I'm pretty new to this community, so I apologize if I end up repeating a things that have been said already. Here are some things I noticed about Adam's arrival home (around 48:50).


Immediately before this scene, Betty talks about seeing whether there was an accident on Mulholland Drive. Adam arrives home early, causing an "accident." Diane's limo stopped early, related to a romantic moment that made her think Camilla might still be interested, another accident. Diane was late to the party, making matters worse for her. At the next scene in this location, Kenny (also in a limo) is too late to Adam's house to catch him. Upon seeing Adam at the audition, Diane runs off saying she's late. (Of course, there could also be connections between being late and being pregnant.)

The amount of pink and green in this scene (plants, pool chairs) makes me think that it relates to something that happened in Diane's bed.

Adam's license plate reads 3HYE470.

When Adam approaches the bedroom door, there's some sort of clinking noise. The only thing shown that seems like it could have made that noise is the vase holding the yellow rose...maybe attention is being drawn to the rose because of DeRosa.

It appears that the top shelf in the shot of Adam entering the bedroom contains books about wealth and wealthy men...I could only make out the titles "Wealth 101," "Sam Walton," "Iacocca," and one called either "The Mises" or "The Mists."

There's half of a small orange/tangerine sitting on the sink, and half on the kitchen island.

Gene's shirt appears to say "North Shore" on the back.


Most significantly, I think that the sound effects when Adam is hurting Lorraine are greatly exaggerated. Notice that there's nothing on the counter at first:


When Lorraine is on the counter, everything is in the exact same position as before:


The noise during the struggle indicates a lot of large utensils or dishes being clanged against each other, and when Lorraine jumps down it sounds as though a bowl is bouncing on the floor. But nothing on the counter has moved and there aren't even any objects that would make those noises. Could this be Diane remembering that she still has DeRosa's dishes? It seems likely that Diane was cheating on DeRosa with Camilla and that this mirrors that, including DeRosa moving out. Notice that the box of dishes she picks up includes a drying rack, so it's not inconceivable that it would also include large metal utensils.

Great post - I'd like to pick a scene for review at some stage too. It's tricky work to look at a Lynch scene in isolation and I think with this scene you pointed out the importance of Betty and Rita's scene before it - Betty says let's see if there was an accident on Mulholland Drive and the next scene in the dream is Adam going home to an "accident". At this stage in the dream Diane via Betty is still exerting considerable control over the direction and events in the dream.

I always thought that Lorraine's screams and noises in the kitchen seem greatly exaggerated - much more noisy than the scene itself is depicting. Similar to the noises of the fat woman when she is struggling with Joe.

I'm not great with colours and thought the paint was blue and pink and Adam choosing to pour pink all over the family jewels was pointing the finger of blame at the females in the family and getting the paint on himself was emasculating his character.

I read other posts that mention how the scene plays like a child discovering adults in bed rather than a husband catching his wife cheating and I love that someone mentioned that Billy Ray Cyrus is famous for Achy Breaky Heart - surely the ultimate theme of MD?! :-)

A great post! The exaggerated sounds, while Lorraine is on the counter, always reminded me of pots and pans banging together. Yet there are none, as you noted. This always meant, to me, that this scene was a 'replay' of something else. I never made the connection with Woman in 12 and her dishes.

And there's that green vase with the flowers (three flowers here) on the counter. Looks reminiscent of the one that was on Diane's table (with two flowers)...the one that goes missing later.

Speaking of vases of flowers, doesn't it seem like there is a sort of 'countdown' going on every time you see a flower inside Adam's house? There appears to be a different number of flowers in each vase...like they could be 'steps' in an act. An act that begins in the bedroom (there's a single flower next to Lorraine on the table) and ends in the bedroom (there's a vase with five flowers where Adam grabs the jewels).

Just digging something out of an old thread on RT and reposting here as it's relevant.

Anyone care to name the film?

Betty Blue? Looks like Beatrice Dalle and the beach house. Love the pink and blue colours!

Ah, that's pretty cool. I had never heard of that movie.

andthendougsaid,

Thanks for kicking this off, so to speak.

And regarding kicking ... did anyone find it odd that Gene kicked Adam when he was down? Might that be a clue from Lynch? What is he up to?

So if the club is some kind of evidence put before Adam to ask him about, why is he allowed to walk freely from the interrogation room with the evidence in his hand?

I know that Lynch can be pretty far out and has dealt with child abuse themes in the past (and is arguably doing again in MD), but bringing a golf club into proceedings I simply cannot go with. The sexual abuse theme tends to work for me because it's in the subtext of the film; it's subtle and is not the entire point of the film. A golf club in the sense you are talking is not subtle. MD is perfectly understandable on a superficial base level without ever having any insight or understanding of the idea that there are clues to sexual abuse.

The sexual abuse lends depth to Diane's character and adds another level to her backstory, but I see no evidence for the story you're putting forward.

The reason that Kesher takes a quizzical look at the swimming pool is that he expects to see Gene there, cleaning, as he's being paid to do. I don't see any reason to believe it's because he hosted some kind of child molestation free-for-all in which some kid drowned in the pool. That's just not supported in the film.

Sorry dude.

Marksman
I see what you're saying. The golf club is surely representative of something bad in Adam's life. It goes everywhere with him. He carries everywhere like a burden. This burden makes him do ugly things.

He goes 'home' and places it where it belongs. It's no longer with him once he gets to the hotel. He no longer carries this 'reminder' everywhere.

One more thing. Once he places the burden where it belongs (sticks the club in the bag) he is able to see things more clearly or can see a 'truth' (the pink and blue chairs) that was previously obscured. The fact that he wears glasses may be a clue that he doesn't 'see' that well.

The golf club, whatever it may represent, is definitely something that obscures his view. What does he smash with it? A windshield and a headlight. When a windshield is smashed it diminishes one's ability to see. The same with the headlight.

I'm starting to think that the pink and the baby blue 'things' are choices. When Adam is finally able to see the chairs, it means he can finally see that he has choices. But those choices are out of reach. There's a glass wall between him and his choices. Of course there's a door, but he avoids making the choice. Once he discovers Lorraine with Gene he decides to make a choice.

It could be possible that Adam's golf club represents a secret that he has. Something he takes 'home' and tucks away with his other secrets. But he let everyone at the meeting know he had it.

Maybe...but I like the idea of burden better.