Film Review: Lost Highway

Director: David Lynch

''Dick Laurent is dead''. The words spoken over the intercom at the start of the movie, we have no idea at this stage who Dick Laurent is or who said those words. Here starts another David Lynch movie where every scene and every line could be a crucial moment in the movie. It is the reason he is my favourite director as his films are so clever and really make you think about what just happened on the screen in front of you. The number of theories and opinions I've read on Mullholland Drive as to what happened and what it all means has got so high I can't even remember, but I love the fact people can take such different ideas away from the same movie.

David Lynch wrote the film with Barry Gifford who had written a short story called Night People which used the phrase 'lost highway'. Lynch decided he instantly liked the phrase as the title of the movie and wanted to make a movie around it. It was filmed mostly in California and Nevada including a scene where they drive along Mulholland Drive over Hollywood. The inspiration for someone saying ''Dick Laurent is dead'' over the intercom came from it happening to Lynch in real life.


Movie Poster

*spoiler alert for the rest of the review*

Fred Madison is a saxophone player who gets a message over his intercom system saying ''Dick Laurent is dead'', he quickly looks outside and sees that nobody is there. Suddenly videotapes start arriving with footage of the outside of the apartment then scenes inside and Fred asleep in bed with his wife Renee (Patricia Arquette). A final tape arrives showing that Fred has just murdered his wife for which he is promptly arrested. Everything seems quite normal so far before things start to become complicated (realistically the whole film is complicated!)



The film in parts is deeply unsettling, the soundtrack as well as the shady way the videotapes are shown all seem very sinister. It's all quite disturbing as you try to decipher what is real and whether Fred actually did murder his wife? Who is this mystery man and how can he answer the phone in Fred's apartment whilst standing in front of him at a party? The images and memorable soundtrack continue to unnerve you throughout. Bill Pulman puts in a good performance as the bewildered Fred Madison and Robert Blake (who hasn't been in a film since) is superb as the creepy Mystery Man.



Renee (Patricia Arquette) and Fred (Bill Pulman) watching one of the tapes



So here goes my explanation of what I think is happening (I don't have an answer for everything), the opening part of the movie where Fred and Renee live together in there dull apartment is all inside Fred's head. The dialogue between the pair is extremely awkward and not typical of a married couple; my theory is that this is Fred's dream so that none of these conversations are really happening. The videotapes that keep arriving anonymously at the door is Fred's sub-conscious reminding him of what he has actually done and that he can't escape that even in the dream. The key line when Fred is saying he likes to remember things his own way "How I remember them, not necessarily how they happened". This is Fred remembering things how he thinks they happened rather than what actually did happen. It also explains why he says that Dick Laurent is dead at the beginning of the film over the intercom.

The part where Fred is arrested is the only part of the movie that's real when he is in prison and struggling to come to terms with what has happened. He starts dreaming again and metamorphoses into Pete Dayton (Balthazar Getty) who has everything that Fred seemingly wants, woman interested in him and nothing major to worry about. As the story unravels between Alice and Pete we start to realise similar characters with different names in the second part of the movie with Alice and Renee being the same person as well as Mr. Eddy and Dick Laurent. He remembers the people differently from how they really and a slightly different story to the reality.


The Mystery Man - An extension of Fred's conscience?

The Mystery Man played by Robert Blake is an extension of his sub-conscience, that's how he can be in Fred's flat at the same time as being stood in front of him at Andy's party. That is also why when Fred drives Mr. Eddy/Dick Laurent into the desert he is given a knife from nowhere to stab him with, Mr. Eddy even says "what do you two want?" to Fred and the Mystery Man. After they shoot Mr. Eddy, the Mystery Man disappears and Fred is on his own again to disappear from the cops so he once again metamorphoses into another dream to escape the law.

3.5/4 Deep and complex like many of Lynch's other films, leaves just enough questions unanswered.

PS This blog has some very interesting ideas on the film being about the 5 stages of grief that Fred goes through after he's murdered his wife. I don't agree with all the ideas but fascinating nonetheless Lost Highway Explained