Last week,The New York Timespublished a list ranking the 100 best films released in the 21st century, based on votes from more than 500 actors, directors, and other prominent figures in the filmmaking industry. The list was topped by South Korean filmmaker Bong Joon-ho’s Oscar-winning dark satirical thriller,Parasite(2019), which became the first non-English-language film to win Best Picture.
New York Times List
The Social Network
Spirited Away
Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind
No Country for Old Men
In the Mood for Love
There Will Be Blood
Mulholland Drive
However, the runner-up on the list was just as deserving of the top spot, if not more so: the late, greatDavid Lynch’s surrealist 2001 opus,Mulholland Drive.The film centers on an aspiring actress named Betty (Naomi Watts), who, after arriving in Hollywood, meets an amnesiac woman (Laura Harring) and tries to help her recall her identity. Meanwhile, a young director (Justin Theroux) struggles with production on his next film as the mob tries to pressure him into casting a subpar actress. (The film also features a memorable cameo and performance by singer Rebekah Del Rio,who sadly passed away last week.)
As straightforward as this summary seems, however,Mulholland Driveissomewhere between an acid trip and a nightmare, like many of Lynch’s films. But there is a method to its madness. Specifically, the film sheds light on the disconnect between Hollywood’s romantic and glamorous image and reputation, and its darker, more perverse underbelly. Ultimately,Mulholland Drivesuggests that Hollywood’s reputation as a town where dreams come true and people become successful is little more than a front that lures innocent people like Betty/Diane with the promise of success, only to destroy their lives once they arrive, like the Sirens in Homer’sOdyssey.
‘Mulholland Drive’s Mind-Bending Narrative Structure
Lynch originally conceivedMulholland Driveas the pilot for a TV series that was ultimately rejected. However, even after converting the script into a feature film, various characters and storylines, which were presumably meant to be more developed in the series, were instead left as a series of disjointed vignettes that are never fully explained, resolved, or even connected to the central narrative. For example, near the beginning of the film, a man named Dan (Patrick Fischler) recounts to his friend, Herb (Michael Cooke Moloney), a recurring nightmare that takes place in the diner where they are seated,only for the nightmare to seemingly come truea few moments later. The characters never return, and the location itself is only shown again much later in the film.
The narrative becomes even more bizarre and confusing near the end, when the camera teleports into an alternate world in which Watts’s character is named Diane Selywn, not Betty Elms, and Harring’s is named Camilla, not Rita. This bleak final act is commonly interpreted as real life, while everything up until this point has been a character’s fantasy. Yet it could just as easily be the case that neither world is “real.”
In any event, the film repeatedly foreshadows that the “real” world is closing in on this fantasy well before the big transition. In this regard, the film can be viewed as a companion piece to another Lynch film set in L.A., with a Mobius-strip-like narrative:Lost Highway(1997). LikeMulholland Drive,Lost Highwayalso jumps between two different timelines, one of which seems to be a character’s fantasy and the other real, and also involves an actress (Patricia Arquette) playing two different characters.
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These films evolve after the first viewing and warp the audiences’ experience, changing everything which came before.
Rather than detracting from the film’s quality,the disjointed and labyrinthine narrative structure is a significant part of whyMulholland Driveworks. Our inability to make sense of the quirky side characters, surrealist visuals, and elliptical narrative allows us to share the immense mental degradation that so many aspiring actors and filmmakers have experienced firsthand in trying to make it in Hollywood. Only those who are able to adapt to the madness and cutthroat culture of the film industry can survive it, which most people can’t.
‘Mulholland Drive’ Is a Searing Indictment of the Film Industry
Perhaps the biggest reasonMulholland Drivedeserves to be considered the best film of the 21st century is that it does a better job than any other post-2000 film of realistically depicting the ruthlessly exploitative and psychologically destructive side of the film industry, particularly for women. For instance, when Betty auditions for her first role on-screen, she is paired with an older man (Chad Everett) for a sexually charged scene in front of several older male producers and the director.
Though Betty displays impressive acting chops, the scene is immensely uncomfortable due to the age difference and the impression that Betty’s scene partner is enjoying the audition a little too much. Indeed, the scene feels like a subtle reference tothe proverbial “casting couch”— a euphemism for the practice of demanding sexual favors from women in exchange for acting roles — which is especially relevant to Hollywood in the wake of the #MeToo Movement.
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What if, however, there were a few films that recognize how messed up Hollywood really is?
But this doesn’t even begin to scratch the surface ofMulholland Drive’s thematic richness. There are countless other issues relating to Hollywood that the film touches on, including queer desire and heteronormativity, nepotism, and the conflict between directors and studios for creative control over films, along with more abstract themes like identity and desire. As a result, the film has become a lightning rod for analysis and interpretation by both academia and ordinary viewers.
WhileParasiteis brilliantly made and intellectually engaging, it wears its themes on its sleeve, leaving far less room for viewers to draw on their own experiences in interpreting the film. On the other hand,sinceMulholland Driveevades clear interpretation, it is likely to continue being discussed and debated for years to come as more people see it. In other words, the film’s strangeness and ambiguity, like most Lynch films, give it greater staying power in viewers’ minds. This, above all else, is the reason whyMulholland Driveis the best film of the 21st century.Mulholland Driveis available to rent onApple TV+andPrime Video.
