I know everyone has a different or near-similar take on Mulholland Drive, either way everyone has an opinion on it.

My theory on it has changed a few times, the very first time I saw it I had no clue what had just happened and I was very confused afterward. After reading up on the various theories of Mulholland Drive such as the classical "dream" theory and what not I looked for other things that people have suspected about the imagery in certain scenes, and what roles certain characters are really playing within "that" part of the movie.

My thoughts (not quite a theory at this point) works with the dream idea, in fact I support this more after watching the opening more carefully with the volume turned up; the camera angle of the bed and the pillow is the perspective of a person aka Diane. Not to mention that you also hear a person breathing pretty heavily so it is also largely implied that it is a person falling/about to fall asleep.

So here we go...

*Jitterbug Contest/Opening = Either a memory of Diane's that her subconscious would later draw upon to use as back story for her own character in the dream. I think the opening is either a memory of Diane's or she is asleep or half-asleep and when the contest is over is when she has left the living room and entered the bedroom to fall asleep (close-up of pillow/breathing)

*Limousine Ride/Crash = More or less the actual beginning of the dream sequence (earlier on the couch was like a daydream or a vivid/waking dream that Diane had because she was only dozing off due to being tired)

*Rita Character = Is a dream version of Diane, that is once the car crash has occurred Camilla is no more and we only have Rita who is in her own right more or less an entirely different person despite supposedly having amnesia (Rita's lack of memory is a result of Camilla being killed). Rita's reluctance to be seen by anyone (i.e. the laughing couple on the walk to Havenhurst from MD) can be seen as Diane's subconscious knowing that she has done a bad thing and the police are out to get her and so she must remain out of sight and unseen by others. Also earlier Rita hid from a cop car that sped by, I think can also suggest the idea that in reality Diane knows that she will be wanted by police for questioning and knows that she must keep a low profile.

Rita's personality is also drawn upon by Diane's own memories and hopes via her subconscious, because the real 'Rita'/Camilla was killed/is dead (and the dream/Diane knows this), a new persona is crafted to create Rita in place of the absent Camilla. I also think that Diane's guilt plays a huge part in the dream and is more or less directly responsible for the creation of Rita (using Camilla as a template).

*Aunt Ruth = I think Ruth's existence in the first half of the film has multiple meanings/uses. One of them I think is that Diane's own passage from Canada to Los Angeles was recycled by her subconscious in order to create a reason/excuse for Rita being at Havenhurst.

*Siren before Winkie's Scene = you can clearly hear a siren for just a second before the scene shifts to Dan & Herb inside of Winkie's. Sometimes in real life while you're asleep your ears can hear something like the TV, the phone ringing, a dog barking, etc but since you're asleep it doesn't always register as what it would be when you're awake. I think the siren (heard, but no cop car is seen) is Diane physically hearing the police coming down her street for questioning/to make an arrest.

*Winkie's Scene = I've read some theories on this that Dan & Herb are supposed to be secondary dream incarnations of Diane and Camilla or what have you. I've read that some think that the Bum is supposed to be a physical manifestation of Diane's guilt, this is what I think too - however I believe the Winkie's scene as a whole is like a makeshift "confession" of sorts. Nothing of murder or crime of any sort is mentioned by Dan, "this god-awful feeling" Diane's guilt for the hit taking over and crafting the various dream people as her subconscious/active mind sees fit.

*Adam in the dream = Another incarnation of Diane, this one I have viewed as the Diane leading up to who we know in the second half of the film. A lot of theories abound that she was a call girl/prostitute, might have been raped/molested, so on. I think that the dream Adam persona could be another variation of Diane herself reliving some experiences via someone else or dumping these negative experiences onto someone who has wronged her (or both.)

The scene with Adam catching his wife in bed with Gene I think can represent Diane, Ruth and the client/john/trick. Aunt Ruth comes home early from a trip and catches her niece in bed with an older man, someone whom she has never seen before and does not know. Furious at her niece's promiscuity she banishes her (and her john) from 1612 Havenhurst and onto the streets and later at the hotel I believe is where Diane lived (via her John) and began her career as a callgirl/prostitute because she no longer had her aunt to look out for her (Cookie informs Adam that men from his bank were there, access to his accounts and everything was frozen, he had been kicked out of his house - translates as Diane no longer having room and board as well as an allowance of money and protection through her aunt).

I think that the Cowboy plays into the homeless/call girl idea as well, while also being/having multiple reasons/meanings. I think that the cowboy could at one point represent Diane's pimp, but more importantly the frightening and unknown/unseen force that is keeping her down and out of luck ever since being removed from Ruth's house. I think the cowboy could also represent Ruth, in that perhaps she reached out to Diane or vice-versa and was willing to give her niece another chance so long as she did not relapse into her dangerous lifestyle again.

*The Hitman and the Book = I think this scene has a lot of significance/importance (like the Winkie's scene) even if it sort of plays off as a non sequitur. The hit man I think represents both himself (having arranged the hit) and Diane (having paid for the hit), the scene like the MD car crash represents Diane's guilt and how the murder could have/has spiraled out of control. Instead of killing just the one person, two more lives are taken in the process.
The History of the World in phone numbers aka "Ed's blackbook", I've seen related to the Diane/Call girl theory and I think it plays a part here as well, the book itself represents Diane's dark past as a prostitute servicing unappealing men in sleazy/seedy locations for profit. With the death of Ed, the hitman/Diane is now free to expunge her personal history of her past mistakes (i.e. prostitution, drugs, etc). I also think that the blackbook - if it is to be seen as evidence of the hit taking place, was needed in order to keep Diane safe from the police.

I always get a little hung up on the "dark past" statements. I don't know how we know for sure that Diane was a prostitute, or that she was sexually abused in the past.

I honestly think it's something that became fact -- not so much out of looking at the movie itself -- but by reading Shaw's essay, and other attempts to tell the secret story of Diane Selwyn.

But I could be wrong and just not seeing what other people are seeing in the movie.

Is it all just based on the Laney character, a prostitute who is a doppelganger of Diane?

kmkmiller wrote:I always get a little hung up on the "dark past" statements. I don't know how we know for sure that Diane was a prostitute, or that she was sexually abused in the past.

I honestly think it's something that became fact -- not so much out of looking at the movie itself -- but by reading Shaw's essay, and other attempts to tell the secret story of Diane Selwyn.

But I could be wrong and just not seeing what other people are seeing in the movie.

Is it all just based on the Laney character, a prostitute who is a doppelganger of Diane?

I admit I read the classical theory after my very first viewing and I was left very, very confused after watching. So while I didn't take everything from the essay(s) as fact it kind of helped fill in the pieces a little like I would never have known that Laney was supposed to be a doppelganger or an incarnation of Diane from my first viewing and such.

Now since I've seen the movie several more times since my first viewing I've been watching more closely and looking for things that I didn't catch the last time and tried filling in the gaps as I watched (because my initial impression years ago was that it was going to be a straight forward movie) and I began using some pre-existing theories/ideas meshed with my own. I couldn't find anything with the idea that Aunt Ruth had caught Diane being promiscuous (not being a prostitute - I did use the term "john" but being in the sense the fling who would later become her john/client) like having sexual relations outside of marriage and Aunt Ruth was against it and tossed her out.

Basically my whole theory was just based on connecting the helpless Adam scenario (dream half) with Diane (sleeping) and meshing it with the call girl theory, though in my theory she wouldn't be/isn't a call girl until Adam is homeless (Ruth kicked her out), and situated in the hotel (future john got her a room and some clients). It's a stretch like most theories but I think It works. But it's not like Diane just decided to become a lady of the evening, it was a gradual process where she was romantically/sexually active with an older man (Perhaps Ruth's friend/lover - the script dialog between Betty and Woody). I don't see it as sexual abuse/rape that leads to prostitution like a lot of other theories do, but just that she was interested in this guy who was much older than she, her aunt found out/caught them in the act (Adam walks in on Lorraine and Gene), throws her out/disowns her and helpless and desperate she turns to her future john for support and gradually winds up in the pleasure business (all of this occurring before she met Camilla/Rita by the way).

Ack... But there's still just so much backstory there. Aunt Ruth had a lover? I'm really not trying to undermine a theory here. Tying in Adam is difficult in the classical theory, so I know it sounds like I'm poo pooing the ideas, most of which are very interesting. The interpretation of the Winkies scene is fantastic cause you're looking at the scene all by itself for what it is, keying off the subtle emotions of the two characters. Yes. It's a confession!

I just get lost when I start having to believe that Aunt Ruth had a lover. It's like a backstory is created to support a theory because David Lynch didn't give us all the info we need in the movie itself.. That's what shaw does in his essay actually. Its like im reading Shaw's fanfic of Diane Selwyns childhood. but then to be fair it's great to read these ideas cause I learn more about the movie just in the process of reading something I might disagree with. I might not agree with Shaw but I still learned a lot about the movie by reading his essay. Hope that makes sense.

The Winkie's scene - I was always lost on that one, for the longest time I just assumed it was some boogeyman thrown in there for effect but this is Lynch we're talking about and everything, even the most minute soiled napkin at a rest stop diner has meaning. The confession idea just makes sense, obviously Diane is *not* going to turn herself in, but she is reeling from guilt and perhaps grieving at the same time. She has to tell someone but she can't because if she does then it will all be over, so she more or less "confesses" in a dream even though it's Dan & Herb it's still Diane because it is her (dream)reality and all of it is playing off of her subconscious. I especially saw Diane in Herb who was very snarky with Dan from the get-go, and was criticizing herself for even entertaining the idea of telling someone - but then forces the confessor to face the ugly truth and see what will happen if she does confess to someone.

Ruth is tricky, I wasn't necessarily trying to give her any real serious concrete role other than what we see and otherwise hypothesize, but just enough to tie her to the real Diane.

Personally I think any random older gentleman would do (does not need to be connected to Ruth in anyway besides the point where she stumbles upon the goings on) and *if* we're to use the 'Diane was/became a call girl' theory it helps mold the story a little bit, but isn't necessary for the story. I tried looking for something besides a rape/molestation theory, what if Diane really was in love with this older guy (maybe he was married and was friend and/or acquaintances with Ruth (again not necessary and not even really a fleshing out - just a little supposition that could lend credible cause as to why Ruth would be so upset with Diane as to more or less disown her and kick her out of the house).

Let me add something on the Winkies scene. Right before it Lynch shows Camilla/not yet Rita fall asleep and then at the end of the scene Lynch shows Camilla asleep again. So consider the Winkies scene Camilla's dream while she's sleeping underneath the kitchen table at 1612 Havenhurst. The sirens you hear at the beginning of the Winkies scene were heard right before while Camilla was stumbling her way to havenhurst, etc.

It's still a confession, it's just in a Camilla dream. I know that deviates from the classic definition that the only one dreaming is Diane, but again we do see Camilla fall asleep right before the Winkies scene, and return to her sleeping just after. It's framed as if Camilla is dreaming it.

Oh right I forgot about that (those little details like Camilla/Rita falling asleep are easy to miss/overlook/disregard I guess), but then I don't think that a dream-within a dream is too far fetched (I think I've stumbled upon something regarding DWAD in MD at some point).

I think then the Winkie's scene would mean that Camilla's mind knows that something is wrong here and her subconscious is trying to figure it out/give it a form (label). Even though it would be a Camilla dream it could still be a confession from Diane and also represent Camilla/Rita's fear for her life and of the unknown (her descent down Mulholland Drive, through Runyon Canyon Park; avoiding being detected by anyone all the way up to Havenhurst). The bum him/itself stays largely the same; represents Diane's guilt and also is the dread (perhaps foreboding feeling) Camilla has during the opening of the movie given form.

Camilla is dead at this point so it can't be her dreaming.

But you know this because you said the bum behind Winkies represents Diane's guilt at being confronted with the blue key and the inescapable realisation that she's murdered Camilla. Ergo bum = Camilla is dead.

The bum is literally "the ones who's doing it", that is, the murder, as Dan says, IMHO. In which case the bum can't represent Diane's guilt as this comes AFTER the murder, rather than causing it.

So I guess I'm saying that the bum is a persona of Diane, a repressed and suppressed knot of all Diane's negative emotions that are driving her to do this terrible thing - anger, frustration, resentment, jealousy, etc. and at the bottom of it all, the feelings that are her response to her childhood abuse (including guilt of course).

Back to dream within a dream. This makes sense, given that we see Rita sleep before, then wake up after, the Winkies scene. But this is Rita dreaming (Rita being one of the players in Diane's dream) NOT Camilla (who's dead).

Rita is, in part, a dream version of Camilla, so maybe we're seeing what Diane dreams Camilla might dream about her murder. This introduces some uncertainty as to whether Dan = Diane or in fact Dan = Camilla. Remember in this scene Dan is talking about another dream (which would then be a dream within a dream within a dream) and, just for good measure, it's the second one he's had, though they're both the same.

Aside: This is all from the classical interpretation and could be irrelevant if (a) the dream is Diane's death dream, in which case I don't see why Camilla couldn't have a death dream too. Or (b) the hit never happened because Camilla is a fantasy.

Regarding the 'back story', I don't find it unreasonable to build this as the film gives so little concrete information - 98% is dream and flashback. And of course its contradictory. So at first we can say, ok I'll take this at face value, but pretty soon we have to re-think, and start to build a back story.

e.g. Something has, apparently, turned sweet Betty into a murderer. What?

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You're right it's Rita dreaming under the kitchen nook table at Havenhurst, not Camilla.

Re-watched last night, and there is indeed a siren blaring for about a second while the camera is fixated on the Winkie's sign just before the Herb & Dane scene. We see a cop car speed past Rita earlier but no sound is heard.

It should also be noted that Blondie's name is pronounced "Cam-illa" while the brunette is "Cam-ee-lah" .

Thanks for taking the time to respond, kmkmiller. Sounds like we're not too far apart on this one actually, but I thought I'd just come back briefly on your comments:

kmkmiller wrote:[spoiler] [/spoiler]

BTW the duality of the old folks - are they nice or nasty? - has been discussed at length.

I just wanted to point out that this duality and uncertainty is what it would be like for Diane, suffering abuse. They're her carers AND her tormentors.

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