Here's an alternative look at the three ever-so-slightly different inhabitants of beds that we see between the time Rita vanishes into the blue box/Aunt Ruth looks around and sees nothing, and the time Diane wakes up and eventually opens the door...

1. First we see a woman in dark clothing. Her hair is blonde. It's not Betty from the immediately previous scene, because the clothes are the wrong color. It's not Rita from the immediately previous scene, because the clothes are the wrong length. It's not Diane from the third woman-in-bed-shot, because the clothes are the wrong color. This person is listed in the credits as "Blond in Bed."
   
   
2. The Cowboy, smiling, says "Hey pretty girl... Time to wake up."
   
   
3. Second we see the same corpse Betty and Rita saw earlier in #17. The bed is torn up the same way. It wears dark clothing, similar to "Blond in Bed" (possibly identical; any minor differences may be due only to slight changes in lighting). It also has blonde hair (established in the earlier scene; you can't see it here), but longer than Diane's, Betty's, or Rita's wig's. The corpse appears to be somewhat larger than Blond in Bed. The corpse is not listed in the credits, presumably because it's a prop. (If it were a performer, it would be listed in the credits immediately after "Woman in 12," but it's not.)
   
   
4. The Cowboy, expressionless, backs away and closes the door.
   
   
5. Third, we see Diane in bed, wearing light-colored clothing. She wakes up, roused by the knocking (presumably for her scene with the Lamp Lady, though since she leaves our field of view between getting out of bed and answering the door, we can't be certain these events actually immediately follow each other).

What if all three of these images represent Diane?

Perhaps "Blond in Bed" is Diane as a younger woman/girl... the girl who would have become Betty if only her life had taken a different path, but instead had an incestuous abuser (represented in the dream by The Cowboy) who would awaken her with the phrase, "Hey pretty girl... time to wake up."

The corpse could be Diane's innocence and/or soul after years of abuse... shown as older than the first girl, but slain by "The Cowboy's" abuse and possibly her own later actions (prostitution, placing a hit on Camilla, etc.).

And of course, the third woman is Diane as she is at that point in the story... outwardly living (such as it is), but inwardly already dead or dying...

I don't know if I'm seeing things, and I know there's a credit for "Blond in Bed" but here's the thing...



She doesn't look blond to me. What am I missing?

It's hard to see for certain, because the scene is dark in general, and there's a shadow behind her, creating an even darker silhouette at the back of her head, but when I look right by where her ear would be, the hair does appear blond to me. But either way, unless there's another "Blond in Bed" hiding somewhere, I think this gal must be her...

well that's just it, there is a blond in bed somewhere, and it looks like she's been blown away with a shotgun.

Yes, but *this* blond hasn't. Not for a couple more seconds of film yet.

This was discussed back in the day.

The problem - much like much of MD - is that there is so little to back up ideas.

Certainly she doesn't look much like a blonde but certainly the lighting doesn't help. The other troubling aspect is the spelling. Very odd for a woman to be spelled blond (versus blonde, at least in the U.S.A.) Lynch is not sloppy. So another possibility is that 'she' is really a 'he' and Lynch is leaving you a clue.

ctyankee wrote:The other troubling aspect is the spelling. Very odd for a woman to be spelled blond (versus blonde, at least in the U.S.A.) Lynch is not sloppy. So another possibility is that 'she' is really a 'he' and Lynch is leaving you a clue.

Any thoughts on what it might be a clue to? Who the "he" might be if it's a he?

from a grammar resource:

Blond or Blonde?
The words blond and blonde come from the French and follow somewhat the French pattern. Blond (without the e) is used to describe males, mixed gender, or uncertain gender. Blonde refers to women or female gender.

In modern use, blond is sometimes used for female as well as male, but blonde is preferred for female.

More deliberate ambiguity? Because you could say "That blond girl is cute," and not be sloppy, it just wouldn't be preferred.

Anyhoo, the image on the screen is a woman (or a man with a woman's hips). And I still think it's a brunette. There is just enough light in the room that would reflect off her hair if it was blond. sorry. blonde.

Oh, fwiw, in INLAND EMPIRE, during the asian girl's monologue, (which is oddly subtitled because it's not difficult to understand what she's saying at all), in the subtitles blonde wig is spelled with an e.

Ok, so back in the day, CT, where did those discussions go. If the blond is a dude, who're we talking about? In the immortal words of Adam Kesher "Where is this going?"

If the first of the three figures is a brunette, I wonder why Lynch would list the credit as "Blond in Bed," and if it's really a female, why he doesn't list it as "Blonde in Bed." Simply trying to throw us off by not listing the credits as "Camilla Sleeping" and then "Camilla Corpse?" Or is he trying to tell us something?

Is it misdirection, or a clue? Hmm...

So setting aside for the moment the fact that the figure looks obviously female, if it is supposed to be a blond male, who are our choices in the movie? Joe the hitman. Anyone else?

According to the folks at mulholland-drive.net the Blond in Bed is the corpse.

http://www.mulholland-drive.net/cast/corpse.htm

• The corpse is being credited as Blond in Bed played by Lyssie Powell.

I'll throw this out there, I wouldn't be surprised if it wasn't a pun. Blond in bed. No. Blind in bed.

kmkmiller wrote:According to the folks at mulholland-drive.net the Blond in Bed is the corpse.

http://www.mulholland-drive.net/cast/corpse.htm

• The corpse is being credited as Blond in Bed played by Lyssie Powell.

If this is who it means, then it raises another oddity with the credits. Because the credits are supposed to be in order of appearance, which means the corpse should appear immediately after "Woman in 12." The fact that it doesn't appear then suggests to me that the corpse is just a prop, and that "Blond in bed" refers to the first of the three "women in beds" at the end of the dream sequence. (Because that person would appear in the credits order exactly where "Blond in Bed" does appear.

So, the 'credited blond(e) in bed' appears during Diane's awakening process. I think that dead girl on the bed somewhere in one of the apartments of Sierra Bonita's serves two meanings:
1. It is a dawning and probably distorted memory of the real corpse she had seen in real life. (a face outside her dream?)
2. It is wishful thinking, in the sense of that she (Diane) herself would rather be dead than waking up and endure another dreadful day.

Doesn't a feeling of disorientation (where am I) coincide with waking up?

kmkmiller wrote:from a grammar resource:

Ok, so back in the day, CT, where did those discussions go. If the blond is a dude, who're we talking about? In the immortal words of Adam Kesher "Where is this going?"

Reminds me of the Aerosmith song: "Dude (Looks Like a Lady) but to answer your question the discussion brought no revelations that I remember.

derekfnord wrote:

kmkmiller wrote:According to the folks at mulholland-drive.net the Blond in Bed is the corpse.

http://www.mulholland-drive.net/cast/corpse.htm

• The corpse is being credited as Blond in Bed played by Lyssie Powell.

If this is who it means, then it raises another oddity with the credits. Because the credits are supposed to be in order of appearance, which means the corpse should appear immediately after "Woman in 12." The fact that it doesn't appear then suggests to me that the corpse is just a prop, and that "Blond in bed" refers to the first of the three "women in beds" at the end of the dream sequence. (Because that person would appear in the credits order exactly where "Blond in Bed" does appear.

Exactly.

Blu / Bob,

We should change it on the website as currently it comes across as fact (with its link to the credits). Not only is it not fact, but as derekfnord mentions ... it is illogical.