Siku wrote:Interesting observation that Ruth set her up for the part. But I don't think Ruth faxed the pages of script that Coco gives Betty. I'd need to check that.

Hmm. I guess you're right. I just checked the scene where Coco delivers the pages, and she doesn't mention the fax coming from Ruth. I think I may have been associating Ruth with the audition lines because, in the earlier scene where Betty's lying on the couch and talking to Ruth on the phone, Betty mentions how hard she's going to study them...

And when she arrives at the audition Wally mentions her aunt, and then afterwards he says she has done her aunt proud (from memory).

I guess Hollywood is a 'who-you-know' kinda a place! So it is implied that Aunt Ruth got her the part - and got her involved with that older man perhaps.

Diane is externalising her failure, "I would have got the part if my aunt was still around to support me".

And it could be a reflection of happier times when her aunt WAS still around.

Hi Siku,

exellent observation. Indeed, Diane is first on the left and than on the right of the shot. So, she imagined herself to be Camilla (and Diane wanted indeed in real life to be Camilla). She sees herself as Camilla and is relieved that she's come back. But...we haven't seen her before, have we? Yes we did, in the form of Rita. But Rita does not exist in Diane's daydream / fantasy, only in her dream, where Diane can unlock the deepest of her fantasy. She CAN however picture Camilla in her fantasy, because she is closer to reality than Rita is.

So, Camilla is indeed Diane in her fantasy, or rather, Diane sees herself as one with Camilla, because she wants / wanted that lifestyle and to be an actress. She is relieved to see Camilla, because that means she can continue her fantasy and repress her trauma. Diane is deeply disturbed when she realizes that Camilla is a figment of her imagination or rather, that she cannot sustain the image of Camilla for long. In short this can mean two things:

1. Diane is disturbed by the fact that she realizes she has hallucinations.
2. She is disturbed by the fact, that she cannot sustain the image for long, that is cannot uphold her fantasy.

I intend to go with the latter for several reasons. But to be brief, I guess the main reason would be that Diane would be aware of her hallucinations and her depression, because she has been this way for over three weeks. The fact that she is in an ever deepening depression, would suggest that it grows harder for Diane to uphold her fantasy. It doesn't come that easy anymore and that's why she's disturbed.

I guess we're on the same page on this one, Siku. Also your latest reply on this thread I agree with. The legend of the Crying Lady of Los Angeles AND the lyrics of the song "Crying" from Roy Orbison clearly have references to Diane's situation. As has the painting of Beatrice Censi. But that will also be discussed on other threads, I assume?

Your thoughts on Diane's reaction to her mental state are interesting. I was more concerned to establish that Lynch shows us Diane is delusional, so we know some of what we see is real and some isn't. But you're absolutely right, he shows Diane knows this too.

(Still, one cup of coffee and she's off again, leaping over that couch into the past and Camilla's arms. But the fantasy dissolves quickly, Diane can't keep the rejection and bitterness out).

Maybe this is reason enough for suicide. Who wants to live as a depressed, delusional, psychotic?

Indeed, one cup of coffee and she's off again. About this coffee I have a theory also, but the way you mentioned it, never occured to me. It's AFTER Diane sips from her coffee that she's back into her fantasy.

We see during the meeting between Adam, the managers and the Castigliani brothers a discussion about coffee. I think this coffee stands for the two actresses Camilla and Betty. The studio recommends another sort of coffee, also highly recommended, and that is Betty. The usual coffee Luigi Castigliani always takes is the one who represents the usual actress or perhaps the traditional Hollywood actress. This actress is Camilla Rhodes. You'll notice that Castigliani doesn't like the coffee and spits it out. In my opinion that represents Hollywood spitting out Diane.

I'm not quite sure how to place the coffee in this scene, in reality. The fact that Lynch draws attention so prominantly to the making of the coffee by Diane must mean something. Maybe he stresses with this scene the inferiority of the coffee and thereby of Diane in comparison to Camilla Rhodes or mainstream Hollywood actresses in general. I find it difficult to place the meaning of the coffee directly, but I understand the importance of it.

Do you have any specific ideas about the meaning of it in this scene, Siku?

I hate to comment on my own post, but while I was thinking about this coffee bit I thought of something that could make sense.

In her dream it is the Hollywood studio who makes the coffee to please Luigi Castigliani. In her dream, Diane imagines that it was Hollywood who is to blame for her failure. In reality we see Diane making the coffee, so this could suggest that in reality it is Diane herself who is to blame for her failure. Furthermore, it's after when she had some sips of her coffee, that she is able to dive into her fantasy again. Could this suggest, that the coffee in this scene also stands for Diane old habits, namely to escape reality to avoid the confrontation with her trauma? In this sense, Diane sips her own failure and that leads her into her fantasy world.

Erniesam, sorry its taken fifteen months to reply.

Personally I never read too much into it, Alan Shaw says its scatological, but that never led anywhere for me. Coffee is a (mild) vice and a (mild) mind-altering drug.

You’re right: the studio offer coffee, the Castigliani brothers offer the girl, both offers are rejected. Diane is rejected, and she makes her own coffee. And works in a café (Winkies).

Coffee is obviously a symbol for Lynch. It’s part of the TP cutsie all-American pie thing, and also a film-noir trope. Those hard boiled detectives always take their coffee black right? Both Diane and Luigi take their coffee black, like Agent Cooper.

I find all that damn fine coffee, slices of pie, and just how GOOD they are, a little bit demonic. Like turkish delight, pie isn’t THAT good unless there’s something going on. Do you remember the bit when Ben Horne’s brother turns up, bringing Ben a baguette he found on his travels? They go into paroxysms of carnal ecstasy over it. Isn’t the bargain the devil offers pretty much that you’ll enjoy this life and forfeit your soul in return? Extracting so much pleasure from these everyday things seems somehow savage, bestial, and, well, demonic!