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What Does ‘Mulholland Drive’ Really Mean?

Explaining the real meaning behind Lynch’s Mulholland Drive

Syed Zain
Counter Arts
11 min readJul 23, 2024

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Poster via Universal Pictures/BAC Films

Mulholland Drive is a mystery/thriller/detective film, a non-linear narrative, a film-noir masterpiece — but even more importantly, it is a David Lynch film. David Lynch is known for his unique and surreal storytelling, taking the concept of mystery to the extreme. He often avoids providing concrete answers for what is happening in his films, believing that defining something too clearly limits its potential and reduces it to nothing more than that. Instead, he invites us to analyze and interpret his work, allowing his films to transcend their original intentions.

On the surface, or according to the generally accepted understanding, Mulholland Drive follows a young woman named Diane Selwyn. Diane wins a jitterbug contest, inspiring her to move to Hollywood to become an actress. Once there, she begins a relationship with fellow actress Camilla Rhodes. Camilla helps Diane get some parts in movies, but Camilla becomes more successful, eventually dumping Diane for director Adam Kesher. Camilla even invites Diane to a party to rub in her engagement to Adam, or so Diane thinks. Out of revenge, Diane hires a hitman to kill Camilla.

Afterwards, Diane spends three weeks hiding in her apartment, haunted by her actions and fearful of…

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Counter Arts
Counter Arts

Published in Counter Arts

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Syed Zain
Syed Zain

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