A hypnotic, emotionally bruising Hollywood nightmare that rewards attention, rewatching, and tolerance for ambiguity. It blends noir, dream logic, and tragic romance into one of the defining films of the 2000s.
Mulholland Drive
Where to watch: Buy
Movie · Thriller · Drama
Wed · 2h 27m
Director: David Lynch
Starring: Naomi Watts, Laura Harring, Justin Theroux
Overview
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.
Director
David Lynch
Cast
Naomi Watts, Laura Harring, Justin Theroux
Curator Review
Verdict
A hypnotic, emotionally bruising Hollywood nightmare that rewards attention, rewatching, and tolerance for ambiguity. It blends noir, dream logic, and tragic romance into one of the defining films of the 2000s.
Best for
Viewers who like puzzle-box narratives
Fans of surreal psychological thrillers
People interested in dark Hollywood stories
Rewatchers who enjoy films that change shape on second viewing
Skip if
You want clear exposition and tidy answers
You dislike dreamlike or nonlinear storytelling
You prefer grounded realism over symbolic, uncanny cinema
Overview
Mulholland Drive starts as a seductive Hollywood mystery and slowly mutates into something far stranger, sadder, and more devastating. It is a film about desire, performance, identity, and the violence hidden beneath fantasy, with Naomi Watts giving one of the great breakout performances of modern cinema.
Worth noting
What makes it endure is not just its mysteries, but the feeling that every scene is charged with meaning even when the meaning is unstable. David Lynch turns Los Angeles into a haunted stage set, where ambition, memory, and delusion bleed into one another until the film feels less like a story than a fever dream with emotional logic.
Bottom line
It is not a film to “solve” once and move on from. Its power comes from the way it invites interpretation while remaining deeply affecting on a gut level. If you like cinema that is both beautiful and unsettling, this is essential viewing.
Top Letterboxd reviews
ScreeningNotes (5★) · 32457 likes
"Hey pretty girl, time to wake up." There was a time not too long ago when if you asked me what my favorite movie was I might have told you Mulholland Drive. There's a lot going on in the film and I certainly won't claim to understand all of it (something I might have done when it was my "favorite movie"), but I do have a reading of it that seems to answer a lot of the questions it poses,… more
Mitsi F. (5★) · 28260 likes
This is La La Land’s evil twin
maria (4.5★) · 21308 likes
me while watching the movie: what is going on, am i really that dumb, HELP, also the fuck is my mans billy ray cyrus doin' here, are you lost sugar? me after the movie ended: what kind of donnie darko mindfuck was this, let's go to my old pal youtube, they will clear it out for me! me after watching a 22 minute movie analysis video: THIS IS A MASTERPIECE. DAVID LYNCH IS A FUCKING GENIUS, also *coughs* i'm a genius for understanding it IMMEDIATELY OBVIOUSLY *coughs* what a fun lil' movie
jas (5★) · 17927 likes
i have so many questions after watching this but my main one is why was billy ray cyrus in this
Karsten (5★) · 14019 likes
understood all of it this time because i’m smart, perfect movie
Themes
Hollywood dreams and disillusionment, Identity and doubles, Desire and obsession, Memory and amnesia, Reality versus fantasy, Performance and self-invention, Noir atmosphere, Psychological fragmentation