The Sex Gourmet – Mulholland Drive (2001)

#9 Naomi Watts & Laura Harring.

Mulholland Drive is the gift that keeps on giving. Like most of David Lynch’s non-linear storylines, there is something new to be seen or deduced with each viewing. Long before Black Mirrors ‘Bandersnatch’ got everyone’s panties in a twist, Lynch had been inviting us all to choose our own endings by travelling through his unconscious as it unfolds on screen, and allowing us to dissect each alternate theory, no concept needing to be correct.

Mulholland Drive is no exception. Upon the first viewing I was left with the usual ‘what the fuck just happened’ feeling. Granted, that reaction was much less obvious in comparison to the first time I saw ‘Lost Highway’, some films are not meant to be explained. Both have people switching from one personality to the next and both focus on dreams.

The sexual element in Mulholland Drive may not seem that strong for a Sex Gourmet article. The sex scenes are not explicit nor lengthy and they merely allude to a full sexual encounter, however the mood that is created throughout the few close moments we see, and the talent of both Watts and Harring in these intimate scenarios, are worthy of discussion.

Betty (Watts) is a fledgling actor who has just arrived in LA to housesit for her Aunt who is working on a film abroad. Rita (Harring) has been in car crash and is suffering from amnesia. She does not know her own name. Rita, lost and confused, manages to sneak into Bettys aunt’s home while the apartment is unoccupied. When Betty arrives, they have an awkward meeting in the bathroom, but soon become friends as they journey through a Nancy Drew like adventure to discover Rita’s identity.

Betty is Rita’s nurturing and empathic guardian throughout each twist and turn of the investigation.  With her Disney-like confidence, straight back and high blond curls, Betty is the optimistic soul in contrast to Rita’s fearful, dark and mysterious nature. Rita carries physical secrets from her past. A large amount of cash, and a strange blue key. Upon finding a dead body after following a lead, they both are traumatised, and this penultimate step in their investigation leads to their first sexual experience together.

The scene is set in Bettys bedroom. Betty is in bed with freshly scrubbed face, pink pyjamas and gold hair shining nearly silver in the night-time light. She invites Rita to join her in bed to get a break from the couch Rita has been sleeping on. Rita removes her towel and she is beautifully naked as she climbs next to Betty in the large double bed. There is a look of slight awkwardness on Bettys face as she sees Rita in just her skin, but we see an appraising glance also mixed in with the shyness.

As they lie together, Rita looks up at Betty, her face open and earnest, and expresses her gratitude. There is a tangible feeling of love, kindness and trust as Rita leans over, whispers ‘goodnight sweet Betty’ and kisses her on her brow. Betty turns her face up to Rita as she says goodnight and they join lips in the most tentative way. Both looking at each other in a different way than they had before.

From here, their coupling becomes more erotic than friendly, as they begin to caress and kiss each other with ardour. Betty’s clothing now removed, they are pressed against each other, Betty softly touching Rita’s full round breasts. The sound here is very emotive. With echoes of aroused hushed breath in the dark, their kisses become more intense and artful and it is very erotic. The camera is focused only on the upper part of their naked bodies, and as they continue and there is a real poignancy here. 

Upon first viewing, it may seem like a first-time encounter between two women, not necessarily remarkable apart from the fact that they look sublime together. As the film unfolds after this scene and upon watching for the second time, we realise the weight of this love scene. The shocking black of Rita’s hair against Bettys gold as they kiss each other looks beautiful and the attraction looks authentic. Angelo Badalamenti’s dark score adds significantly to the sadness that pervades this encounter.

Soon after this scene, both journey on one final escapade together in the hunt for Rita’s identity. The film now takes its Lynchian turn. After an off kilter visit to a nightclub called ‘Silencio’ (one the more remarkable scenes in the film) they both return home, Rita inexplicably finds a strange blue box which fits the blue key she had in her purse. Betty has now disappeared completely from the apartment despite Rita calling out for her. As Rita opens the blue box with the key, she seems to be sucked into it, and the scene fades to black.

The next scene opens with someone we think is Betty. She is in a shabby, cold apartment and dressed in a worn grey dressing gown. Despite having a striking resemblance to Betty, this woman is Diane (Watts). She has none of Bettys shine or confidence. He shoulders are slumped and her hair, dirty blonde and lank. She reminisces for a moment, and there is a flashback with her and love interest Camilla (Harring) who is Rita’s doppelganger. Diane straddles Camilla on her couch in this memory, and a far cry from the modest and kind Rita, Camilla is lusty, half naked, heavily made up and cruel.

She plays with the mentally unbalanced Diane like a cat with a bird. So much so, it incites Diane and she begins to roughly molest Camilla as they lie on the couch together. There is so much angst and pain in this scene and we realise we may be looking at the real relationship of the fictional Betty and Rita. Diane is now the vulnerable and lost soul, while Camilla holds the cards and turns the handle on Diane’s back, humiliating her in various moments only to show kindness shortly after, and pull Diane back into her cruel game.

The film is split in nearly two parts, the mystery of Rita’s identity and a few other storylines that seem to go nowhere are nearly 80/90 minutes of this dreamy, confusing tale. The latter part shows the reality of LA, the cruelty of love and the destruction of both Diane/Betty and Camilla/Rita. There are multiple theories to be explored here. What is the purpose of the first tale and who is dreaming of who? Is it even a dream?

Shortly after we witness Diane and Camilla’s near sexual romp on the couch, we see Diane alone in her apartment. Crying, desperately alone and furiously masturbating as the camera shows the wall in front of her in and out of focus. Possibly implying that the first 90 minutes of the film are nothing more than a masturbatory fantasy of Diane’s as she imagines a superior life in Hollywood, better than her confused and horrific encounter of love with the unobtainable Camilla.

Mulholland Drive is a stark reminder on the significance of duality in a human lifetime. This concept is sometimes hard and painful to grasp. There is no existence without the clashing of opposites. We all strive for Utopia, peace, love and balance, when it evades us, we question why. There is no such thing as big without small, love without hate, peace without war.

From the black and white zig zag floors in Twin Peaks’ Black Lodge, to the simplicity of contrast in hair colour, Lynch makes sure we know that pain and pleasure exist alongside each other, each opposite giving the other meaning. This is the human experience. We understand the greatest love and greatest agony, both beautiful in their reality side by side. Sex is the push and the acceptance. Actuality requires us to respect both sides of the coin.

We can apply these thoughts to Mulholland Drive. This is a beautiful, despairing tale of kindness, vicious love and sexual dominion, set perfectly in the mind-control mecca that is Hollywood – where dreams are manufactured.

8/10 – For mirroring the sexy dreams we wake from, at the very best moment.

by Claire Fagan