百年50部英文烧脑电影赏析:[26]Mulholland Drive 穆赫兰道

The story may not be linear and exhibits several instances of temporal disruption. A dark-haired woman(Laura Harring)escapes her own murder, surviving a car accident on Mulholland Drive. Injured and in shock, she descends into Los Angeles and sneaks into an apartment which an older, red-headed woman has just vacated. An aspiring actress named Betty Elms(Naomi Watts)arrives at the same apartment and finds the dark-haired woman confused, not knowing her own name. The dark-haired woman assumes the name Rita after seeing a poster for the film Gilda(1946), starring Rita Hayworth. To help Rita remember her identity, Betty looks in Rita's purse, where she finds a large amount of money and an unusual blue key.

In a diner called Winkies, a man tells his companion about a nightmare in which he dreamt there was a horrible figure behind the diner. When they investigate, the figure appears, causing the man with the nightmare to collapse in fright. A Hollywood director named Adam Kesher(Justin Theroux)has his film commandeered by apparent mobsters, who insist he cast an unknown actress named Camilla Rhodes(Melissa George)as the lead in his film. After he resists, he returns home to find his wife having an affair and is thrown out of his house. He later learns that his bank has closed his line of credit and he is broke. He agrees to meet a mysterious figure called The Cowboy, who urges him to cast Camilla Rhodes for his own good. Later, a bungling hit man(Mark Pellegrino)attempts to steal a book full of phone numbers and leaves three people dead.

Trying to learn more about Rita's accident, Betty and Rita go to Winkies and are served by a waitress named Diane, which causes Rita to remember the name “Diane Selwyn”. They find Diane Selwyn in the phone book and call her, but she does not answer. Betty goes to an audition, where her performance is highly praised. A casting agent takes her to the set of a film called The Sylvia North Story, directed by Adam, where Camilla Rhodes gives an audition and Adam declares, “This is the girl.” Betty flees before she can meet Adam, saying that she needs to meet a friend.

Betty and Rita go to Diane Selwyn's apartment and break in when no one answers the door. In the bedroom they find the body of a woman who has been dead for several days. Terrified, they return to their apartment, where Rita disguises herself with a blonde wig. The two women have sex that night and awake at 2 a.m., when Rita insists they go to an eerie theater called Club Silencio. On stage, a man explains in several languages that everything is an illusion; a woman begins singing then collapses, although her vocals continue. Betty finds a blue box in her purse that matches Rita's key. Upon returning to the apartment, Rita retrieves the key and finds that Betty has disappeared. Rita unlocks the box, and it falls to the floor with a thump,

The older red-headed woman investigates the sound, but nothing is there. The Cowboy appears in the doorway of Diane Selwyn's bedroom saying, “Hey, pretty girl. Time to wake up,” Diane Selwyn(Naomi Watts)wakes up in her bed. She looks exactly like Betty, but is portrayed as a failed actress driven into a deep depression by her unrequited love for Camilla Rhodes(played now by Laura Harring). On Camilla's invitation, Diane attends a party at Adam's house on Mulholland Drive. Her limousine stops before they reach the house and Camilla escorts her using a shortcut. Adam appears to be in love with Camilla. Over dinner, Diane states that she came to Hollywood when her aunt died, and she met Camilla at an audition for The Sylvia North Story. Another woman(played by George)kisses Camilla and they turn and smile at Diane, Adam and Camilla prepare to make an important announcement, and dissolve into laughter and kiss while Diane watches, crying.

Diane meets with the hit man at Winkies, where she gives him Camilla's photo and a large amount of money, and they are served by a waitress named Betty. The hit man tells Diane that when the job is done, she will find a blue key. Diane asks what, if anything, the key opens, but the hit man just laughs. Diane looks up and sees the man who had the nightmare standing at the counter. Back at her apartment, with the key on a table in front of her, she is terrorized by hallucinations. She runs screaming to her bed, where she shoots herself. A woman at the club whispers “Silencio”.

这个故事也许不是线性的，它展现了几个暂时中断的实例。一个黑头发的女人(劳拉·哈灵饰)从自己的谋杀中逃走，在穆赫兰道的一场车祸中幸存下来。她受伤了并且受到了惊吓，她逃到洛杉矶并且溜进一个刚退休的红头发的老女人的公寓里。一个叫做贝蒂·厄莫斯(娜奥米·沃茨饰)的有抱负的女演员来到同一所公寓，并且发现一个不知道自己名字的困惑的黑头发女人。看过由贝塔·海华斯主演的电影《吉尔达》(1946)的海报之后，这个黑发女人称自己为“贝塔”。为了帮助贝塔回忆起自己的身份，贝蒂查看了贝塔的钱包，她在那里找到了一大笔钱和一把不同寻常的蓝色钥匙。

在一个叫做维基斯的餐厅里，一个人告诉自己的同伴他做了一个噩梦，他梦见在餐厅后面有一个可怕的身影。当他们调查的时候，这个身影出现了，做噩梦的那个人害怕得崩溃了。一个叫做亚当·凯歇尔(贾斯汀·塞洛克斯饰)的好莱坞导演的电影，被一个看起来是犯罪团伙的人霸占了，他们坚持要亚当用一个不出名的叫做卡米拉·罗兹(蒙丽莎·乔治饰)的女演员来担任电影的主演。当他拒绝之后，他回到家发现他的妻子有外遇，并被他们赶出了他的房间。他接下来发现，自己的银行信用卡被冻结了并且他破产了。他同意去见一个叫做牛仔的神秘人物，这个人为了自己的利益强迫亚当用卡米拉·罗兹当主演。接下来，一个笨拙的职业杀手(马克·佩雷格里诺饰)试图偷一本满是电话号码的电话簿，并且杀了三个人。

为了更多地了解贝塔的遭遇，贝蒂和贝塔去了维基斯餐厅，一个叫做戴妮尔的女服务生为她们服务，这让贝塔想起了一个叫做“戴妮尔·赛尔温”的名字。她们在电话簿中找到戴妮尔·赛尔温并且打电话给她，可是她没有接。贝蒂去参加一个试镜，她的表演得到了高度的评价。一个选角经纪人带她到亚当导演的电影《西尔维娅北方故事》的片场，在那里卡米拉·罗兹给了她一个面试，亚当宣布，“就是这个女孩。”在去见亚当之前，贝蒂逃走了，她说她要去见一个朋友。

贝蒂和贝塔去了戴妮尔·赛尔温的公寓，由于没有人来开门，她们就闯进去了。在卧室里面，他们发现了一个已经死去很多天的女人的尸体。她们感到很恐惧，回到她们的公寓后，贝塔戴着一个金色的假发来乔装自己。这天晚上，两个女人之间发生了性关系，她们在凌晨两点醒来，贝塔坚持她们要去一个叫做沉寂的怪异的倶乐部。在舞台上，一个男人用几种语言解释说，一切都是一场幻觉。一个正在唱歌的女人摔倒了，但是她的歌声还在继续。贝蒂在她的钱包里面发现了一个蓝色的盒子，这个盒子刚好和贝塔的钥匙配对。一回到公寓，贝塔就找出钥匙，结果发现贝蒂消失了。贝塔打开盒子，伴随着一声重击声，盒子掉在地板上了。

这个红头发的老女人调查这个声音，但是什么也没有发现。牛仔出现在戴妮尔·赛尔温卧室的门口说，“嘿，美女，该醒了。”戴妮尔·赛尔温(娜奥米·沃茨饰)在她的床上醒来。她看起来很像贝蒂，但是她被描述成一个失意的女演员，由于对卡米拉·罗兹(现由劳拉·哈灵饰)的单恋而陷入深深的沮丧之中。受卡米拉的邀请，戴妮尔参加了一个在穆赫兰道的亚当家举行的聚会。在他们到达房子之前，她的豪华轿车停住了，卡米拉带她走了一条捷径。亚当似乎爱上了卡米拉。晚宴过后，戴妮尔说当她阿姨死的时候她来到好莱坞，她在《西尔维娅北方故事》的一次试镜中认识了卡米拉。亚当和卡米拉准备做一个重大的宣告，接着他们放声大笑并且接吻，戴妮尔看着这些，哭了。

戴妮尔在维基斯遇到一个杀手，她给了他卡米拉的照片和一大笔钱，一个叫做贝蒂的女侍应为他们服务。杀手告诉戴妮尔事情成功之后，她会找到一把蓝色的钥匙。戴妮尔问打开之后可以发现什么，但是这个杀手只是笑笑。戴妮尔拜访并且看见这个做了噩梦的人站在柜台旁。当她回到自己的公寓，发现在她面前的桌子上有一把钥匙，她被幻觉吓坏了。她尖叫着跑向她的床，在那里她开枪杀死自己。在俱乐部里面，一个女人低声说“沉寂”。

David Lynch Interviewed by James Mottram

The film was originally a pilot for a TV series. How did you feel when ABC rejected it?

Not depressed. A setback can be an opportunity. What's most disturbing is to have a project that is stopped before it's finished. When I was working on Eraserhead, there were times when I never knew if it was going to get finished. I even wanted to build a small Henry Spencer and stop-motion him through small cardboard sets to finish it. Fortunately I didn't have to do that. When I got the opportunity to make Mulholland Drive into a feature, it was beautiful.

Why do audiences lap up stories about lost innocence?

We enjoy seeing nice people tempted into some strange things that test them. This is the thing in stories — it has to grow out of a character and situations, and in a continuing story, not knowing where we're going is thrilling. Seeing and discovering the way is the thrilling part. That's why I liked the idea of TV, to go on a continuing who-knows-where story. I let the events talk to me and ideas come.

Where do you get your ideas?

They're not my ideas. That's the weird thing. They come from some place else. I feel it more strongly all the time. I think they exist somewhere, and then come to us. So I'm shocked maybe by the ideas, but I see them as a gift.

这部电影原本是一个电视连续剧的试行方案。当美国广播公司拒绝它的时候，你觉得怎么样?

我不觉得沮丧。挫折也可以是一个机会。最令人不安的是，某个项目在快完成之前被叫停了。当我在拍《橡皮头》的时候，好几次我都不知道是否能够完成它。我甚至想要塑造一个小的亨利·斯宾塞，并且用小纸板装置单格拍摄他来完成电影。幸运的是，我没必要这么做。当我得到将《穆赫兰道》拍成电影的机会时，我觉得很美好。

为什么观众会欣然接受关于失真的故事?

我们喜欢看见好人被一些奇怪的、考验他们的事情引诱。这就是故事中的事情——它必须产生于一定的性格和环境，在一个持续的故事中，不知道我们将去哪里是很刺激的。看到并且找到那条路是很刺激的。这就是为什么我喜欢电视剧的这个想法，它可以进行一个持续的鬼知道会怎样的故事。我让事件说话，然后想法就出来了。

你是从哪里得到这个想法的?

它们不是我的想法。这是不可思议的事情。它们来自于其他的一些地方。我总是更强烈地感觉到它。我认为它们存在于某些地方，然后我们就会想到它们。所以，我也许会被这些想法震惊，但是我把它们当成一种礼物。

穆赫兰大道是好莱坞一条历史悠久的大道，因其特殊的地理位置而经常出现在好莱坞电影中。它源自荒地，穿越豪华的富人区，一直延伸到太平洋边加州最著名的马里布海滩。这样特殊的地理、经济、文化氛围使这些街道本身就充满了戏剧张力。

将拍摄计划从电视剧改变为电影的情况在电影史上十分少见，前例中最著名的是希区柯克的《精神病患者》，他曾打算拍成电视电影。

此片的作曲家安吉罗·巴德拉门蒂在片中露了下脸，他扮演的是影片开头喝咖啡的那个人。

此片献给年轻的女演员詹尼弗·西蒙(基努里维斯前女友)，她的经历同主角贝蒂十分相似，但在影片大体完成时就已去世。