NOTES on INLAND EMPIRE
Here's what LYNCH SAYS in an interview:
http://collider.com/collider-interviews-david-lynch-and-laura-dern-inland-empire/
http://www.moviesonline.ca/movienews_10704.html
David, could you talk about how this film relates to some of your other work, because there seem to be like similarities with Mulholland Drive and we actually saw some clips of Rabbits [the surreal rabbit-people sitcom Lynch filmed at his house] in this film. So is this film an extension, or how would you view it?
David: It’s different, but similarities because it deals as Mulholland Drive did with the movie, you know, industry,
Here LYNCH clearly explains how both IE and MD are STORIES that DEAL WITH THE MOVIE INDUSTRY.
In this other interview he also CLEARLY explains how viewers who see his films as being DREAMS are MISTAKEN to do so:
http://parallax-view.org/2011/11/08/interview-david-lynch-on-inland-empire-i-the-idea
Do you think viewers are right in seeing your films as dreams on the screen?
---------------------------
LYNCH:
No
So when one takes into consideration the fact that IE is a story that deals with the FILM INDUSTRY ...
and LYNCH says it isn't RIGHT to interpret the story as being some kind of a DREAM STATE ...
where one assumes this part is REAL or this part is NOT REAL ...
then, imo, this is what MAKES the MOST SENSE:
http://chainedtothecinematheque.blogspot.com/2007/01/notes-on-inland-empire-part-3.html
Notes on INLAND EMPIRE, Part 3
The structural complexities are immense
IE ... doubles back on itself recursively
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Recursion
as when Susan interrupts Nikki’s rehearsal, an interruption that happens both early and late in the chronology of IE.
and when Laura Dern’s character (Susan? Nikki? Laura?) meets the girl who’s been watching her on the television
The danger of an actor’s performance
and the process of role-playing are a narrative engine as well as a theme.
... a physical manifestation of Susan, a reality that later takes over Nikki so completely that she is no longer Nikki
... blurred lines between Past, Present, and Future. Huge sections of the film exist as flashbacks or flashforwards,
and much of the narrative confusion experienced by viewers is due to an inadequate presence of clue-giving on Lynch’s part as to when we are jumping and in which direction[b]
one ... (is) more engaged in the process ...
Lynch pushes the boundaries of even his intense audience and creates a new kind of viewership
So the story becomes a TALE about the DANGER of an ACTOR giving a PERFORMANCE ...
one where her ROLE PLAYING becomes THE THEME ...
and she becomes a PHYSICAL MANIFESTATION of the SUE BLUE character that she portrays ...
to the POINT where NIKI COMPLETELY DISAPPEARS ...
which is also why the GHOST of LOVE ...
or the WOMAN in the WHITE shorts from POLAND ...
chases her and STABS her with the SCREW DRIVER on the WALK of FAME.
Since the other HOOKERS also can't see the WOMAN in the WHITE SHORTS,
this would most likely also be where the IMAGINATION of the ACTRESS comes into play???
And even though the SCENE where she's STABBED is suppose to be REAL ...
what DERN probably sees is IMAGINARY ...
like BETTY/DIANE seeing the IMAGINARY image of RITA inside of her place when she's NOT REALLY THERE.
So just like NIKI DISAPPAREARS in IE and becomes SUE ...
due to the DANGER of her ROLE PLAYING ...
Perhaps BETTY also DISAPPEARS in MD and becomes DIANE for the same reason???
Because BETTY also fell VICTIM to the DANGER of her ROLE PLAYING as well???
And when AUNT RUTH comes back from Canada and finds NO ONE there at her place, perhaps that's also because her niece has MORPHED into being DIANE, or into one of the characters that she portrayed in one of the MOVIE ROLES???
Like NIKI also MORPHS into becoming SUE BLUE after she portrays her role???
<b>So like this other person who wrote NOTES ...
and LYNCH himself says:
BOTH IE and MD are films about (the DANGERS of ROLE PLAYING in) the FILM INDUSTRY???
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mise_en_abyme
the phrase has several other meanings in the realm of the creative arts and literary theory. In Western art history, "mise en abyme" is a formal technique in which an image contains a smaller copy of itself, in a sequence appearing to recur infinitely.
The film-within-a-film is an example of mise-en-abîme. The film being made within the film refers, through its mise-en-scène, to the real film being made. [b]The spectator sees film equipment, stars getting ready for the take, crew sorting out the various directorial needs.</b> The narrative of the film within the film may directly reflect the one in the real film.[4]
In literary criticism, "mise en abyme" is a type of frame story, in which the core narrative may be used to illuminate some aspect of the framing story.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Story_within_a_story
The literary device of stories within a story dates back to a device known as a frame story, when the outer story does not have much matter, and most of the bulk of the work consists of one or more complete stories told by one or more storytellers
In Chaucer's The Canterbury Tales, for example,
The WIFE of BATH tells a tale about her 5 husbands ... and then another one about a KNIGHT who has to find out the secret of what WOMEN WANT MOST ... in order to SAVE his life.
Or in HAMLET we also have ACTORS hired by HAMLET to give a PLAY (within the play) that MIRRORS what HAMLET suspects his UNCLE did when he MURDERED his father.
In the CLUB of SILENCE xxpo also suspects this is what happens. The scene ON STAGE where the DEAD WOMAN SINGS most likely also MIRRORS the other scene where ADAM PLAYS the AUDITION TAPE where another already DEAD WOMAN sings the EVERY LITTLE STAR song.
And the reason why she's DEAD is probably also because BETTY kills her when she finds the address where she lives inside of Rita's purse while Rita's still in the shower. Because Betty's in love with RITA and wants to get rid of the competition.
So in the scene where we hear ADAM SAY:
THIS IS THE GIRL
BETTY probably also RUNS AWAY because she thinks they KNOW she's the KILLER.
And the scene in the CLUB of SILENCE where we see BETTY SHAKING in her SEAT also seems to CONFIRM this.
So just like the case where we have A PLAY within a PLAY in HAMLET ...
We also have a PLAY within a PLAY in MD ...
where the DEAD GIRL who sings on STAGE MIRRORS the other DEAD GIRL who SINGS on the PRE RECORDED TAPE.
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