Complex narrative structure in
Mulholland Dr
Diane Selwyn wins a Jitterbug contest, she moves to LA to become an actress.
Betty "meets" someone on her way to LA
Betty arrives to LA
She meets Camilla Rhodes and the two become lovers
In the dream, Betty is helping Rita
They investigate
And they fall in love
Note the ashtray is there but not the blue key
But then Camilla's career moves forward as she gets a part and meets Adam Kesher
In the dream, Adam is forced to pick Camilla over Betty
Title Text
Diane auditioned for the same part but didn't get it, so she has to witness Camilla's betrayal
In the dream, Betty's audition goes great
Camilla leaves Diane
In the dream, Adam's wife cheats on him, so he leaves her...
But Diane loves her and it's a difficult break-up...
Some time goes by...
Rings from the real world make into the dream world...
...But then one day Camilla invites Diane to a party
"We don't stop here"...
"We don't stop here"...
At the party she meets Adam's mother
In the dream, Coco is the building manager
she tells her story (exposition)
From the opening credits
...and feels out of place among these people
The cowboy himself seems out of place at the party, and in the dream too he is odd
...she feels observed...
Note who drank the coffee in the dream...
...prosecuted...
The guy who stared in the party is a gangster in the dream
and humiliated...
...repeatedly
In the dream, this girl becomes Camilla
Diane hates Camilla for it...
Some time after, she hires a hit-man to kill Camilla
In the dream, the Castigliani brothers orchestrate the "hit"
They meet at Winkies
Where she sees a waitress named Betty
In the dream, the waitress is called Diane
She pays him
In the dream this money appears in Rita's purse
They come to an arrangement...
In the dream, the blue key also comes from Rita's purse
And she also sees this man at the counter...
In the dream, the mans sees his companion at that very same spot
Some time after...
...she falls asleep.
And she has a dream...
As she re-gains consciousness, dream and reality intermix, like the telephone's rings
When she wakes up...
In the dream, this is the corpse of the dream's Diane Selwyn
The blue key is on the table, the deed is done, Camilla is dead.
Diane has lost Camilla for good...
In the dream, Rita suddenly loses Betty
Guilt consumes her...
Once some doors are open, there's no coming back...
And she cannot cope anymore
Her darkest fears creep in through the door
In the dream, her parents are the couple she met at the airport
And Diane kills herself...
Her dream became true...
Just like the man behind Winkies
Narrative analysis Mulholland Dr
By Daniel Chávez
