A beautiful woman suffers amnesia after surviving a car crash on L.A.'s Mulholland Drive. Hiding in an empty apartment, she meets an aspiring actress; as they attempt to unearth her identity, they fall in love. Or do they?
Language: English, subtitles: Dutch
After just arriving in the big city to try her luck in Hollywood, aspiring young actress Bette Elms meets a mysterious Brunette who seems to have lost her memory. Under the protection of a filmmaker, the two women get caught up in a web of semi-criminal film magnates. Slowly, the two Hollywood archetypes (blonde and brunette) lose not only their sense of self, but also of reality and of their dreams. The question arises, what does reality actually mean in a city that has been professionally producing dreams for the silver screen.
Lynch treats us with a time and space disrupting perspective on reality, with matching music composed by Angelo Badalamenti. Lynch's mix of film noir in color, romantic crime story and Brechtian exploration of Verfremdung, sex and suspense won him the award for Best Director at the Cannes Film Festival.
This film is recommended by the film committee because: “David Lynch's work has earned him the adjective Lynchian, a term used to describe the dreamlike quality of his work. However, this short explanation does not do the word justice, so if you want to deepen your understanding, come and watch this prime example.”
This film will be preceded by an introduction by Hugo Emmerzael. Hugo is a film critic and curator, specialized in the intersection between mainstream film and experimental cinema.
Awards
David Lynch won an award for Best Director at the Cannes Film festival. Overall, the film was nominated for 61 prizes and won 49 of them.
Reviews
“Alluring and unnerving, Lynch’s horror-show reminds us how much cinema misses him.” Total Film
Viewers will feel as though they’ve just finished a great meal but aren’t sure what they’ve been served. Behind them, the chef smiles wickedly. - Time
You can discover a lot about yourself by getting lost in Mulholland Drive. It grips you like a dream that won’t let go. - Rolling Stone
“A bone fide masterpiece. An erotic, deeply unsettling, darkly comic journey through the subconscious city of night.” Empire Online
Ticket information
This film will be shown at Filmhuis De Zwarte Doos. Buying a ticket online in advance is mandatory if you want to attend this film. You can buy a ticket via the black “order” button on this page.
Please note: you can only buy a ticket online; tickets are not purchasable with cash or bank card at the ticket counter. A ticket is not refundable or exchangeable.
You can find more general information about tickets, refund policy, etc. here.
Please be on time
The screening of the film starts at 19:30 sharp (no commercials). We kindly ask you to be at the ticket counter when it opens 15 minutes prior to the start of the film. This is to ensure the film starts and ends on time.
The Studium Generale film program is created in collaboration with the student film committee and Natlab.