Mulholland Drive (2001)
Where to Watch
- Many of the practical effects used in the climax were achieved without any CGI.
- The original script for Mulholland Drive was written over a decade before production finally began in 2001.
- Eagle-eyed viewers have noticed a hidden easter egg referencing David Lynch's previous film in the background of the opening scene.
Mulholland Drive is a 2001 American surrealist neo-noir mystery directed by David Lynch, frequently cited as one of the greatest and most enigmatic films of the 21st century. Naomi Watts stars as Betty Elms, a fresh-faced aspiring actress who arrives in Hollywood and finds a mysterious amnesiac woman, played by Laura Harring, hiding in her aunt's apartment after surviving a car accident on Mulholland Drive. As Betty helps the woman, who adopts the name "Rita" from a movie poster, uncover her identity, they are drawn into a labyrinthine mystery involving a film director coerced by shadowy figures, a terrifying creature behind a diner, and a blue box that seems to unlock an alternate reality.
David Lynch originally filmed Mulholland Drive as a television pilot for ABC, which rejected it; he then shot additional footage and reconceived the material as a feature film whose narrative logic operates on dream logic rather than conventional storytelling. Naomi Watts's dual performance โ bubbly, naive Betty and her devastated counterpart Diane Selwyn โ was a tour de force that launched her career. Mulholland Drive won Lynch the Best Director award at Cannes and is consistently ranked among the greatest films ever made in critics' polls.
