Next, I dared to try to analyze the nightmare of "Mulholland Road" with Freund's dream interpretation.
First of all, I briefly introduce several related psychological concepts and Freud's theory about dreams:
1. Freud believed that dreams are the realization of wishes. The analytic formula of dream is: dream = repressed desire+disguised satisfaction. In other words, a dream is always used to express a wish of the dreamer, but the satisfaction of this wish may be disguised and not so obvious.
2. Imitation: Simply put, it is a psychological phenomenon that one person replaces another person with himself for some reason. This appears many times in the dream of Mulholland Road.
Next, I will disturb the narrative order of the film to explain the background of this dream, which is the real part of the film.
reality
Diane grew up in Ontario, Canada, and was taken care of by her uncle and aunt who used to be an actress. Probably influenced by her aunt, she always wanted to be an excellent actress and get ahead in Hollywood. After his uncle and aunt died, he came to Hollywood alone. Like many other girls who come to Hollywood to find their dreams, he rented a humble house and took part in the audition, waiting for which director to choose one day and became famous in one fell swoop.
During this period, Diane met Camilla, a girl who came to Hollywood to develop like her, and became a gay partner with her. Although Camilla seems indifferent to their relationship, Diana regards Camilla as a lover. Soon after, a large-scale movie wanted the heroine, and Diane and Camilla both went to the audition. Diane failed, but Camilla conquered the judges with her near-perfect performance in the audition and got the opportunity to participate in the official audition of director Adam. On the set, directors Adam and Camilla fell in love at first sight, and Camilla naturally became the heroine and Adam's girlfriend. Diane also played a small role in the film because of Camilla's recommendation. But Diane, who loves Camilla deeply, can't accept the close relationship between Camilla and Adam. Diane had a big fight with Camilla at home because she saw Camilla flirting with Adam on the set.
Diane, who is insane, is crying and masturbating at home. The phone rang. It's Camilla. Camilla sent a car to take Diane to Mulholland Road. The car suddenly stopped on Mulholland Road. Diane is a little scared. He asked the driver, "What are you doing? Shouldn't we stop here? " The driver turned around and said, "I have a surprise for you." Camilla appeared beside the car. She took Diane across a mountain road to a mansion. So this is Adam's house, and there is a party. Many film companies and crews are here. Diane exchanged a few pleasantries with Adam's mother Coco, and then entered the party. At the party, Diane continued to put up with the flirting between Camilla and Adam. At this moment, an actress came over, whispered a few words to Camilla and kissed her in front of Diane. Diane felt desperate. She thinks that even Camilla's gay girlfriend may have been replaced. It was not until Adam said, "Camilla and I are getting married" that Diane finally couldn't stand it. From jealousy to hatred, Diane came to a dead end. She hired a killer in a coffee shop to kill Camilla. The murderer gave her a blue key to get something from a beggar behind the coffee shop to prove that Camilla was dead. Diana came to the beggar and the beggar threw her a blue box, which seemed to be opened with the blue key. With Camilla's body in it? ! Diane started falling apart. She seemed to see her aunt and uncle running out of the box (hallucination). He ran home in horror, went to bed panting and had a nightmare (this nightmare is the nightmare described in detail in the first 3/4 of the film). After waking up, Diane stared at the blue key on the coffee table. Remembering what she had done, she completely collapsed. She saw her uncle and aunt chasing after her fiercely. She fled to bed, took out a pistol and shot herself.
The above is the true part of the story and the background of Diane's dream. This dream is quite complicated. The names, identities and experiences of many characters in the dream are different from reality, and even overlap and exchange. So before explaining this dream, let me explain the relationship between the characters in the dream and reality and the main background. You can also look back at this character association table after reading my explanation of dreams.
Character association table
Characters:
Diane
In reality: As mentioned above, the heroine of this film.
In a dream: Betty (the embodiment of Diane, the ideal and perfect Diane, but sometimes the embodiment of Camilla)
Camilla?
In reality: Camilla as mentioned above.
In the dream: Rita
Diane's aunt and parents
In reality: Diane's aunt and parents (dead)
Dream: The stranger Betty met on the plane. In the dream, Betty's aunt (the person who left her home) is Diane's idealized aunt.
In the tradition of Bible and Koran, Adam (the name of the first human being)
In reality: the director
In the dream: the director
coconut tree
In reality: Adam's mother
In the dream: Betty's landlord
Adam's wife and lover
In reality: it may not exist!
Dream: Adam's wife and lover
The blonde who kissed Camilla at the party
In reality: it may be one of the actresses in the crew.
In the dream: the name in the dream is Camilla! It was the film company that forced Julia to be elected actress.
Coffee spitter
Reality: I met once at a party, and I may be one of the crew members.
In the dream: members of the behind-the-scenes forces of the film company threatened Julia to be elected as their recommended heroine.
White beard old man
In reality: one of the actors in the silent theater
In the dream: the owner of the hotel where Adam stayed when he was in trouble.
cowboy
Reality: I once appeared at a party, maybe an actor (and other identities? )
In the dream: the mob behind the film company threatened Adam.
Coffee shop waitress (she only has different names in reality and dreams, but she has the same identity. )
In reality: Name: Betty (this is the source of Diane's name in my dream)
In the dream: name: Diane (in the dream, the waiter's name becomes Rita's clue to trace her identity)
Passerby a
Truth: Diane once met the murderer in a coffee shop.
In the dream: He dreamed of a beggar and sought the help of a psychiatrist in a coffee shop.
tool
Reality: The person who gave Diane the blue box, not the killer.
Dream: the devil behind the wall
Next, I will try to explain this dream in the order of the movie plot.
The film begins with several couples dancing in front of a virtual red screen, and their images are copied many times. Then Diane's image appeared. He seems to be watching them dance, and his face is full of excitement and desire. In the next picture, Diane and her aunt and uncle snuggle together. This passage explains Diane's life experience-being raised by her uncle and aunt, and her ideal-Hollywood life.
The second shot is Diane's first perspective shot, accompanied by her heavy breathing. At this time, in fact, he had just fled home from a beggar, and the bed, sheets and pillows shook in front of her eyes. Then the camera fades out and Diane actually begins to enter the dream. Cunning david lynch, in fact, he has told us here that this is a dream, but how many viewers can understand the meaning of this shot when they first watch it? )
The dream begins with the third shot:
Nightmare
Dream paragraph 1:
The lens fades in, which is the street sign of "Muholland DR". In reality, this image was actually seen by Diane in the car on her way to Adam's party, but in her dream, Camilla was the person sitting in the car. When the car stopped suddenly, Camilla asked the same question as Diane did in real life: "What are you doing? Shouldn't we stop here? " The driver pointed a pistol at her and ordered her to get off. But this is an oncoming sports car, full of racing people, and it collided with Camilla's car. Everyone was killed except Camilla. He staggered down the hill and hid in an apartment where his hostess (Betty's aunt) was going out. After learning the news of the car accident, the behind-the-scenes personnel of the film company exchanged phone calls to confirm Camilla's disappearance. The last phone that rings is Diane's home phone in real life.
Analysis: What is Diane's strongest mood and desire before going to bed? I think it's regret and guilt. She hoped Camilla was not dead. So, in my dream, Camilla dodged a bullet. But Diane still has a demon at work. She doesn't want to admit or believe that she hired a lame killer to kill Camilla. In other words, she hoped that it was not herself who killed Camilla. So, in her dream, the man who tried to kill Camilla became the behind-the-scenes man of the film company. Diane's consciousness has been continuing in her dream, and another main thread of the dream has developed-the experience of director Adam and the casting storm. Of course, there are other meanings.
The second paragraph of the dream:
Betty came to Hollywood from Ontario, Canada. She said goodbye to an old couple she met on the plane at the airport. The old couple (especially the old woman) expressed their feelings to Betty. Then Betty took a taxi to the apartment where her period left her.
Analysis: (1) Betty is the embodiment of Diane. Her name comes from the name of the waitress Diane caught a glimpse of in the coffee shop. Dreams often come from the image she saw the day before. Betty's appearance is cheerful, optimistic, confident and sincere, which is quite different from Diane's real image of decadence, poverty and inferiority. Betty is actually idealistic, and Diane wants to be the image in her heart! Diane's experience made her escape from her true self, so in her dream, she simply changed her name and surname and became her ideal image. "If I were Betty, I would just start all over again!"
(2) The image of the old couple is actually Diane's uncle and aunt. The uncle and aunt who dare not face the kindness of parenting and have high hopes are the important reasons for Diane's suicide. But here, my uncle and aunt became strangers for two reasons. Diane wants to ease her guilt. After all, only strangers have hope for themselves. (b) Diane wanted her uncle and aunt not to die, so she invented an idealized aunt (more about it later). The last scene of this paragraph is an old couple sitting in a moving car. Their faces are filled with a typical happy smile full of hope for their children, but the background music of this scene is very strange, which is a portrayal of Diane's feelings of shame for her uncle and aunt.
The third paragraph of the dream:
In that coffee shop, two men are talking. One of them is a man (passerby) Diane met when she was dealing with the killer in a coffee shop, and the other seems to be a psychiatrist. Passerby A said he saw the devil behind the wall behind the coffee shop. When they walked out of the shop, a devil appeared behind the wall-a beggar.
Analysis: The real beggar is the person who gave Diane the blue box instead of the murderer, and is the witness of Diane's crime. Diane is very afraid of seeing beggars, but it is precisely because beggars are witnesses of Diane's crimes that Diane herself doesn't want to mention beggars. So in the dream, Diane imitated herself as a passerby who didn't know her crime, put herself in the shell of a passerby, and indirectly vented her fear of beggars.
The fourth paragraph of the dream:
Director Adam found the heroine for one of his blockbusters, but the behind-the-scenes forces of the production company sent a photo of Camilla with blonde hair and blue eyes, forcing Julia to be chosen as the heroine. Adam left angrily. When he got home, he found his wife fooling around with the cleaner. Adam returned his wife's jewelry in a rage, but was kicked out of the house after being beaten up by his wife's lover
Analysis: (1) Adam is the key figure that led Camilla to leave Diane. In Diane's mind, besides hating Camilla for leaving her, there is of course hating Adam. Therefore, he revenged himself on Adam in his dream. He was intimidated by the company, his wife was fooling around with someone else, and he was kicked out of the house. ...
(2) The key significance of "casting storm" and why Camilla was replaced by blonde will be analyzed after the whole dream appears completely.
The fifth paragraph of the dream:
When the murderer appeared, he killed a man with long hair and accidentally hit the female secretary. He finally killed the female secretary, was found by the cleaner, killed the cleaner, and accidentally bumped into the vacuum cleaner, causing an alarm.
Analysis: Diane knows that Camilla has been killed by the killer. Will anyone know? This strong suspicion and fear is manifested in the dream. After the murderer killed, shattered glass repeatedly missed, and the more he tried to cover up the fact of killing, the more self-defeating.
The sixth paragraph of the dream:
Betty came to the apartment left by her aunt, and the landlord Coco came to meet her. The apartment is luxurious and comfortable, and Betty is very satisfied.
Analysis: (1) Diane's aunt used to be a Hollywood actress, but later she went to Canada and died, which Diane said at Adam's ball. In the dream, she made up an idealized aunt-she has interpersonal relationships in Hollywood (because in the later dream, Betty's audition script was also obtained by her aunt, and the person in charge of the audition was also her friend), and she also left a quite good position for her. In reality, Diane is very lonely and helpless. She came to Hollywood alone and could only afford a humble house. And the image of this aunt should also be what Diane's aunt used to look like in reality.
(2) The landlord Coco comes from Adam's mother in reality. At the dance, Diane and Coco had a simple talk, and Coco was a little sympathetic to Diane's fate. On the contrary, when Adam said, "Camilla and I are getting married," Coco showed a hint of disdain. Cocoa's "kindness" made Cocoa a very enthusiastic landlord in her dream.
The seventh paragraph of the dream:
Betty found Camilla hiding in the bathroom. She thinks Camilla is a friend of menstruation. Camilla lost her memory in a car accident and completely forgot her name and identity. She had to call herself Rita. Betty understood what happened to Rita and decided to help her find out the truth. They found a lot of cash and a blue key in Rita's handbag.
Analysis: (1) Camilla's images in reality and dreams are completely different. In reality, Camilla gives people the impression that she is a Leng Yan, an ice beauty on high, but in her dream, she becomes a helpless and melancholy Rita, which is actually Diane's temperament in reality. The relationship between Camilla and Diane was cancelled in the dream. Diane wants Betty to be strong, but the weak Rita has to live on her own and keep Camilla by her side forever. This is one of Diane's strongest wishes. And Camilla is only possible if she is weak. So in the dream, Camilla lost her memory and became a weak person attached to Betty.
(2) The intention of money comes from the money Diane paid the killer. In reality, Diane just hired a killer with a pile of paper money, but in her dream, Rita had much more money in her bag. Because Diane has a hidden wish, that is, even if Camilla dies, she will not die of a cheap killer she hired, but should die more "valuable"!
This blue key is used to open the blue box, which contains something to prove that Camilla is dead.
The eighth paragraph of the dream:
Director Adam checked into a cheap hotel, and the hotel owner told him that his bank account was blocked, and then Adam was threatened by a mysterious cowboy, who was obviously a thug behind the film company.
Analysis: The continuation of The Casting Storm.
The ninth paragraph of the dream:
Betty is going to audition. She will check her lines with Rita at home first. At the audition the next day, her perfect performance conquered everyone, and he was taken to the set to meet director Adam. At this time, Camilla, the blonde recommended by the film company, was auditioning, and Adam reluctantly compromised. He said, "This is the girl I am looking for." But he noticed Betty beside him. At the moment of their eye contact, both of them seemed to get an electric shock. But Betty fled the set for no reason on the grounds of helping Rita.
Analysis: This is a key dream in the film. As mentioned earlier, the status of Diane and Camilla can be interchanged in the dream. Betty is not only Diane's ideal image, but also has Camilla temperament in reality. It is not difficult to understand that Camilla is better than Diane in all aspects, and Diane certainly wants to be like Camilla. This dream happened in reality, but it was not Diane who successfully auditioned, but Camilla! ! Here, Betty's identity has more become the embodiment of Camilla in reality. (Diane cooperated with Camilla here, and Diane certainly hopes to audition successfully like Camilla. In reality, it was Camilla who fell in love with Adam at first sight on the set. Adam's sentence "This is the girl I am looking for" should also be said to Camilla. But Diane wished it had never happened. She wished Adam had chosen another girl instead of Camilla, so that Camilla could stay with her all the time. Therefore, in her dream, she invented a "casting storm" in which the forces behind the film company manipulated Adam to choose a girl who had nothing to do with herself. Leah was chosen as a blonde Camilla she didn't know at all, not her own Camilla (Rita). This is Diane's wish that "Adam didn't choose Camilla during the audition" after "Casting Storm Camouflage". This is also the significance of the casting storm, and it is also the reason why the dream Camilla was replaced by an unknown blonde. Then, when Adam and Betty fell in love at first sight, Diane's consciousness forced Betty and Adam to separate, so Betty left the set.
Dream paragraph 10:
Rita saw a waiter's name tag "Diane" in the cafe, and she remembered that her name might be Diane. They found Diane's apartment and found a woman rotting in bed!
Analysis: Diane's deep fear finally appeared in her dream! That apartment is indeed the apartment where Diane lives in reality. I wonder if you have seen the rotting body carefully: black pajamas, black curly hair and a shawl-this is what Camilla looks like in reality! This is actually the death of Camilla that Diane imagined. Her death has something to do with the name Diane. "Camilla was killed by Diane!" Diane's consciousness is the cause of this dream.
Dream paragraph 1 1:
Betty and Rita ran away from home, and Rita thought she would suffer the same fate. Betty, help her put on the blonde wig. Betty invited Rita to sleep in the same bed, and they made love and expressed their love to each other.
Analysis: Diane's desire to return to her side has been temporarily satisfied.
Dream paragraph 12:
Rita kept calling the word "silence" in Spanish in her dream. Betty woke her up. They came to a theater called "Silence" to watch the performance. The theme of the performance is "What you see and hear is an illusion, an illusion." Betty kept sobbing and even shaking violently under the stage. Rita found the blue box in her bag.
Analysis: This nightmare is coming to an end! The "Silence" Theater is actually the place where Diane and Camilla have been in reality, which can be seen from an actor in the "Silence" Theater-the old man with white beard. In the previous dream, he was the owner of the hotel where Adam stayed when he was in trouble. The actor in the "Silence" theater is her real identity. The theme of the performance is to expose illusions, which just corresponds to the fact that dreams are illusory and cruel reality is coming. So Betty(Diane) who realized this has been convulsing. At the same time, the blue box also appeared, the most prominent contradiction in reality appeared in the dream, and everything became more and more "real". The "silent" theater appeared in this dream because of its performance theme, and became the combination point of dream and reality.
Dream paragraph 13:
When they got home, Rita took out the blue key and Betty disappeared. Rita opened the blue box alone, and the camera entered the box, and it was dark inside.
Analysis: The dream is coming to an end. Betty is missing. At this time, Rita is almost the embodiment of Diane, and it seems that Rita (Diane) is the only one left in the world, bearing her sins (blue box) helplessly and fearfully.
Dream paragraph 14:
The end of the dream: Betty's aunt looked at her apartment and left. The camera suddenly turned to Diane's apartment. Sleeping in bed is what Diane's apartment looks like in her dream. The cowboy pushed open the door and said, "Beauty, it's time to get up!" " "The camera turned back to bed, the body has rotted! The nightmare is over.
In the next scene, Diane is lying on the bed in the same sleeping position as the corpse, and her friend who changed rooms comes to get something. Her knocking at the door woke Diane up.
Analysis: Diane has been in a state of half dream and half awake. "Beauty, it's time to get up!" Is that what people used to tell Diane? Is it a cowboy? Cowboys only appeared at Adam's party once in reality, and they never showed their faces. If the cowboy said that, was the cowboy Diane's lover? It is more reasonable that Diane and Camilla used to say this to each other, or just a friend who knocked at the door, but why did the speaker become a cowboy in his dream?
The above is my analysis of the evil dream of "Mulholland Road". My understanding of dreams is superficial. Some of the above analysis of this dream is just my speculation, and some are just one of my reasonable speculations. I use Freud's method to interpret dreams, which may make me laugh in front of insiders. However, I hope this film review can be used as a starting point for some psychological professionals who read this article to analyze this nightmare with professional dream interpretation methods.
I think Mulholland Road is already one of my favorite movies. I can't remember many of my nightmares, but david lynch's nightmares may accompany me for a long time. This strange feeling may only be felt by people who watch movies, or only those who have seen Mulholland Road.
This is an article in Douban. It's so classic. Turn it again ...