The dream explanation is the most sound theory for making sense of this movie but it doesn't explain everything. Was Diane's suicide real? The billowing smoke suggests that this scene isn't real. Why does she have a gun? She all of the sudden pulls out a gun from her nightstand?!?! If she kills her lover and herself in the "real" part of the movie, why is the last shot of Diane and Camillia a happy one with them laughing over L.A.. She never actually GIVES the hitman the money. This movie never gives the viewer enough SOLID foundation to make a complete assessment of what exactly is supposed to have happened. Lynch does this on purpose to make his art abstract to convey more meaning than what would normally be possible in the film medium. Club Silencio really is the key to understanding the Mulholland Drive intent saying basically - All events are illusions done to dramatic effect in a different language you won't fully understand but will inherently "feel". There are so many important issues and ideas that this movie pushes forth but are incredibly and brilliantly disguised by Lynch's use non-linear sequencing of events. The themes of Love, hate, jealousy, guilt, life, death, dreams, the art of film and acting, parents, the nature of relationships, racism (Camillia was hispanic), lesbianism, good vs. evil, social interaction, the young and the old, Pandora's box syndrome, Organized Crime, and the notion of time itself are all interwoven very powerfully yet subtley in the guise of a common popcorn eating movie. The plot isn't what this movie is really about. The themes that you can can subcobsciously extract from Mulholland Drive, like Diane does in her "dream", is Lynch's main desire for this work. That's why he plays with time, to push the viewer consciousness to see the underlying themes of what life itself is, was, and could be, what it stands upon, and what it stands for. This is lofty stuff to put forth and to get people to ponder. What is life REALLY? That's why this Film is so so very powerful. That is why people want to make sense of it so badly and keep looking for clues as to it's true meaning. Lynch wants you to look at your life and life itself with the same sort of quandary.
The truth that is so ugly that one couldn't handle it in it's true pure form:
The cowboy represents the annihilation of the Native Peoples of this land now known as the USA.
The Blackfaced man behind Winkies represents the Atomic Bomb annihilation of hundred of thousands innocent Japanese civilians at Hiroshima & Nagasaki. The tramp looks radiation burned. The box represents the Pandora's box of atomic power. The annihilation of life on Earth.
He also represents slavery. Winkie's which is Denny's is known as a racially discriminatory establishment.
The beauty of art and redemption:
How the true beauty of human expression in art and common kindness can transcend the many harsh ugly truths of humanity and make life worth living.
Thank You David Lynch
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