*The great silent screen star Gloria Swanson basically played herself in Billy Wilder's Sunset Blvd., the story of a has-been silent screen star who can't accept her faded fame.*
#film #movies #cinema #writing #filmnoir #billywilder #davidlynch
To be honest, I didn't realize the parallels between the famous David Lynch film, Mulholland Dr. (2001) and the even-more famous Billy Wilder film, Sunset Blvd. (1950) until very recently.
I had originally believed that the title of the Lynch film stemmed from the opening scene, which features a car crash on Mulholland Drive, a major traffic artery of Los Angeles. Then, I chanced upon an interview in which Lynch stated that Sunset Blvd. is his favorite film, and I realized that, of course, the title of Lynch's most famous film is a play on the title of the Wilder film. Call me slow to catch on for missing that one!
While Mulholland Dr., like all Lynch films, is open to multiple interpretations, it seems obvious that it is, at least in part, an homage to Sunset Blvd.
Here's my list of the ten most obvious homages/parallels to Sunset Blvd. in Mulholland Dr.:
1.) The title: Mulholland Drive is a famous, long boulevard in Los Angeles. (It was named after William Mulholland, the civil engineer who designed LA's water delivery system.) Sunset Boulevard is another famous, long thoroughfare in Los Angeles.
2.) The theme: Both are "Hollywood Babylon" films that expose the harsh penalties that the film industry extracts from its workers.
3.) The point of view: In a cynical voiceover by lead actor William Holden, Sunset Blvd. is narrated by his character Joe Gillis, who is already dead as the story begins, although the viewer doesn’t realize it until the end of the film. The first half of Mulholland Dr. is the dream of a woman who is also already dead (or dying) at the time the film opens, but the viewer doesn’t realize this until the end of the film.
4.) Plot points: The events of both films are set into motion by a fateful car incident. In Mulholland Dr., the dazed character of Rita survives a car crash and makes her way on foot down a slope to seek help at a huge Hollywood mansion. In Sunset Blvd., Joe Gillis seeks refuge at Norma Desmond’s lavish Hollywood mansion on that street, after his car has a flat tire while he's being chased by a repo man.
5.) Easter Egg A: In one scene in Mulholland Dr., Lynch’s camera focuses on the street sign for Sunset Blvd. as Rita walks by it.
6.) Easter Egg B: The main character in Lynch's film is a dual personality named Betty/Diane. Betty is also the name of Joe Gillis’s love interest in Sunset Blvd.
7.) Easter Egg C: Lynch used the same late 1920s car (an Isotta-Fraschini model) driven by Gloria Swanson's character in Sunset Boulevard in a scene for Mulholland Dr.
8.) The cast: Both films feature extensive cameos of faded or has-been stars and directors. In Wilder's film, they are old silent screen stars like Buster Keaton and Anna Q. Nilsson. In the Lynch film, they are people like Chad Everett (a famous TV star from the 70s) and Ann Miller (a singer-dancer from the 50s Golden Age of Hollywood musicals.)
9.) The writers: Both Lynch and Wilder (in partnership with his long-time writing partner Charles Brackett) wrote the screenplays for their respective films from their own original ideas.
10.) The influence: Both films are considered masterpieces of their genre and both highly influenced other film-makers. Both are featured on various lists of the greatest movies of all time.
@vincentnijman -- This one's for you, buddy. :)
