Interpretation and Spoilers.
“Mulholland Dr.” is first a dream, then it shows us where the dream comes from. It’s not a cop-out the way most “it was all a dream!” stories are cop-outs, but great cinema because the dream is a way of visually representing the dreamer’s feelings and turmoil. We see the dreamer wanting to re-unite with her lover, but also to weaken and punish her lover, and make her lover helpless and dependent on her. It’s not just what HAPPENED in real-life that is coded, but what the dreamer, in her darkest id, WISHES would happen. There’s an eeriness to the way the dreamer half-remembers her real-life and is constantly circling it in her dream – she knows but doesn’t know that she has to face reality again eventually. The dreamer’s subconscious has dropped all manner of hints into her own dream to wake her back up.
In addition to dreaming about her lover, the dreamer has also been chewed up and spat out by the Hollywood machine. So she dreams of it in corrupt, criminal, even demonic or supernatural terms.
I must admit, “Mulholland Dr.” has had a huge influence on my creative projects. The idea of creating a dream-world to visualize or embody a protagonist’s fears, desires, and opinions appeals to me.
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