Mulholland Drive

"An actress longing to be a star. A woman searching for herself. Both worlds will collide... on Mulholland Drive."

2001 2h 27m EN

🙌

7.8

BANGER

🍅

83%

FRESH

💯

METACRITIC

⭐

7.9

IMDB

★7.8TMDB · 7,337🍅83%Rotten Tomatoes●87Metacritic★7.9IMDB · 415,244

ThrillerDramaMystery

Synopsis

Spoiler shield

Blonde Betty Elms has only just arrived in Hollywood to become a movie star when she meets an enigmatic brunette with amnesia. Meanwhile, as the two set off to solve the second woman's identity, filmmaker Adam Kesher runs into ominous trouble while casting his latest project.

“An actress longing to be a star. A woman searching for herself. Both worlds will collide... on Mulholland Drive.”

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Cast

Naomi Watts
Betty Elms / Diane Selwyn
Laura Harring
Rita / Camilla Rhodes
Justin Theroux
Adam
Ann Miller
Coco
Mark Pellegrino
Joe
Robert Forster
Detective McKnight
Dan Hedaya
Vincenzo Castigliane
Angelo Badalamenti
Luigi Castigliane

Credits

Behind the camera

Director: David Lynch
Writers: David Lynch
Languages: Spanish, English
Countries: France, United States of America

Want more? Switch to Cinephile mode in the header for DP, composer, budget, box office, production companies, keywords, and release history.

Did you know?

Fun facts 🍿

1 / 8

ERA

Did you know

25 years old — old enough to be someone's favourite childhood film.

MoodPlayr · trivia#01

2 / 8

WORLD

Did you know

Dialogue crosses 2 languages: Spanish, English.

MoodPlayr · trivia#02

3 / 8

WORLD

Did you know

International production across 2 countries: France, United States of America.

MoodPlayr · trivia#03

4 / 8

DIRECTOR

Did you know

Directed by David Lynch, shot by Peter Deming. Note their partnership — DPs and directors often return to each other across a career.

MoodPlayr · trivia#04

5 / 8

DIRECTOR

Did you know

Original score by Angelo Badalamenti. Worth a dedicated listen after — most great films lose half their impact without the score.

MoodPlayr · trivia#05

6 / 8

DIRECTOR

Did you know

Editor Mary Sweeney shaped the rhythm. On an edit-heavy film, the editor does more to control your pulse than the director.

MoodPlayr · trivia#06

7 / 8

CAST

Did you know

Naomi Watts and Laura Harring and Justin Theroux carry the top of the cast.

MoodPlayr · trivia#07

8 / 8

RUNTIME

Did you know

Marketing tagline: "An actress longing to be a star. A woman searching for herself. Both worlds will collide... on Mulholland Drive.".

MoodPlayr · trivia#08

Cinephile deep dive

The take

David Lynch directs. Peter Deming behind the camera. Angelo Badalamenti scores. Mary Sweeney cuts. Profitable at the box office. Produced in France, United States of America. Dialogue in Spanish, English.

Trivia

Things worth knowing

125 years old — old enough to be someone's favourite childhood film.
2Dialogue crosses 2 languages: Spanish, English.
3International production across 2 countries: France, United States of America.
4Directed by David Lynch, shot by Peter Deming. Note their partnership — DPs and directors often return to each other across a career.
5Original score by Angelo Badalamenti. Worth a dedicated listen after — most great films lose half their impact without the score.
6Editor Mary Sweeney shaped the rhythm. On an edit-heavy film, the editor does more to control your pulse than the director.
7Naomi Watts and Laura Harring and Justin Theroux carry the top of the cast.
8Marketing tagline: "An actress longing to be a star. A woman searching for herself. Both worlds will collide... on Mulholland Drive.".
9IMDB entry: tt0166924 — still the authoritative cross-reference for credits and trivia.
10Classified under 25 themes, including "amnesia", "loss of sense of reality", "schizophrenia", "nightmare".
11Released under 12 different titles around the world.

The technical file

Cinematography: Peter Deming
Original score: Angelo Badalamenti
Editing: Mary Sweeney
Production design: Jack Fisk
Costume design: Amy Stofsky
Makeup / hair: Patricia Miller
VFX supervisor: Scott Billups
Sound: David Lynch
Stunt coordinator: Charles Croughwell
Runtime: 147 min · 2h 27m
Aspect ratio (typical): 1.37:1 (Academy)
Status: Released
Budget: $15,000,000
Box office: $20,289,986
Return: 135% of budget
Original language: EN
Certification (US): R
IMDB: Mulholland Drive (2001)
Rotten Tomatoes: 83% 🍅 Fresh
Metacritic: 87/100
IMDB rating: 7.9/10 · 415,244 votes
MPAA: R

Awards

Nominated for 1 Oscar. 50 wins & 61 nominations total

National Board of Review: Top Ten Films
César Award for Best Foreign Film

Individual records documented via Wikidata; the summary above may count more.

Also by

David Lynch

Stills · wallpapers

Selected frames

Full-resolution frames — open one to save it as a wallpaper.

Wallpaper

Trailers & featurettes

Watch the pieces

Community reviews

What people are saying

Filipe Manuel Neto2022-07-08
★ 10/10
Today, I finally understood this movie… and I was amazed by it. I think what happened to me was exactly the same as what happened to most people: when I saw this movie for the first time, years ago, I didn't understand a thing. That went on for a long time: whenever I saw this film, I ended up not understanding it. That ended today, when I saw it with a friend of mine, who also likes cinema and who told me “you have to keep two things in mind: the first is the non-linear narrative, sometimes with very subtle changes; the second is that most of the film is not real life, it is a dream of the protagonist”. If there are films that are almost perfect, this one is close to it, although it is not easy to understand, and it is necessary to watch it five or six times to understand it well. I had already the experience that David Lynch's films are not easy... I had my first contact with the director a few years ago, with Blue Velvet, and I realized that he makes hermetic films, with implicit ideas and dreamlike suggestions, which often (almost always) escape our eyes. I like that: it's a challenging kind of cinema, which makes you think and moves you. It doesn't mean that I understand everything! And today, talking with my friend, I finally managed to understand this film better. Initially made in 1999 as a pilot episode for a TV series, it was made into a feature film after TV producers rejected the product. The very way Lynch took his failure and turned it into one of his biggest hits is remarkable, revealing his style and persistence. The film is really good, and I believe that, by commenting on what I learned today, I am already helping those who want to see it and understand it. If we pay attention, it indicates the moments when the main character falls asleep (right at the beginning) and wakes up again. And I think I can still say, without revealing too much, that the party at the film director's house, very close to the end, is the key scene to understand more than half of the plot, which basically focuses on a young woman, who goes to Los Angeles with the dream of becoming rich and famous and fails in that desire, combining this frustration with a huge love heartbreak, and the loss of her own moral values and innocence. The cast is perfectly up to the challenges they're getting from the director, and it's amazing to see Naomi Watts here. This film truly symbolizes the start of her career, as she only did a few minor jobs, in Europe and the USA, until making this film. She is truly excellent, managing to capture all our sympathy and make us like her character. To a certain extent, I think the actress saw a lot of herself in the character she played: she also had a dream of succeeding in her career, and she also suffered to achieve it. Also, Laura Harring did very well and deserves praise for her work. Justin Theroux, who played director Adam Kesher, makes a welcome and solid contribution to the work of the actresses, even though this film is clearly dominated by them. Technically, this is a film class at all levels. In addition to the brilliant direction, Lynch bets a lot on cinematography. Here, it is worth seeing how he uses the locations he chooses, the cityscapes, and some techniques such as zoom, close-up or blur, to convey messages to the audience about the characters' state of mind. He also makes good use of color, vibrant and beautiful, with the colors red and blue having a particularly important meaning for understanding the film. The film has some intense nude and sex scenes, and a very slow pace that is intentional. The settings are also very important: sometimes, the arrangement of props and the way the actors relate to them helps us to understand what we see, but this is really subtle, and you have to be attentive. Finally, a very special word for the hypnotic and almost unforgettable soundtrack, signed by Angelo Badalamenti, which is worth listening to, from the main leitmotif to the songs, happy and carefree, in the style of the 50s.
CinemaSerf2023-09-02
★ 5/10
A woman involved in a car accident emerges with amnesia and with the help of a would-be starlet they try to get to the bottom of who did what to whom and why. Thereafter it twists and turns like an adder on steroids - but to what end? Sorry, but I just didn't get it. I'd ask what is it really about, but I am not sure I'd believe anyone who actually claimed to know. Is it really about anything tangible at all or is Lynch daring the audience to admit that they are too dense to grasp the "creative concept" here? It is a well put together piece of cinema, and we do get good performances from Naomi Watts and Justin Theroux, but I just don't inhabit the parallel universe in which this is all set, and it was wasted on me.
TPS332026-09-01
Wanted to like it and just awful. I know a lot of people love this but wow. Some of the acting/script was porno bad and it wasn't confusing in an interesting way. I like a lot of surreal movies (Kaufman, Kubrick, Gilliam) so everyone told me I'd like Lynch, but so far I don't get it.