Some great ideas have surfaced recently on Lynch's use of 'curtains'.

My favorite so far is the idea that Diane's white robe acts as a curtain, opening on the scene where we find Camilla lying on the couch.

And I believe that Luigi, while on Adam's set, is peeking from behind Jason as if Jason is a curtain.

I would love to hear other ideas on this subject where DL uses non-traditional 'curtains'.

I wanted to present something as well. During the Club Silencio scene we see the red curtains turn blue. This is achieved by simply shining a blue light on them. This indicates to us that things can be projected onto a curtain to make the curtain appear (like an illusion) as something else. The curtains can be used as a screen. When Rebekah falls to the floor, she is removed from the scene by being carried behind the curtain. The opening in the curtain allows people to appear and disappear.

Is that how people appear/disappear mysteriously in this film? Does they just step through an opening in the curtain?

I think along the same lines as you, marksman, but I see the curtains as the way to hide the 'bad life' stuff - that stuff is behind the curtain. And 'good life' stuff is being projected onto the curtains - it puts a facade over the bad. The 'bad life' stuff keeps poking its head from behind the curtain.

Like the bum pokes its head from behind the wall.

Something else I want to point out about the curtains at Club Silencio:

When the blue light was shown on the red curtains, it should have made the curtains appear purple. Red and blue combine to make purple. This didn't happen here. We saw blue.

The only explanation I can come up with on why we did not see purple? That the color red is reflective, like silver is in a mirror.

Instead of a silver screen, we have a red one.

marksman wrote:The idea came from Alan Shaw, who said the following:
Diane's Betty persona felt the reality of the sexual abuse that Diane experienced as a child and apparently repressed as she got older. This reality was felt through the Club Silencio magician's thunder and lightning show that caused Diane to go into shaking spasms that seem to mimic what a child might go through while being raped.

When I first read this theory about Betty's shaking I thought it was really horrible, more so because of how much it chimed as right with me. I also read that the shot's of the magician's face around the shaking can be seen as the face of the perpetrator of the abuse - again horrible but it could be right. I'd love to know what directions David Lynch gave Naomi Watts for the shaking!

Another curtain that is used in this film is mechanical. Much like the vacuum is a mechanical version of a broom.

We hear a noise as the convertible scene opens...it sounds like a garage door opening.

I also wonder if lighting coming on, such as we see when Mr. Roque is visited by Ray, is also another type of 'curtain'.

Adam saying "Kill the lights" is equal to his saying "Cut".

"Adam saying "Kill the lights" is equal to his saying "Cut"." - Or silencio :-)

Adam's remarks as director, "Kill the lights", "Don't sit so rigid" and "When she starts to cry" make me think of the abuse theme.

Similarly Bob Brooker saying, "Forced but humanistic" and when he says, "Really." I think of a clue to the truth of the audition dialogue. Some of Bob and Woody's dialogue can seem about abuse or porno;
"Don't rush that line"
"If they don't rush it then I don't rush"
"Dad's best friend goes to work"
"Tell me where it hurts"
"They all say 'They'll arrest you' and, 'They'll put you in a jail...' they all say it that way"

Some of Bob and Woody's dialogue can seem about abuse or porno

Absolutely!

And Joe telling Laney "You'll keep your eyes open for me, won't you baby?". Is he creating an opening in a curtain as he says this? Lol!

I think Diane uses her 'curtains' to hide things. That bedroom closet door at Aunt Ruth's serves as a curtain behind which she can 'hide' the purse containing a key and some money.