30 Second Bottom Line: A tale of two intertwining stories featuring the same women. Story one is about a fresh innocent, wide-eyed, perky blond from Canada who arrives in Hollywood to become a star. She helps a ravishing dark-haired beauty who has been in a car accident and is suffering from amnesia. They develop a loving, intimate relationship. In the second story the blond is now a washed-out, drugged-up Hollywood wanna-be, obsessed and stalking a dark-haired ravishing star. What is reality? Which story is just a dream?
Story Line: This movie abruptly combines two different stories into one. Betty Elms (Naomi Watts) arrives at LAX from Canada. She seems bursting with good feelings, optimism and that can-do spirit. She will be a Hollywood star gosh darn it-and stay as sweet a girl as ever.
She arrives at what she thinks is her aunt's empty apartment to find a dazed, beautiful woman taking a shower (Laura Elena Harring). We have seen this mysterious woman emerge a couple of days ago from a car accident on Mulholland Drive. Something shady was going on in the limo she was in. Intrigue is there that we are not privy to. From the wrecked car she stumbles down the mountainside and hides in front of Betty's aunt's home. As the aunt is loading up a taxi to leave for an extended trip, this dazed and damaged woman sneaks into the house.
When Betty finds her there, this sultry stranger calls herself Rita, a name she picks up from a Rita Hayworth poster. We soon learn she is suffering from amnesia. Against warnings from the property manager and from her distant aunt, Betty becomes Rita's nurse and takes on the mission to help Rita discover her true identity. We find Rita's purse full of cash, and she ultimately recalls the name Diane Selwyn.
In tracking down Diane Selwyn the women discover the horrid decomposing body of a woman. The mystery continues with little unraveling and we find ourselves entrapped in a fascinating tale without a path to understanding.
There are a series of episodes, somewhat disjointed, but of great dramatic quality. Betty has a rather lame rehearsal in the kitchen with Rita for an audition. She shows up for the audition and is essentially embraced by the other performers and the director. Betty gives an absolutely stellar performance, astounding us with her transformation and depth of talent. She may not be the innocent wide-eyed girl we once thought.
Betty tires of poor Rita having to sleep on the couch and invites her to join her in the apartment's one bed. Before we know it they're more than just good friends. Their relationship has developed so deeply and with such genuine caring that it seems natural that they should become lovers. Their lovemaking has a seductive never-been-done innocent feel to it, yet at this point the story abruptly shifts.
Betty is now Diane Selwyn; her decomposing body reflects her mind's destructive drug addiction and miserable life. She is hardly recognizable to us. Rita is now Camilla, a rising Hollywood star, and a former lover of Diane's who has clearly moved on. We witness a painful Hollywood dinner party where Camilla, wrapped around the arms of a dashing producer, is oblivious to Diane's feelings of jealousy, abandonment and cold-hearted rejection.
Tell Me More About It: The out-of-order sequencing here is similar to that found in Pulp Fiction and, more recently in Memento. It is a technique that can be very absorbing, creating a puzzle that blends story with dreams, slipping in confusing clues and elements that simply make no sense. These movies seem to demand to be seen more than once. There is so much going on in Mulholland Drive that it's impossible to get all the clues and innuendos in one sitting.
Betty and Rita seem to be opposite ends of a range of beautiful women. One is a fresh off the farm girl with a sunshine disposition, while the other is a mysterious, dark, exotic diva. The juxtaposition of their respective beauty is beguiling in itself. They appear to be women who would never typically know each other. That they develop into lovers has a force and depth of attraction that entrances us and seems to ultimately destroy Betty.
The mystery in this film has continued to haunt me since my first viewing of it. Amazingly enough this movie was originally made to be a pilot for a television series. Its ending was completely changed when it was made into a feature length film. I'd certainly love to see this story in its original TV pilot form. Very enticing and complex, this is a film you will not easily forget and will probably want to see more than once.
DVD