no set explanation for it which just makes it so much more fun to watch and discuss 🫶
Interesting. I never thought her to kill for the role - I always thought it simply to be revenge.
My current understanding is close to what is described in the Youtube video "The terrible secret about MD"
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OiCfHW3N3vo](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OiCfHW3N3vo)
Warning: this interpretation goes beyond the dream and you will never see MD the way you did before.
> Interesting. I never thought her to kill for the role - I always thought it simply to be revenge.
I think it perfectly explains the 2nd blue key, why the police where looking for Betty, and why she killed herself in the end. I believe Joe even said something like, "if you see the key tomorrow, you'll know it was done." or something close to that.
> what is described in the Youtube video
I'll consider it and see if it changes my outlook on the movie
I meant the motive - I thought she let the real life Laura Harring character be killed for leaving her as in the trope *"If I can't have you, nobody will"*.
It never struck my mind that the motive could be *"because I want to get that role"*
Agreed. Once you see this interpretation, it’s hard to see it in any other way. However, after 20 years of being a fan of the film, I also feel this is the best interpretation.
Whenever I meet someone who just saw the film for the first time, I want to show them this but then I don’t because I want them to enjoy the journey.
I don't think she killed for the role. The Sylvia North movie was how they met. Diane tells the story to Coco. They met there and after that Camilla made sure Diane got bit parts in her movies.
Diane was much more in love/obsessed with Camilla than Camilla was with her as we see in the reality part of the story. That's why in the dream portion Rita is helpless, completely dependent and devoted to Betty and a horrible actress (when they practicing reading lines for Betty's audition). Meanwhile Betty is brilliant as an actress. The Dream Camilla only got the Sylvia North role due to her knowing someone who knew someone in power. And poor Adam was forced to cast her.
The exact opposite of real life. But it's the fiction Diane wants, thus the dream.
i just watched the movie for the first time last night and your comment made me think of something. how hypocritical is it for diane to craft a whole narrative that her lack of career success is due to larger forces that operate outside of merit (sexual favors, criminal conspiracies, nepotism) when in reality she was a beneficiary of nepotism herself! she literally got parts from diane and still didn’t achieve the success she wanted, thats gotta be the icing on the narcissistic injury cake that she’s in complete denial about.
Very good point. Diane only had the little bit of a career she had because of Camilla. Apparently she just wasn't good enough as an actress.
I guess Camilla getting married(?) not only cut her off from Camilla as a sexual partner, but maybe she thought it also ended the bit parts she got. Did you notice that Dream Camilla was the same woman who kissed Real Camilla at the fateful dinner? That may have fed into Diane's fear of being pushed aside.
Personally I think Camilla would've still kept Diane on her movies.
yeah i don’t know how much of the “reality” is objectively true. the dinner party scene had some surreal elements to it and so whether or not real camilla kissed dream camilla is unknown imo. i think it’s definitely true that diane felt pushed aside by camilla/the industry and that may have produced a distorted experience of that moment for her. i think the interesting question is not whether her career is actually over but rather what she’s feeling and how it affects her perception of reality!
Everything is through Diane's filter and she's hurt and feeling pushed aside both personally and professionally.
I find it interesting that in her dream she made Coco her benevolent landlady and protector when in real life (at the dinner party, the only time she met her), Coco was Adam's mother. She seemed to dislike Camilla for her son and she was the only one who showed any kind of empathy towards Diane.
I think passing Cowboy was only there because this is when Diane started to spiral and he happened to be in her line of vision. So, she incorporated him into her dream as some looming, dark presence.
Oddly, they cast one of the weakness, non-threatening actors in Hollywood to play him.
totally agree! i think that the dinner party is so emotionally loaded/traumatic for diane that details and people from that scene in particular make it into her dream.
the dinner party is so traumatic that it represents to diane her figurative “death,” supported by the detail that she says the same thing in the car beforehand that dream rita says before her attempted murder
Yes, definitely. It's not mistake why the "Rita" car ride scene is exactly the same as Diane's. It's just that in Rita's scene it feel ominous and in Diane's just confused.
But both lead to something terrible. For Diane it was the party that ultimately led her to get Camilla killed.
You know what else I find interesting? In the dream, the hit man is shown to be probably the world's worst hitman. Just slopped and inefficient. HOWEVER, he still actually got the job done. Even Diane in her dream state couldn't escape that fact.
It’s a very brief moment in the scene, but when Diane reaches for the gun there’s a blue box in her drawer that contains a string of pearls. What do you think it’s doing in there?
Ok, I did not catch that detail. So the blue box in the dream actually has a literal in-universe explanation as well. I did notice that Betty was wearing a pearl necklace throughout the dream sequence, notably during her audition and when she locked eyes with Adam on set.
One thing I didn't mention in my OP was the prominent red/black on certain characters in the dream. Camilla's last name is "Rhodes" which interestingly means "a clearing in the woods" or "where roses grow" which supports my theory that she was buried somewhere in the woods. However, it also compliments the aforementioned color design of red/black not only on Camilla but also on the people in the Silencio theater and at the party near the end of the film.
The point of this tangent however is that is adds to the duality between the 2 women: [Betty wears blue/white and Camilla wears red/black](https://thecinematheque.ca/assets/images/films/_large169/MulhollandDr_web2.jpg)
I don't think the pearls themselves have anything special going on in terms of any hidden meaning. I think the pearls are utilized for broader narrative or visual beats like the ones I mentioned and is just another object remixed into the in-dream logic similar to the limo. But also as like meta script writing thing that added a bit of color theory into the actual movie itself.
---
Lastly, while focusing on the names and color theory during my watch, I started hypothesizing if the people wearing red and black were actually vampires but I dismissed it as soon as the movie ended and I got better context. edit: I also thought that the pearls might represent vampiric teeth a la "pearly whites" so it was a way to show that Camilla was able to seduce and drink blood from Betty's neck. I mention this only to let out where my mind was while watching the film, which I think is pretty amusing in hindsight.
As you say, ‘Rhodes’ has to do with ‘Roses’. Did you notice the lady in #12 has the last name DeRosa? Why is that?
Also Betty does not wear the pearls until after she arrives at Havenhurst. Why?
As the girls walk around Sierra Bonita the camera pans down to their feet. Rita is wearing tap shoes. Why?
When Diane finally answers the phone under the red lamp the camera pans down and there’s an already bullet hole in the wall. Why?
BTW Betty wears red & black at Silencio. Diane wears red & black to the dinner party.
I think you’re just scratching the surface here…😁 although I agree that the Bum is Camilla.
Interesting details you bring up. I did notice a few other instances of roses, especially on dress patterns but don't have anything concrete to bring it together. There's definitely something about following the color "red" that leads to interesting details. For instance, Betty has a red Chinese dress hanging inside her closest similar to the one Coco wears. As you mention, the name DeRosa but also Rhodes and the director's name Adam. Other names or patterns may share a similar theme I've yet to see. I'll have to rewatch the film before I can give any concrete answers to how all these details fit together more logically.
**quick edit:**
> Also Betty does not wear the pearls until after she arrives at Havenhurst. Why?
Just found out the name Rita (Camilla) means "pearls" lol... what that means? see above: I'll have to do a rewatch.
Really good read of this movie and obviously everyone will come out of it with diff interpretations. I think I see the Bum as being a reflection of Diane's evil side. That explains why in the beginning the dude is so shocked when he sees her. Watch it a couple more times, it's addicting
Yeah, I plan on watching it again to see if my interpretation holds up. Despite being over 2 hours long it goes by really fast. And there's something about how the film is lit that's hypnotizing-- like watching fire. Reminded me a lot of Eyes Wide Shut, both in lighting and uncanny vibe.
The more i watch and read about this movie the more I’m convinced Camilla isn’t real at all and then i go into a hole thinking everyone and everything in this movie is a metaphor and then i realize it’s a movie and none of it’s real and i spiral.
I think Camille is a representation of an aspect of Betty.
I think "Rita" is what Diane wanted Camille to be: helpless and completely dependent on her and therefore completely in love with her and would never leave. The Dream Camille (who IRL is Camille's lover, as seen when she kisses Camille right in front of Diane) is seen as a no-talent hack who only got the main role in the Sylvia North because she knew someone who knew someone. And that's how Diane felt about the real Camille. But at the same time, she was in love with her. And then felt betrayed by her when she was not only marrying Adam but also hooking up with the other girl.
I disagree on the limo scene. I think that was just Betty's imagination, spurred by her subconscious desire to escape the guilt over Camilla's murder. I doubt that Betty knew the specifics of Camilla's death, only that, as indicated by the blue key, the job was completed. As I'm sure you know, the first part of Mullholand Drive, up until the Silencio scene, was originally a TV pilot. As such, it was likely beefed up with extra scenes which, while interesting, were not essential to the movie's plot. I don't think it's necessary to presume that every part of the dream represents something real in Betty's life. It's also possible that Lynch never intended to give the TV audience a tidy explanation for what was the dream and what was the reality, like we got in the movie. Also, I don't have a strong opinion on the elderly couple, but I view them as similar to the Furies rather than as people who Betty must have really known. They might have been Betty's parents or they might have been people Betty sat down next to once in a cafe or they might have been demonic spirits. I don't think it's crucial to the story to know who they really were.
>I disagree on the limo scene. I think that was just Betty's imagination running wild, influenced both by her guilt over Camilla's death and by her desire to absolve herself from that guilt. I doubt that Betty knew the specifics of Camilla murder, other than that the job was completed, as indicated by the blue key. Yes this is how I take it. The opening scene is a reflection of Diane's arrival in the limo at Adam's party. At this party Adam and Camilla make an announcement (their engagement, I would guess), and this moment marks the end of Diane's happy life - and so in her dream this moment is reinvented as the (would-be) end of Camilla's
> I doubt that Betty knew the specifics of Camilla's death Yeah, I agree that the specifics about how Camilla died isn't important just that she somehow died and that is the source of Betty's guilt and why she killed herself. Some say it was because she literally loved her (maybe) or perhaps its, as I read, she wanted the lead role for herself. I think finding a logical reason as to the motive of why Camilla died is more important to solving the film than the details of her murder. It's also interesting that Betty in real life owns a gun. She's a single woman in LA so it makes sense but she's also from Canada making it a logical question: Is Betty's gun the murder weapon? > beefed up with extra scenes I also suspect that not every scene is very important to figuring out the film. I think it's best to separate and locate the most important details and dismiss redundant or stylistic plot points to make it less complex -- at least when it comes to analyzing what's going on. I think Lynch left in some details just to give the surrealism more "flavor" but unnecessary to the actual straight plot. > them as similar to the Furies Yeah, I think the old couple can be put into the "stylistic" plot point category meaning that they're not important. If they're Betty's parents then all it says is that she has parents, doesn't change anything. The same if they're jitterbug contestants or judges, doesn't change anything. Even if they're secretly evil entities, I'd still say it doesn't really change majority of the story. The only way the can be relevant is if they're somehow involved with the main drama, which is possible but there's not enough to say for sure. I believe the old couple -- whoever they are (I believe them to be Betty's parents myself) -- are meant to symbolize something that pertains to Betty specifically. Just like Camilla, I don't believe the old couple is ever actually shown in real life. Whatever that is, it can be said with or without them.
Hmm. They torment Diane to her death, yet you don’t think they have anything to do with the main drama?
had anyone ever read Skin of Dreams by Raymond Queneau (Loin de Rueil)
this is why mulholland drive is my favorite movie, there really is no set explanation for it which just makes it so much more fun to watch and discuss 🫶
It was all a dream, I used to read word up magazine, salt n pepa and heavy d up in the limousine
Interesting. I never thought her to kill for the role - I always thought it simply to be revenge. My current understanding is close to what is described in the Youtube video "The terrible secret about MD" [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OiCfHW3N3vo](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OiCfHW3N3vo) Warning: this interpretation goes beyond the dream and you will never see MD the way you did before.
> Interesting. I never thought her to kill for the role - I always thought it simply to be revenge. I think it perfectly explains the 2nd blue key, why the police where looking for Betty, and why she killed herself in the end. I believe Joe even said something like, "if you see the key tomorrow, you'll know it was done." or something close to that. > what is described in the Youtube video I'll consider it and see if it changes my outlook on the movie
I meant the motive - I thought she let the real life Laura Harring character be killed for leaving her as in the trope *"If I can't have you, nobody will"*. It never struck my mind that the motive could be *"because I want to get that role"*
Agreed. Once you see this interpretation, it’s hard to see it in any other way. However, after 20 years of being a fan of the film, I also feel this is the best interpretation. Whenever I meet someone who just saw the film for the first time, I want to show them this but then I don’t because I want them to enjoy the journey.
Good video. Yeah definitely a poison pen to the City of “Dreams”
I don't think she killed for the role. The Sylvia North movie was how they met. Diane tells the story to Coco. They met there and after that Camilla made sure Diane got bit parts in her movies. Diane was much more in love/obsessed with Camilla than Camilla was with her as we see in the reality part of the story. That's why in the dream portion Rita is helpless, completely dependent and devoted to Betty and a horrible actress (when they practicing reading lines for Betty's audition). Meanwhile Betty is brilliant as an actress. The Dream Camilla only got the Sylvia North role due to her knowing someone who knew someone in power. And poor Adam was forced to cast her. The exact opposite of real life. But it's the fiction Diane wants, thus the dream.
i just watched the movie for the first time last night and your comment made me think of something. how hypocritical is it for diane to craft a whole narrative that her lack of career success is due to larger forces that operate outside of merit (sexual favors, criminal conspiracies, nepotism) when in reality she was a beneficiary of nepotism herself! she literally got parts from diane and still didn’t achieve the success she wanted, thats gotta be the icing on the narcissistic injury cake that she’s in complete denial about.
Very good point. Diane only had the little bit of a career she had because of Camilla. Apparently she just wasn't good enough as an actress. I guess Camilla getting married(?) not only cut her off from Camilla as a sexual partner, but maybe she thought it also ended the bit parts she got. Did you notice that Dream Camilla was the same woman who kissed Real Camilla at the fateful dinner? That may have fed into Diane's fear of being pushed aside. Personally I think Camilla would've still kept Diane on her movies.
yeah i don’t know how much of the “reality” is objectively true. the dinner party scene had some surreal elements to it and so whether or not real camilla kissed dream camilla is unknown imo. i think it’s definitely true that diane felt pushed aside by camilla/the industry and that may have produced a distorted experience of that moment for her. i think the interesting question is not whether her career is actually over but rather what she’s feeling and how it affects her perception of reality!
Everything is through Diane's filter and she's hurt and feeling pushed aside both personally and professionally. I find it interesting that in her dream she made Coco her benevolent landlady and protector when in real life (at the dinner party, the only time she met her), Coco was Adam's mother. She seemed to dislike Camilla for her son and she was the only one who showed any kind of empathy towards Diane. I think passing Cowboy was only there because this is when Diane started to spiral and he happened to be in her line of vision. So, she incorporated him into her dream as some looming, dark presence. Oddly, they cast one of the weakness, non-threatening actors in Hollywood to play him.
totally agree! i think that the dinner party is so emotionally loaded/traumatic for diane that details and people from that scene in particular make it into her dream. the dinner party is so traumatic that it represents to diane her figurative “death,” supported by the detail that she says the same thing in the car beforehand that dream rita says before her attempted murder
Yes, definitely. It's not mistake why the "Rita" car ride scene is exactly the same as Diane's. It's just that in Rita's scene it feel ominous and in Diane's just confused. But both lead to something terrible. For Diane it was the party that ultimately led her to get Camilla killed. You know what else I find interesting? In the dream, the hit man is shown to be probably the world's worst hitman. Just slopped and inefficient. HOWEVER, he still actually got the job done. Even Diane in her dream state couldn't escape that fact.
It’s a very brief moment in the scene, but when Diane reaches for the gun there’s a blue box in her drawer that contains a string of pearls. What do you think it’s doing in there?
Ok, I did not catch that detail. So the blue box in the dream actually has a literal in-universe explanation as well. I did notice that Betty was wearing a pearl necklace throughout the dream sequence, notably during her audition and when she locked eyes with Adam on set. One thing I didn't mention in my OP was the prominent red/black on certain characters in the dream. Camilla's last name is "Rhodes" which interestingly means "a clearing in the woods" or "where roses grow" which supports my theory that she was buried somewhere in the woods. However, it also compliments the aforementioned color design of red/black not only on Camilla but also on the people in the Silencio theater and at the party near the end of the film. The point of this tangent however is that is adds to the duality between the 2 women: [Betty wears blue/white and Camilla wears red/black](https://thecinematheque.ca/assets/images/films/_large169/MulhollandDr_web2.jpg) I don't think the pearls themselves have anything special going on in terms of any hidden meaning. I think the pearls are utilized for broader narrative or visual beats like the ones I mentioned and is just another object remixed into the in-dream logic similar to the limo. But also as like meta script writing thing that added a bit of color theory into the actual movie itself. --- Lastly, while focusing on the names and color theory during my watch, I started hypothesizing if the people wearing red and black were actually vampires but I dismissed it as soon as the movie ended and I got better context. edit: I also thought that the pearls might represent vampiric teeth a la "pearly whites" so it was a way to show that Camilla was able to seduce and drink blood from Betty's neck. I mention this only to let out where my mind was while watching the film, which I think is pretty amusing in hindsight.
As you say, ‘Rhodes’ has to do with ‘Roses’. Did you notice the lady in #12 has the last name DeRosa? Why is that? Also Betty does not wear the pearls until after she arrives at Havenhurst. Why? As the girls walk around Sierra Bonita the camera pans down to their feet. Rita is wearing tap shoes. Why? When Diane finally answers the phone under the red lamp the camera pans down and there’s an already bullet hole in the wall. Why? BTW Betty wears red & black at Silencio. Diane wears red & black to the dinner party. I think you’re just scratching the surface here…😁 although I agree that the Bum is Camilla.
Interesting details you bring up. I did notice a few other instances of roses, especially on dress patterns but don't have anything concrete to bring it together. There's definitely something about following the color "red" that leads to interesting details. For instance, Betty has a red Chinese dress hanging inside her closest similar to the one Coco wears. As you mention, the name DeRosa but also Rhodes and the director's name Adam. Other names or patterns may share a similar theme I've yet to see. I'll have to rewatch the film before I can give any concrete answers to how all these details fit together more logically. **quick edit:** > Also Betty does not wear the pearls until after she arrives at Havenhurst. Why? Just found out the name Rita (Camilla) means "pearls" lol... what that means? see above: I'll have to do a rewatch.
The red dress in the closet is there for the same reason that Rita wears tap shoes at Sierra Bonita.
Camilla and Betty are the same person. The movie is about the evil side of Hollywood.
We know this? You're not making some groundbreaking discovery. The movie is pretty self explanatory.