I couldn't find a topic about this so here i go. A jitterbug contest is old fashioned, something from the fifties or sixties. Diane tell's about it now doen't she? And her aunt died? but we see the red haired lady also in the end. Is it possible that the red haired lady isn't aunt Ruth but Diane looking back at her life? And confusingly mixes time and decor settings in het memories?

I'm not sure what you are saying/asking, so I'll tell you what I think about the topic/what you are saying, and then you can correct me, or whatever. If jitterbug contests are really only a 50's/60's thing, we have a major problem, since Betty/Diane wasn't even born then. But given the choice between believing that 1) one jitterbug contest happened in Deep River, Ontario in about 2000 or 2) doing some VERY serious reinterpreting of some important ideas in the movie, I'm going to go with a 2000 jitterbug contest. If you want to draw up a whole interpretation of that scene (which is more complex than it looks, I think), and incorporate it into the movie as a whole, do it. It might be fun, but I personally can't imagine it going anywhere. As far as her aunt, I'm not sure what you are getting at. Likely series of events: Betty/Diane won a jitterbug contest, her aunt died and left her some money, which she used to go to Hollywood. What scene are you referring to when you say "we see the red haired lady also in the end?" The last scene that Aunt Ruth (the owner of the apartment, anyway... that's who I'm calling Aunt Ruth) appears is still in Betty/Diane's dream. (When she pokes her head in the bedroom after the blue box falls to the floor.) Aunt Ruth can obviously appear in a dream after she is dead, so there is no problem there.

Sparkie, I see it a bit differently to you. But I think Aunt Ruth is really important to the story.
I think that Camilla/Rita is just an idealized version of Aunt Ruth, who only exists in Diane's dreams and fantasies. (Just as Betty is an idealized version of Diane who exists in her own dreams.)
I believe that the real Aunt Ruth returned whilst Diane was sleeping, just before Diane awoke. We even saw her look through the door at the sleeping Diane. The implication is that it was Aunt Ruth who left the (blue) key on the table, because we saw a premonition of this when Ruth leaves the keys on the table (early in Diane's dream). I know that Joe says that she will find the key in a certain place, but he doesn't say that it is he who will leave it.
If you look carefully at the scene in which Diane says "Camilla, you're back!", you will see that when her face turns into a look of revulsion, we don't see what she sees. Could this be because she realizes that her fantasy, Camilla, is not back, but the hated Aunt Ruth is.

Gee,

You both are probably right. Thing is that its strange that there is not a 100% explanation and I am searching. I thought that Ruth in my 'looking back' theory all her memories places in à contempory environment.

I think I get the picture but am confused about the Dan, hitman srew up, and hooker on the street scènes.

Sparkie, I am in a minority of one on this: I think that the hooker street scene is a metaphor thing, which is explaining what Joe's job is. If you look at the way he puts the hooker in the van, and the way that she is so compliant with this (suggesting that this is a regular occurrence). I think that Joe works in the prison service. It took me several viewings to find anything else in the scene to confirm this, but then I noticed the big bunch of keys hanging from his belt!
Now the cigarette scene, shows someone allowing himself to be deliberately pick pocketed. It doesn't take much imagination to visualize her "stealing" a key off the ring whilst he looks the other way. Obviously, Joe would need some large incentive to do this (because he is helping a convicted felon escape), so we must look else where in the film to see whether Joe is offered or presented with any money....
And when we find a scene in which he asks to see the money, and is shown it, what does he show the person offering the money...a blue key.
So where is Aunt Ruth? Before Diane gives Joe the money, she is in prison and when the key appears on Diane's table, she is obviously at large in her neighbourhood and has already been in her house while she was sleeping.

But these are only my opinions, and I am not trying to impose them on anyone else. I just believe that everyone is entitled to his or her own opinions and should not be discouraged from doing so.

Ha,

Now this is interesting, a scène expert. But a viewer that only watches the movie ones, never gets it. In the hooker scène Joe asks if she has seen a dark haired lady, probably woonded or something, this must be Laura and he is aware of the accident? By the way, as I wrote earlier I think the Siërra Bonita appartments are some sort of whore house, managed by Coco. I just didn't have the time to work this out.

Joe is probably looking for Rita/Camilla. That's why he visited Ed (to get his famous black book). I haven't seen this written anywhere, but I think the thread goes like this: (anyone think differently, I'd be happy to hear it). Rita/Camilla is on her way to Mr. Rogue's place when she crashes. She is trading sex with him for a part in a movie. Rita/Camilla's absence is what prompts Rogue's call to the "behind the head" guy: "The girl is still missing." Which is why they have to recast. Rogue probably had sex with the "this is the girl," girl which is why the powers that be are telling Adam that he HAS to cast her in the role. (I know this doesn't explain why they were going to shoot Rita/Camilla (without adding a whole sub-plot). And it only MAY explain why the Rogue to "behind the head guy" to the "hairy armed guy's" call ended up in Diane's apartment. Or Ed and Joe's involvement. But, hey... it's a dream, right?) The Sierra Bonita Apartments aren't a whore house run by Coco, I don't think. They are where Diane lived when she was a call girl, though. Which MAY (?) be why that call ended up there? Someone knew Rita/Camilla might have been friends with Diane, so they tried Diane's number, hoping to find Rita/Camilla there?

I agree with this scenario the most. Could the 2 police men not be murder investigators but the 2 that stould on the limo crash site? They are not in a real hurry for catching à killer. And as I mentioned earlier, I noticed that Naomi and Laura in the dream part wear red pieces of cloting, but never together and Laura even wears à red towel together with the blond wig, just before they go to bed. Questions, questions.