Editing Mulholland Drive (film) (section)

===A "poisonous valentine to Hollywood"===
[[File:Mulholland Drive at night.jpg|alt=The street lights and homes of San Fernando Valley lit up at night|thumb|The view of Los Angeles from Mulholland Drive has become an iconic representation of the city.]]
Despite the proliferation of theories, critics note that no explanation satisfies all of the loose ends and questions that arise from the film. Stephen Holden of the ''[[New York Times]]'' writes, "''Mulholland Drive'' has little to do with any single character's love life or professional ambition. The movie is an ever-deepening reflection on the allure of Hollywood and on the multiple role-playing and self-invention that the movie-going experience promises. ... What greater power is there than the power to enter and to program the dream life of the culture?"<ref name="holden">{{cite news|first=Stephen |last=Holden |date=October 6, 2001 |url=https://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9901E2DA143CF935A35753C1A9679C8B63&sec=&spon=&pagewanted=all |title=Film Festival Review: Hollywood, a Funhouse of Fantasy |newspaper=The New York Times |page=A13 |access-date=August 19, 2012 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080621033648/http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9901E2DA143CF935A35753C1A9679C8B63 |archive-date=June 21, 2008}}</ref> [[J. Hoberman]] from the ''[[Village Voice]]'' echoes this sentiment by calling it a "poisonous valentine to Hollywood."<ref name="hoberman">{{cite news|last=Hoberman |first=J. |title=Points of No Return |newspaper=[[The Village Voice]] |date=October 2, 2001 |url=http://www.villagevoice.com/film/0140,hoberman,28631,20.html |access-date=August 19, 2012 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080719172617/http://www.villagevoice.com/film/0140%2Choberman%2C28631%2C20.html |archive-date=July 19, 2008}}</ref>

''Mulholland Drive'' has been compared with [[Billy Wilder]]'s [[film noir]] ''[[Sunset Boulevard (film)|Sunset Boulevard]]'' (1950), another tale about broken dreams in Hollywood,<ref name="macaulay" />{{sfn|Sheen|Davison|2004|p=170}}<ref name="vass">{{cite journal |last=Vass |first=Michael |date=June 22, 2005 |title=Cinematic meaning in the work of David Lynch: Revisiting ''Twin Peaks: Fire Walk With Me'', ''Lost Highway'', and ''Mulholland Drive'' |journal=CineAction |issue=67 |pages=12–25}}</ref> and early in the film Rita is shown crossing [[Sunset Boulevard]] at night. Apart from both titles being named after iconic Los Angeles streets, ''Mulholland Drive'' is "Lynch's unique account of what held Wilder's attention too: human [[putrefaction]] (a term Lynch used several times during his press conference at the [[New York Film Festival]] 2001) in a city of lethal illusions."<ref name="nochimson">{{cite journal |last=Nochimson |first=Martha |date=Autumn 2002 |title=''Mulholland Drive'' by David Lynch |journal=Film Quarterly |issue=56 |volume=1 |pages=37–45 |doi=10.1525/fq.2002.56.1.37}}</ref> Lynch lived near Mulholland Drive, and stated in an interview, "At night, you ride on the top of the world. In the daytime you ride on top of the world, too, but it's mysterious, and there's a hair of fear because it goes into remote areas. You feel the history of Hollywood in that road."<ref name="macaulay" /> Watts also had experience with the road before her career was established: "I remember driving along the street many times sobbing my heart out in my car, going, 'What am I doing here?{{' "}}<ref name="cheng"/>

Critic Gregory Weight cautions viewers against the cynicism of believing that Lynch presents only "the façade and that he believes only evil and deceit lie beneath it."<ref name="weight">{{cite journal |last=Weight |first=Gregory |year=2002 |title=Film Reviews: Mulholland Drive |journal=Film & History |issue=32 |volume=1 |pages=83–84}}</ref> As much as Lynch makes a statement about the deceit, manipulation and false pretenses in Hollywood culture, he also infuses [[nostalgia]] throughout the film and recognizes that real art comes from classic filmmaking, as Lynch cast and thereby paid tribute to veteran actors [[Ann Miller]], [[Lee Grant]] and [[Chad Everett]]. He also portrays Betty as extraordinarily talented and shows that her abilities are noticed by powerful people in the entertainment industry.<ref name="weight" /> Commenting on the contrasting positions between film nostalgia and the putrefaction of Hollywood, [[Steven Dillon (writer and professor)|Steven Dillon]] writes that ''Mulholland Drive'' is critical of the culture of Hollywood as much as it is a condemnation of [[cinephilia]].{{sfn|Dillon|2006|p=94}}

Harring described her interpretation after seeing the film: "When I saw it the first time, I thought it was the story of Hollywood dreams, illusion and obsession. It touches on the idea that nothing is quite as it seems, especially the idea of being a Hollywood movie star. The second and third times I saw it, I thought it dealt with identity. Do we know who we are? And then I kept seeing different things in it. ... There's no right or wrong to what someone takes away from it or what they think the film is really about. It's a movie that makes you continuously ponder, makes you ask questions. I've heard over and over, 'This is a movie that I'll see again' or 'This is a movie you've got to see again.' It intrigues you. You want to get it, but I don't think it's a movie to be gotten. It's achieved its goal if it makes you ask questions."<ref>{{cite news |last=Spelling |first=Ian |title=Laura Elena Harring Explores the World of David Lynch |newspaper=New York Times Syndicate |date=November 2001 |url=http://www.davidlynch.de/harringnyle.html |access-date=August 19, 2012 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120209180613/http://www.davidlynch.de/harringnyle.html |archive-date=February 9, 2012}}</ref>