In Greek mythology, Narcissus, son of the nymph Liriope by the Cephissus river, was an extremely beautiful young man. The nymph Echo loved him but he ignored her, as he was obsessed with his own beauty. Some spurned lovers complained about this state of affairs to Nemesis, who decided to avenge Echo.
Many years previously, Tiresias had prophesied that Narcissus would die the day he would see his true self. This prediction was proven accurate when one day in the forest Narcissus got very thirsty. Nemesis made him walk past a fountain where, of course, he decided to drink.
When he saw his face in the water, he fell in love with it and could not stop looking at the reflection. Some versions claim that he eventually died of hunger and thirst, others that he drowned himself in his own reflection when trying to kiss it. Taking root by the fountain, he gradually turned into a flower, now commonly known as Narcissus.
Some connections can be made between the myth and Mulholland Drive.
First of all, both Narcissus and Diane die for love. Narcissus because of his love for himself and Diane because of her love for Camilia. Another similarity lies in the fact that both Narcissus and Diane are obsessed with themselves. Furthermore, we can see various commonalities between the mythical characters and those in the movie.
In the ‘pink’ part of the film, Diane echoes Narcissus in projecting herself into Camilia, who could be likened to the fountain. Indeed, Rita (Camilia in her dream form), shows Diane’s feelings in reality. Rita has lost her identity, a sentiment that can be felt by Diane in real life since Camilia left her to marry Adam. Rita’s sadness is rooted in the fact that Diane is depressed because of Camilia’s love for Adam.
In addition, Camilia needs Diane’s help because of her amnesia, a condition that
must be in fact invented, to give Diane the opportunity to take control. In
order to illustrate this comment, let’s examine the bathroom sequence from the
film. When Betty arrives at her aunt’s flat she looks at herself in a mirror and
smiles. According to current thinking on dream interpretation, when you see your
reflection in a mirror, the reflection is how you
would
like others to see you. Here in the fiction, the reflection is the way Diane
would like everybody to perceive her. Right after looking at herself she turns
to the shower and catches sight of Camilia through the blurry glass. She gets a
distorted image just as Narcissus does in the fountain. This connection is
strengthened by the water, which appears in both the myth and the film.
When Rita gets out of the shower she looks at herself in Betty’s mirror. We see both Rita and her reflection in the big mirror where we also see the reflection of a little mirror in which the image of a famous Hitchcock movie actress appears. The perspective is obvious. Mirrors within mirrors within mirrors, a fractal pattern typical of the whole film.
Another
crucial mirror scene is found at the end of the film. Rita wears a blonde wig
and therefore closely resembles Betty. Both of them are looking at themselves in
a mirror. Betty sees Rita as the girl she had always wanted to be, that is to
say, a talented and famous actress.
One more link to the story of Narcissus appears in the ‘Winkies’ restaurant where we see some white Narcissus flowers in a vase. This detail seems to be directly related to the end of the mythical tale, when Narcissus takes the form of such a flower.
To conclude, we could add that in the final stages of the film, Betty’s body simply decays. In comparison Narcissus is converted to a flower on his death. It reminds us that this part of the film is real life and not a dream any more; fate does not rescue Diane as it did Narcissus. And as in Tiresias' prediction, she indeed dies when seeing her true self.
This page was contributed by
Cassandre Quesnel &
Sarah Corbet,
December 29, 2004
Proofread by BM.