David Lynch's Mulholland Drive

Lynch’s intentionally illogic cuts and transitions contribute to the dreamscape of “Mulholland Drive.” Take, for example, the sequence around the 1:55:00 mark of the film; while staring out of the window, Diane [Naomi Watts] presumably feels the presence of, and turns to see, Camilla standing beside her. The eye trace is logical—the next cut shows Camilla looking back at Diane; we cut back to Diane, whose mood clearly shifts (which, in turn, changes the mood of the scene as a whole), and the subsequent cut shows Diane (on the left side of the screen, previously occupied by Camilla) looking [screen right] back at herself. The shot continues, as Diane begins to make coffee, before cutting to a wide shot—where, of course, there is only one Diane. Next, we’re given a close-up of the coffee; Diane pours a cup. The next shot follows Diane as she walks over to the couch, mug in hand; the camera is focused in on the texture of her bathrobe. Continuing in the same shot, the camera leaves Diane and tracks aerially over the couch to reveal a naked Camilla (though, we’ve previously been led to read her presence as hallucinatory). In the next cut, Diane climbs over the couch, in jean shorts and topless herself. As her hand comes into view, she carries a glass of liquor, and the camera zooms in as she places it on the table. The close-ups of these objects can be read as accents, as highlights of difference to disorient the audience. The close-up of the coffee foreshadows and contrasts against the liquor; and the same goes for the texture of the robe—against, probably, the texture of bare skin. At any rate, the illogical sequence results in what appears to be an indecipherable reality.