In this section of our Colossus Movie Guide for Mulholland Drive, we will discuss the meaning behind the movie’s title.
As a primer, be sure to check out David Lynch’s ten clues about Mulholland Drive. The director provided these clues as a helpful guide since the movie’s plot was so confusing.
Cast
- Naomi Watts – Betty Elms/Diane Selwyn
- Laura Harring – Rita/Camilla Rhodes
- Justin Theroux – Adam Kesher
- Ann Miller – Coco
- Mark Pellegrino – Joe
- Robert Forster – Detective McKnight
- Brent Briscoe – Detective Domgaard
- Dan Hedaya – Vincenzo Castigliane
- Angelo Badalamenti – Luigi Castigliane
- Michael J. Anderson – Mr. Roque
- Bonnie Aarons – Bum
- Monty Montgomery – The Cowboy
- Melissa George – Camilla Rhodes
- Billy Ray Cyrus – Gene
- Patrick Fischler – Dan
Why is the movie called Mulholland Drive?
Mulholland Drive is a famous road in the Santa Monica Mountains of California. Many celebrities have lived on that road over the years, from Madonna to Jack Nicholson to John Lennon to Bruce Willis to—yeah, you guessed it—David Lynch.
When construction engineer DeWitt Reaburn built the road back in the 1920s, he said that “The Mulholland Highway is destined to be one of the heaviest traveled and one of the best known scenic roads in the United States.” With views of downtown Los Angeles and the Hollywood Sign, the road was meant to beautify the Southern California landscape. People could drive amongst the Hollywood Hills and bask in the glory of the movie capital of the world.
Here’s where it gets more complicated: because Mulholland Drive is also a dangerous place. Perched high on the rolling hills of California, these winding roads have been home to dozens upon dozens of car and motorcycle accidents over the years. There’s even one section of Mulholland Drive that’s nicknamed “The Snake” for its incredibly sharp hairpin twists and turns. This hazardous road has hosted many adrenaline-junkie actors over the years as well, from James Dean to Steve McQueen.
While this nine-mile stretch of road was built as a celebration of Southern California, it has come to symbolize the danger of Hollywood as well. So for a film where a woman sets out to become a movie star but ends up in a deep, irreversible depression, you can see the inherent tension that comes with titling your film Mulholland Drive. It’s a beautiful road, but it can also end your life—the same goes for Diane’s Hollywood dreams.
In an interview with Chris Rodley, David Lynch expanded on this idea. Rodley asked Lynch to explain the dynamic between Diane and Betty, to which Lynch responded:
“There are jokes about how in L.A. everyone is writing a script and everyone has got a résumé and a photo. So there’s a yearning to get the chance to express yourself—a sort of creativity in the air. Everyone is willing to go for broke and take a chance. It’s a modern town in that way. It’s like you want to go to Las Vegas and turn that one dollar into a million dollars.”
Here, Lynch associates Los Angeles with Las Vegas; the Hollywood Dream with gambling; the ambition to become a movie star with the risk of losing all your money. It’s fine to dream about becoming a famous actor. But stardom can come at a cost, can force you to compromise your ideals, can squander your drive and energy. Hollywood can be cruel to your dreams and cause you to become a cruel person who does anything to get ahead of the competition.
So, essentially, you can view this as the reason the film is called Mulholland Drive. The road has come to represent the dangers of Hollywood. And two very important scenes take place on Mulholland Drive that highlight this theme.
The two scenes that take place on Mulholland Drive
The first scene takes place in the dream world and features Rita getting into a traumatic car accident and forgetting her name (this will help us understand David Lynch’s fourth clue). The second scene takes place in the real world and features Diane driving to the party where she will learn about Camilla and Adam’s engagement and decide to take out Camilla.
Before we get to the significance of each of those scenes, I want to highlight one really cool thing about this film: when you play those scenes side by side…they almost perfectly match up. Below I’ve created a video that shows Lynch was purposely trying to connect these two scenes.
So what’s the point of connecting these scenes together? I’ll explain.
Rita’s car accident marks the very beginning of Diane’s dream—a journey where Betty is a hero and fights for Rita to find her identity. But really, this is Diane’s way of dealing with the regret of hiring the hitman. She creates a movie-like situation where Camilla has the chance to regain her identity, to be Diane’s lover once again, to gain a second life. Diane becomes her guiding light in the form of Betty.
But…Betty isn’t real. Betty is Diane’s way of forgetting the reality of her situation and what she really did. So the Mulholland Drive scene in the dream world is Diane pushing away from reality, while the Mulholland Drive scene in the real world is an actual representation of her decisions. The fictional story of who she wants to be is profoundly different from the truth.
The movie Diane fabricates is nothing more than a “Hollywood Dream.” It’s not real. It’s a symbolic representation of what that famous road has come to represent about Hollywood: while beautiful and welcoming on the surface, it’s ultimately a place where dreams go to die. Nothing more than a fantasy.
The car crash, then, becomes a symbolic break from that reality. In the dream world, the car that brought Diane to that fateful party is demolished and Camilla is completely stripped of her identity. Camilla forgets her name and becomes Rita—a lost puppy who needs Betty’s help. With this storyline, Diane and Camilla’s love can begin anew, and Diane can have another shot at stardom. Mulholland Drive represented the promise of fame and fortune. But in the end, that famous road became Diane’s demise.
When we think of these two scenes being connected, it makes the energy more palpable. As Diane is led up the hill by Camilla to the party, we know that tragedy and despair awaits her. At the party, she will learn of Adam and Camilla’s engagement—which will hit her with the same ferocity as a car crash. The promise of finding love and making it in Hollywood comes to an end at that very moment.
There’s one more avenue we can travel down to understand why Lynch called this movie Mulholland Drive: the classic film Sunset Boulevard.
David Lynch’s inspiration from Sunset Boulevard
You know that quote I used from Lynch just a few paragraphs up? Well, there’s one key sentence I left out.
In a response to Chris Rodley’s question about the duality between Diane and Betty, Lynch says:
“There are jokes about how in L.A. everyone is writing a script and everyone has got a résumé and a photo. So there’s a yearning to get the chance to express yourself—a sort of creativity in the air. Everyone is willing to go for broke and take a chance. It’s a modern town in that way. It’s like you want to go to Las Vegas and turn that one dollar into a million dollars. Sunset Boulevard says so much about that Hollywood Dream thing to me.”
Sunset Boulevard is a famous film from Billy Wilder about the sick nature of Hollywood. The movie follows an aged, has-been actress named Norma Desmond who refuses to accept that her career is finished. She continues to live in an extravagant mansion and pretends that her glory days aren’t behind her. But each time she’s forced to confront the reality of her flailing career…she loses a piece of herself mentally. And over the course of the movie, we witness her fully descend into delusional chaos.
In the midst of Norma’s mental unwinding, she meets a man named Joe. At first, Joe takes advantage of Norma’s delusion and enjoys her riches. But before long, her loosened grasp on reality drives him wild and he begins to challenge her. This only further spirals Norma into insanity.
Oh, and how does the movie end? Norma shoots Joe dead in her backyard pool.
Oh, and where does Norma live? On Sunset Boulevard, of course.
The parallels with Diane’s story are resounding. Diane has also bought into the Hollywood Dream to unhealthy levels. And like Norma, that dream causes Diane to completely forget who she is as a human being—and, ultimately, take out her lover. The delusion in Sunset Boulevard exists purely in Norma’s head. But in Mulholland Drive, we see that delusion play out in the form of Betty.
Then consider Sunset Boulevard, a famous thoroughfare that connects Beverly Hills and West Hollywood. Much like Mulholland Drive, many famous people (such as George Lucas, Jennifer Aniston, Ronald Reagan) have lived on Sunset Boulevard. And much like Mulholland Drive, the road has become a pop culture symbol of everything that is glorious about Hollywood—which is why Billy Wilder chose to explore the dark underbelly of that illustrious boulevard.
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