'Mulholland Drive', released in 2001, is a surreal neo-noir mystery film directed by David Lynch that delves into the realm of dreams, memory, and the distorted reality of Hollywood.
The film begins with a woman (Laura Harring) surviving a car accident on Mulholland Drive, Los Angeles, losing her memory in the process. Dazed and confused, she makes her way down into the city and hides in an apartment that's been vacated temporarily by an elderly couple. Here, she assumes the name 'Rita', after seeing a poster for the film 'Gilda', starring Rita Hayworth.
Simultaneously, we meet Betty Elms (Naomi Watts), an optimistic, aspiring actress who moves to LA from Canada and stays in her aunt's apartment, the same one where 'Rita' is hiding. When Betty finds Rita, she is drawn into her mystery, and the pair set off to uncover Rita's true identity.
Meanwhile, director Adam Kesher (Justin Theroux) faces bizarre struggles with his film production. After refusing to cast an actress forced upon him by the film's mob-associated backers, he finds his life spiraling out of control, culminating in an encounter with a mysterious and ominous figure known as The Cowboy.
Betty and Rita's investigation leads them to a peculiar nightclub, Club Silencio, where a performance underscores that everything in the club is just a recording, a false representation of reality. Following the show, they find a blue box in Betty's purse that matches a blue key earlier found in Rita's possession.
As Rita unlocks the box, Betty mysteriously disappears, and Rita is sucked into the box, leading to a significant shift in the narrative, moving from a somewhat coherent plot into a series of surreal, disjointed scenes. From this point, the narrative becomes nonlinear and far more cryptic.
Betty now appears as Diane Selwyn, a failed actress consumed by bitterness and resentment. 'Rita' is now Camilla Rhodes, a successful actress who has ended an affair with Diane and plans to marry Adam Kesher. Diane is left heartbroken and humiliated, and in her despair, hires a hitman to kill Camilla.
The film culminates in Diane's downward spiral, with increasingly surreal experiences and hallucinations. She is haunted by images of elderly people (the ones from the start of the film) and, finally, in what seems to be an act of unbearable guilt, fear, and remorse, Diane takes her own life.
'Mulholland Drive' is a film that refuses to be neatly categorized or entirely understood. It presents viewers with a dreamlike narrative that combines reality and fantasy, making it a topic of considerable debate and numerous interpretations. It can be seen as a critique of the brutality of Hollywood and the crushing of dreams and innocence, encapsulated in the tragic figure of Diane/Betty. Alternatively, it can be viewed as an exploration of identity, unrequited love, and the malleability of memory and perception. Despite (or because of) its complexity, 'Mulholland Drive' remains a significant work of surreal filmmaking, proving a labyrinthine journey into the unconscious mind.