A masterpiece for some people, the product of a tormented mind for others, this film is a trip between the dream world and the reality world, connected by numerous aspects to the film noir genre. Indeed, when we look through several film noir movies, most of them dating back to the 40s or 50s, we find the same elements.

First of all, film noir usually features two female characters: the femme fatale –dressed in black, sexually alluring– that causes the downfall and/or death of the hero, and the honest, sympathetic and pretty young woman –dressed in pink or light blue, sexually insipid. The color code does help. This convention is evident in Mulholland Drive with Camilla, the epitome of the femme fatale, splendid, rich, loved and flattered by all, who can obtain everything she wishes and who will end up causing Diane's death, and Betty, the honest, sympathetic and pretty young woman who, during the first part of the film, helps Rita to recover her identity.

It is as well interesting to notice that Camilla, who in the dream part is amnesiac, decides to call herself "Rita", because of a Rita Hayworth poster. In fact, Rita Hayworth, an actress of the 50s, became famous for her role as the femme fatale in the film noir The Lady From Shanghai.

Moreover, the film noir environment always features baddies, as is the case in Mulholland Drive where we have two kinds of them. The first with a man from the street hired by Diane to kill Camilla and, the second, the mafia type –the two men dressed in black, that we see in the sequence in Adam's house but, also, during the meeting to choose the actress and the singer's audition under camera. Those two men also drive the black limo at the beginning of the film. They are, like the cow-boy, here to execute silent orders given by a boss who is the wheelchair character.

Every film noir is about passion, cheating on your husband, money, adultery, identity change and crime. All these elements are visible in Mulholland Drive. First, Diane's passion for Camilla as well as Rita's for Betty. Then, we have the "betrayed" husband with Adam, the "money" theme since Rita owns a bag full of dollars and the "identity change" when she puts a wig to escape the men who want to kill her.

Finally, we have crime in Mulholland Drive, since Diane kills herself after having organized Camilla's murder. We have here a reference to Alfred Hitchcock's movie The Birds with the two elderly assailing Betty like crows. Other elements that are specific to film noir are present in Mulholland Drive such as the killer and the black book, for which three people get killed –the so-called "friend", the cleaning man and a secretary. There is also blackmailing, given that Adams is forced to sign on an actress whom he does not want. Last of all, in film noir, you usually have the perspective of the criminal instead of the police’s. Thus, in Mulholland Drive, we can also consider that we have this perspective as we advance in the film through Diane's dream, and then through her life. Moreover, film noir often unfolds in non-linear time, which is the case here.

To conclude, Mulholland Drive, as film noir, comes with a very particular sense of aesthetics in writing and photography, blending different artistic currents from despair poetry to expressionism and hyperrealism.

This page was contributed by Linda Monteillet, France Hong & Lidwine Clerc, December 11, 2004
Proofread by BM.