I have took notes on this movies, as dumb as that sounds, i have watched it three times now, i still dont get it, everyone i talk to has a different opinion as to what it means. what I want to know is:

1. Who was knocking at the door at the end when she ran off to kill herself?
2. Why was there smoke in the room?
3. What was the connection between Adam and "Betty" when she auditioned and he kept looking at her?
4. What was all the spanish? does anyone know what it meant?(i read earlier discussions about the phrase that meant:"where are you?" but what about the jabbering in the theatre from that guy who kept saying its all a recording?)

let me start with those first...

alright, this is what I got out of it, im not sure if its right (is anyone?), but it seams to make sense to me.

First of all, the knock on the door may represent the truth about hollywood knocking on the door, the truth which she has discovered, i.e the old couple (hollywood) coming to get her.
The smoke in the room after she kills herself, is also present in the scene before that, behind winkies. You'll also see that in the paper bag that the ugly guy drops, the old couple runs out (now mini versions). Notice that next to the blue box (truth) there is a capsule, that represents that the truth has finally unveiled itself. Since the smoke is blue in both cases, it might represent again the truth, but since its smoke, it might be that she has already seen the truth, and now it vanishes so it cant be seen again.

Notice the color throughout the entire film. Red and blue occurs very often. I believe that blue represents the knowing, and red represents the unknowing. Notice how the blonde in the first part starts off by wearing pink, then goes to blue when the truth starts to unveil itself. Coco and the brunette (sorry, i dont remember names) for exampel are always wearing red sionce they are part of hollywood, they follow the system, but they really dont know anything about it. Also notice that the gene clean is written in blue on the pool mans car, and notice how the director chooses between blue and pink paint when hes about to pour paint all over he's wife's jewelry. Why? He's unknowing.
Also notice the two blue dots in the room with the man in a black suit is sitting (the espresso scene). The blue dots are right above a red table, this might represent two blue eyes watching over the red, i.e, hollywood watching and controlling the unknowing. Also notice the last scene in the film, where the lady in blue hair says silencio (quiet), i.e, hollywood telling you to shut up about the truth.

the scene in club silencio is important, but you dont have to know spanish to understand it. I'll leave that up to you.

Basically i believe the film has quite a bit of criticism on hollywood. It looks good on the outside, and they wanna keep it that way, but its really unpretty (the ugly guy behind winkies).

Ok, i can go on and on about this, and Im sorry for jumping through the time-line like a rabbit. Ive got theories for every little thing appearing in the film, but i dont really have time to write about it for now. Oh by the way, in the first part of the film, the blonde and the brunette are the same person. Alot of other people are the same as well.

Remember, this is my interpretation, do your own!

Good luck

Cheers!

1. The knock at the door was the detectives coming to talk to her. We don't know this for sure, but in her mind it is ... her neighbor friend having just told her that the detectives were looking for her. It is enough to make her snap.
2. We also encounter smoke at the beginning, as Rita crawls out of the limo after the accident. To me, this links the smoke from the gun with the beginning of her dream.
3. This was her image of the perfect Hollywood moment, the one she was supposed to have, but was denied. Director is casting his lead role, turns just as she walks in and knows she's the one! Instead, she must leave, and he turns back and casts the role based on instructions from the mob.
4. A very creepy moment. Betty+Rita walk into the room together with the blue box, knowing that this is what the key will open. Rita turns and Betty is gone. (Watch it ... it's a very creepy disappearance.) Almost in a whimper ... "Donde estas?" ("Where are you?") The two women are now one. To me the Spanish seems to come when someone is talking in their sleep ... or perhaps waking up. The jabber in the theatre (named "Silencio") is all translated. "No hay banda", "No hay orchestra" ("there is no band, no orchestra", all is an illusion). (This is also repeated in French, BTW ... a reference to Diane's Canadian origins?) And Cookie introducing "La Llorona de Los Angeles". ("llorona" can best be translated as "one who cries".)

BTW, the "Donde estas?" are the last words spoken in the dream (besides calling out Betty's name once more). And if you believe the post-suicide-dream theory (which I am leaning toward), these are chronologically the last words of the movie.

I think the best way to understand this movie is within the context of a dream.

A dream experienced by someone deeply troubled with guilt and passion. The recurring themes or images like the "knocking", "This is the girl", "the blue keys", "the restaurant signs" "the waitresses name tags", "the betrayals", and many others are manifestations of a guilty mind trying to escape the consequences of the crime it has conjured and put into effect.

Camilla was no saint and I think Lynch is careful to make sure this is clear to us. However, Diane's own mind is perhap her best punisher.

The knock reminds me of the drunken porter scene in "Macbeth" There is a knocking going on and the poor guy is trying to shake off the booze while a murder is taking place.

If you have noticed the knock at the door, when she wakes up, sounds the same way as the knocks at several different doors in her dream. That means that the knocks come into her dream and "take different roles" as everything there. Scientists say that a dream lasts only 4-5 seconds and here is why we hear all these knocks in her dream. It is the knock that wakes up her.
The last knock at the door may be just the police who is looking for her because she is suspect.