Mulholland Drive

Like where are they going and why are they behaving that way?

Having not watched this in the intervening decades since it came out all I could remember was the prurient interest and the general vibe, so was pleasantly surprised how much good stuff there was from beginning to end to appreciate. I don’t have much to add on that front. Trying to think of their is any use in comparing with a film on a somewhat similar theme, The Limey, but the two movies are so different, maybe don’t want to go there.

Also trying to remember the substance of a National Lampoon Bergman parody I read once, The Høwl of the Muppets.

xxp the smiles and laughter of the old couple are echoed by Adam Kesher and Camilla Rhodes later in the film
https://www.mulholland-drive.net/pics/cast/oldcouple1.jpg
https://www.mulholland-drive.net/pics/cast/adam_camilla.jpg
(images from mulholland-drive.net where of course someone noticed it way before I did https://www.mulholland-drive.net/theories/18.htm )

That’s an interesting pairing of images, but it’s hard to take a site seriously that conflates the two different “realities”:

First, we've seen how the hitman operates. It is hardly a stretch to imagine him taking out Adam in the process of killing Camilla. In fact, I think it's a bit of a stretch to imagine him killing ONLY Camilla. This guy murdered a vacuum sweeper for crying out loud.

(FWIW, I only vaguely know what to make of the old couple, but it does seem awfully reductive to declare they “represent Adam and Camilla”)

I don't think the hitman is in the dream reality, he doesn't interact with any of those characters. Some "reality" elements are intercut with Diane's Betty dream (e.g. Dan in the diner). Oddly Adam is the only character who seems to have continuity/identity through both worlds, although several faces repeat.
And no, I don't think that the old couple "represent Adam and Camilla" any more than the diner waitress Betty/Diane "represents" Diane/Betty. The whole film is about twinning, representation, offset realities, dream logic.

Oh, that’s interesting, I definitely don’t agree with that first part of what you wrote… but cool to hear the idea! I guess there’s a lot of ways to read even just the basic “presentation” of the movie.

tbh I'm not even sure I agree with myself!

I mentioned this movie to a friend, and he wrote: “Napkin… NAPKIN!!!!!”

So I guess there are more memorable quotes than I initially thought.

So glad I watched this again.

I’m watching Barry Lyndon—there’s a nice analogue of the dinner party scene near the beginning of the movie (it doesn’t play out the same way, of course…).