My interpretation of the movie "Lost Highway"

[Opivy]

Okay, I just got done watching David Lynch's "Lost Highway" again. I personally think its one of his greatests works! (only short of Blue Velvet).

~~~~~~~If you havent seen this movie yet, I highly suggest you watch it and form your own theory before reading the following. ~~~~~~~~

(i wrote this in 2 sections)
WARNING: DO NOT READ THIS IF YOU HAVE NOT SEEN THE FILM.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~SpoilersBelow~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ~~

Okay, now we can get down to it..

Lost Highway is a movie about a man (Fred Madison, played by Bill Pullman) who is in denial about killing his wife. Much of what we see in the begining sequences of the film are Fred's skewed and distorted views of reality.

For example: The scene that creates the "mobus" strip.. Ofcourse, the lines "Dick Laurent is dead". At the end of the movie we see Fred Madison come back to his own house and tell himself this. Thus creating an endless story! But I think this is where reality actually cuts in. When Fred Madison comes back to his house after killing dick laurent at the end, he is not informing another version of himself that he is dead. Most likely he came back into the house and in rage killed his wife Rene as well. Which he ends up in jail for, and starts creating abstract thoughts and ideas to justify his life.

His altered view of reality shows how disconnected his relationship is with his wife. (Was it really like this? Probably to an extent).

At the beginning of the movie, we are already witnessing the past rebuilt by Fred's damaged mind as he is in jail. He gets a random intercom message relaying that "Dick Laurent is Dead". In my opinion I think he is replaying much of what actually happened and distorting the truth. He knows Dick was dead ofcourse, he was the one who killed him.

The significance of the Video Tapes:

Remember the line that Fred tells the detectives regarding his opinion on remembering things, and video cameras. "The way I remember things, not neccesarily the way they happened." Right here we have received a warning that the things we are viewing might not be what actually happened. The part about the video camera is important as well, because what is seen on the videotapes is the only real truth in the movie. We see Fred looming over Rene's mutilated body on this video tape and are awakened from Fred's point of view into prison. This is very real, and it is what triggered it.

Once in prison Fred is locked into his own imaginary type world where he can 're-live' his life in a sense.. but not succesfuly,

Fred is metamorphed into Pete. Now once again I think this is entirely in Fred's Head.. Now as Pete Dayton they let him out of the jail (the officers are confused as hell. the parents refuse to talk about what happened the night he ended up in Fred Madisons jail cell). Now one of the first scenes we witness at Pete Daytons house is him staring into the sun. Then at the walls. I think this is Fred, still in jail - and staring at the light just like in a previous scene. Here he has an entirely fake world and life.

Pete is the opposite of Fred. I think he is everything Fred ever wanted to be. Rather than being jealous and resentful over rene's involvement in the smut community he tries to help her out (alice).

Everyone in the scenes with pete is in a sense Fred because it is all in his head. Mr.Eddy is fred's hateful angry side and the Mystery Man is Fred's murderous intentions.

One of the key lines from the Mystery Man that supports my theory is when he talks on the phone with pete. He speaks of an executioner (I think this shows that he's still in jail) and in the original script he tells Pete how him and Mr.Eddy have just killed a 'couple' of people. Now I think these 2 people are Fred's hatred ofcourse, and they are explaining to Fred that he has killed Andy, Dick Laurent, AND his wife.

The Mystery Man always appears before someone dies. When he talks to Fred for the first time and explains to him he's "at his house" I think this shows that Fred's dark side is coming out and will then kill his wife... at his house.

So as a final note I will go over a few things that i think show links between different characters.

One of them is when Alice is telling Pete the story about the "Job" she had to go to. In the ending cut of that scene you see her reach for Dick Laurents face, and it immediately cut's to her reaching out for Petes face.

Also.. Mr.Eddy is friends with Pete's Dark inner side? (Mystery Man) You hear it yourself when Mr.Eddy hands him the phone "I want you to talk to a friend of mine". And Andy tells Fred at the begining party. "I think he's a friend of Dick Laurents."

Fred asks "But Dick Laurent is dead isn't he?" Obviously sufering from a headache. This is reality coming back to him while he's in his jail cell (Via Mystery Man?)

Notice also.. The only scenes we are shown that implies Rene actually had some sort of relation with Dick Laurent is at the end. The Mystery Man show's Dick on his miniature TV a clip from a porno. IIt features Rene, the ones previously shown feature Alice (blonde hair). So the Videotape is truth ofcourse.. But This scene (where he kills laurent with the help of the mystery man, the MM is the one who actually pulls the trigger. this is metaphorical) I think is a replay of the previous event (when Fred killed Laurent). Its a replay through Fred's damaged mind. So could it have been his view on what actually happened? Perhapse Rene was never really involved with Dick.

What to make of the ending? The popular theory (for those who believe he actually metamorphed into Pete) is that he's now turning into something else. Now the blue light seems to represent something to do with paralell dimensions? I think what is happening here is he's coming back into reality.. It's very plausible that he is being killed by the electric chair (they do mention thats how he's to be executed) and in his mind he tries to relay off to himself that Dick Laurent is dead. In his mind he feels he would be able to avoid ever killing rene to begin with.

His final drive down the highway being chased by cops is the tension building nearing closer and closer to his death..


There is still alot unanswered and I didn't cover alot of what i'd like to talk about...but i'm done typing for now.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Okay, I watched LH again today and some more things came to mind.

First off, I'v already established that most of the movie is non-reality. The parts with Fred Madison are a distorted recollection of half-truths and Pete Dayton's world is something Fred has made up in jail in order to justify his actions..

Now the reason I think of it this way is because of the ways characters connect in the second half of the movie (with Pete).

I already explained that Mr.Eddy and the MysteryMan are most Fred's evil/hateful side.. He most likely thought up of the Mr.Eddy character using Dick Laurent (the man he killed) because later in jail he realized he was similar to him.. in a way, mostly for the gruesome killing at the end.

The end... This part had me confused - Dick Laurent says "What do you guys want" to Fred and the Mystery Man. Obviously he see's them both. It is also the Mystery Man who hands the knife to Fred. He pulls the trigger as well when Dick Laurent is killed - this is metaphorical.

If the Mystery Man represents Fred's hateful inner, than it was that side of him that brought the knife along. (The shot with the mystery man handing Fred the knife). And it was that side of him who finally killed DIick Laurent. The end is an altered recollection of what actually happened.

Now we have established that the scenes with Rene are reality. In the end we see the picture of Rene with Dick Laurent and Andy at andy's house.. Seem's plausible until one of the detective says something along the lines of "Chief, we have Pete Dayton's finger prints all over the place!". Pete dayton is the one who killed andy. So is Pete real? No, I still think this scene (including the rest in the end) are basically Fred's altered recollections of reality. The way he thought it happened.

So if Pete is the opposite of Fred, Pete is all Fred ever wanted to be.. Who was Andy? Was he a bad guy? Why was it Fred's good side that killed him. Rene even says "Andy's okay". So maybe he wasn't a bad guy? Once again its still Fred's altered perspective on reality. Perhapse he was a bad guy and Rene couldn't see through that.

The aspect of this movie that really makes it confusing, is even the parts where reality takes hold - are not clear. You can't trust any thing you see, its all from Fred's Perspective. I still believe that most of the scenes with Fred (except in prison) are recollections of previous events. As when gets the message "Dick Laurent is dead". In his mind he knew this because he had already killed him and is now re-collecting thoughts in jail. When he is awakened by the terrible truth through video-tapes he is in jail and un-able to accept the fact he has killed his wife. Un-able to sleep the doctor drugs him and puts him back in his cell. where once finally relaxed he is able to come up with "Pete Dayton's world" which include friends, family, and everything the real world contained.

I think Pete Dayton's girlfriend Sheila is the side of Rene that loved him. Perhapse how it was when he first met her, was that side long gone? Had she stopped caring? Maybe Fred ignored this side of her for too long and she decided it was better not to care. (We see these events replay through Pete's Head". Maybe Fred chose Rene for what she had done previously rather than for her caring side that was long gone..

Okay, maybe i went a little bit too far to say Fred went for that side of Rene.. but explain the scene where Sheila beats pete up outside of his house.. Why would he ignore that side of Rene for Alice? (Alice is the side of Rene which he will never have) we learn this in the end when Alice tells him "You'll never have me". This is how Fred felt, and was awakened in a sense back into a recollection of events.

He walks into the room where he saw Alice go and is confronted by the Mystery Man. Fred asks "Where's Alice?" He obviously is confused about identity's because Alice does not exist. The Mystery man tells him "Her name is Rene.. If she told you her name was Alice, she is lying". Notice in this scene Fred is wearing the same clothes Pete was wearing. Maybe he was more like pete than we thought? But ofcourse he is having his own identity crisis, probably not able to determine who he is. The mystery man asks him "WHAT THE FUCK IS YOUR NAME?!" and chases him.


Okay, now i'm done.. If you read this second half your badass!
If you read it and havnt seen the movie, you might have ruined it for yourself. I'm very sorry - There are still a number of ways to interpret this film I'm sure... I hope you enjoy this film as much as I do, it's one of the greatest.. Later , maybe "Mulholland Drive".. If i feel like typing more. hope this helped anyone who felt completely lost. -

[TheHempress]

You know, that really did help. The last time I saw that movie I was maybe 15-16? Anyway, I never looked at it that deeply. It never dawned on me that Pete might have been a figment of Fred's mind.

Who is the Mystery Man, though? Is he real? If so, what was his purpose?

BTW, the soundtrack is totally badass

[Opivy]

I think he represents Fred's Murderous intentions and hatred towards his wife. The jealous/possesive side was probably Mr.Eddy (who we see is friends with the mystery man). I dont think either actually existed. The Mysteryman is the one who shows Fred the dirty truth as well.

Notice also that he only shows up before someone dies. I definately think he represents death.

edit: on second thought hatred might not be the right word to describe how Fred felt towards Rene.

[TheHempress]

:nods: That makes a lot of sense, re: MM and Mr. Eddy.

[Mr Skinner]

Very, very fucking tired, but I wanna read the whole shebang, so I'll post so the thread shows up in my user cp

I love the movie...but I had problems understanding the whole of it as yet...

[Opivy]

An interesting thought.. All of the characters seem to relate to Fred Madison's life in some way and represent an inner emotion/feeling.. Who is Fred Madison the Jazz saxaphonist? Just a scapegoat maybe?

[jay o2 waster]

Lynch, nothing compares to him.

Great interpretation too. Alot of it is word for word what I thought of the movie, almost scarry too.

[Opivy]

Originally Posted by jay o2 waster

Lynch, nothing compares to him.

Great interpretation too. Alot of it is word for word what I thought of the movie, almost scarry too.

Cool, nice to see some other lynch fans on here. Nice sig and avatar btw,

So what do you guys make of the ending?

Blue lights seem to suggest something metaphysical judging by the use of them in his other films. (Twin Peaks FWWM and Mulholland Drive) But whats with the face distorting?

Maybe he's finally broken down from his insecurity about reality...

But let's imagine that rather than just imagening these events happening in his jail cell, he somehow was able to actually create another world, that paralells our own. (in every aspect surrounding Fred Madisons life anyways). Thats who Pete Dayton is, Freds Paralell. Along with the ever so deceiving Alice, who looks alot like Freds wife (hah, check out the tooth lol.)but only with blond hair. Mind over matter, right?

Maybe matter was finally breaking down after being distorted and molded in so many different ways, so many different times. I mean the way the story goes, it seems to go on forever - which i really think the ending/opening shot is a metaphor for. (plunging down a dark highway forever...)

I do like the thought that he was being executed in the electric chair, but those blue lighs also appear during the transformation.. So maybe its something metaphysical-

Anyways,- any thoughts?

[meehai]

my interpretation of that film is its for pretencious people who think too much into random shit, and if u confuse people enough they believe it is something they arent seeing, rather than it just being a mismatch of bad scenes of a director with psycological problems. The real genius lies in a film with a easy to follow, and well put together plot. ie. shawshank redemption etc

Sort of like the people who see a dead dog cut in half, stuck onto a bit of paper and call it art

2 hours of my life i wont get back watching that drivel

[Opivy]

Originally Posted by meehai

my interpretation of that film is its for pretencious people who think too much into random shit, and if u confuse people enough they believe it is something they arent seeing, rather than it just being a mismatch of bad scenes of a director with psycological problems. The real genius lies in a film with a easy to follow, and well put together plot. ie. shawshank redemption etc

Sort of like the people who see a dead dog cut in half, stuck onto a bit of paper and call it art

2 hours of my life i wont get back watching that drivel

I actually couldn't disagree with you more. Sure there are good films that are easy to understand and straight forward, but thats for people who really don't like to think..

People are too used to a film explaining itself 100% with no questions left to the viewer. A film that leaves room for you to dream on and can mean different things to different people (usually through strong metaphor, or as you said mismatched scenes, which are not at all different from eachother) when they are together, they are a whole. a movie, an entity - Which if it's good enough it will stick in your head, and make you think about it.. You'll understand it ( I never thought Lost Highway would make sense, i thought david lynch was just crazy) sooner or later, because it really doesn't matter what it means to your friends - or even to the director. It's what it means to you, and everybody is different. Sometimes for yourself it will even be different when you watch it a fourth or fifth time, it really depends on your frame of mind when you watch it. (ofcourse from beginning to end)

Thats why I like to share what I interpreted of it, and see what others saw as well... Yea I like alot of other films that are much more straight forward (including the Shawshank redemption) but it's pretty much explained.. theres not much to share about what you saw, (especially since the novella was better imho)

A truly great film is one that can explain itself, but leaves a feeling of insecurity at the end... the feeling that something isn't right, and the only one i can think of off the top of my head happens to be another Lynch film, Blue Velvet.

It's so straight forward, and it makes sense at first glance... But start to look for incontinuities in it, most likely you noticed them but you looked over them, just like you would in a dream... The end of this film implies a dream (or does it?) but you really have to think back to what was in the content.

For example (i have many more, i'm not going to get too into it right now)

Dorothy Vallens lives on the seventh floor.

Jeffrey's original plan was to jimmy a window and climb through.

He knew she lived on the 7th floor, this didn't occur to him?

He tells Sandy, and she doesn't seem to see the fault in the plan either.

And really, what a dreamy film - Remember Ben's house? Hah,

anyways, i'm always up for talking more, but if i go on i'm afraid i'll get off topic, i already did... somewhat

[TheHempress]

People are too used to a film explaining itself 100% with no questions left to the viewer.

A film like that can be easily forgotten because it leaves you with nothing, you know?

[Opivy]

So...

maybe Neither Fred Madison or Pete Dayton are real... (?)

What do you guys think..?