Spoilers below




Just watched the David Lynch movie Blue Velvet for the first time. Is there any part of the movie that is a dream? or is all of it a dream?

I ask because David Lynch likes to use dreams in his movies and the ending to Blue Velvet just seemed too "happy". Also, the going in and out of the ear would have been a perfect dream crossover point.

I myself can't see any reason for a dream or where one would have been used but after the movie I just felt cheated because of how "happy" everything ended.

Any thoughts?

Based on my memories of the film (it's been a few years), I would say that it's either all "real", or everything from around the time is a dream or fantasy. My feeling is that it's all "real", or as real as anything in a Lynch film can be.

While it may not be a "reality" (hey, it IS David Lynch), nothing has ever led me to believe that it is a dream.

I think the two ear scenes point to either a dream or fantasy of Jeffery's. I don't think there is really any evidence to prove it or argue againt it though. Its all a matter of how the viewer percieves the events - are they too outrageous to be realistic or do thinks like this really happen in small town America?

If its reasonable to expect that people enjoy this film, then people can fantasize/dream the events. And as Mulholland Drive has shown, dream = movie.

The ending of the film is very dreamlike, but I'd say up until that part, as bizarre as the scenes are, it's 'real.' (whatever that is)

Don't forget the song that Dean Stockwell sings, Roy Orbison's In Dreams. Also, Frank Booth (Hopper) demands that everyone pay attention to his song (is David Lynch trying to tell us something?)

Neither - it's a movie.

this is a funny thread for everytime i come out of a david lynch film, i hear the comment, "oh so i guess it was all just a dream then"

I saw the film in the theater when it came out and a number of times on VHS since then (I've got the DVD but haven't even opened it yet) I don't think I ever thought that it was a dream, maybe partially because capping off a film with "It was all just a dream" seemed/seems like a lame/film-studentish/J.R. Ewing thing to do and I gave David Lynch more credit than that.

To me the overly "happy" portions of the film are like that to show that even under the sweetest, squeaky-clean, idyllic appearance of middle america, there lies a festering, dirty underbelly.

Hmmm... very similar to Mulholland Dr.

Well - I remember analyzing this film for a film class many years ago, and there ARE sufficient clues that could lead one to the conclusion that it is all a dream... most importantly are the song "In Dreams" and the rather interesting similarities between Jeffrey's dad and Frank Booth.

We see Mr. Beaumont in the hospital on life support wearing an oxygen mask, and Frank is constantly sucking laughing gas through a similar mask. Jeffrey's intruige with Booth may partially be fueled by this "link" that makes Frank the "Bizaro-Lumberton" father-figure.

Does the ear the spark Jeffrey's imagination to allow him to escape the truly despressing situation of dropping out of college to run his Dad's business by creating a huge seemy, secret underbelly to Lumberton? There are so many interesting parallels and aspects between what is happy and nice in the town (Sandy and Det. Williams, white picket fences) and who/what may lurk right around the corner (Dorothy and Frank and his gang and an ear lying in a field) that Lynch seemingly crafts it all openly for the viewer to decide.

Truly a masterpiece of filmmaking. Pick a prespective and enjoy finding evidence to back it up! Certainly makes for an interesting discussion at parties!

Makes sure you take plenty of Pabst Blue Ribbon!

I prefer Heinekin.

Heineken? FU@K THAT SH1T!!!

After several years, I saw Blue Velvet again. This time, from a truly adult perspective, I was really taken with this great film which I first saw all the way through when I was about 14. I noticed a lot more of the dark humor, and like Kubrick, Lynch's uncanny ability to mix moods and feelings in the same scene is still astonishing. But I was left with some questions about things I never noticed or wondered about before. Heavy spoilers below, so if for some reason you haven't seen (and like) the movie don't bother reading.

1) Do you think Jeffrey (McLachlan) and Dorothy (Rosellini) made love the first time he went back to her apartment, or not until the second time back when you actually see them go at it and he ends up hitting her? Just a question to help with the emotional understanding, which is a big part of Lynch's movies.

2) That striking and absurd scene at the end, where Jeffrey goes to her apartment and sees the Yellow Man/Gordon hooked into the TV and...almost dead?...and Don, Dorothy's husband, with the missing ear...every time I saw this before the incredible ugly beauty of Lynch's imagery just struck me and I didn't question what I was looking at. But now I really want to know, or get a good theory...what exactly happened there? Frank (Dennise Hopper) must have done it, of course...but what happened? Laura Dern's Father in the movie was his partner, he pretended not to know he was working with Frank on drug-dealing, and next thing you know you see this grotesque scene. Any ideas?

3) Maybe it was watching it with the clarity of the DVD the first time, but I've seen it both theatrically and on VHS and LD, and I never remember there being "flash frames" when Jeffrey is on the stairwell near the end and mentally recollects the scenes with the Yellow Man and Frank as he approaches in the well-dressed man disguise. Has anyone not seen these before either? I'm almost tempted to hook up my old dusty LD to check.

Been a long time I had burning questions about a movie, especially one as familiar to me as this one. Still a one-of-a-kind film.

Quick responce to number 3. Those shots were always there.

OK, I'll have to check my LD to verify I'm not nuts ...any insights or opinions on the other more substantive questions?

I was reading the script and it says they made love right after Frank left the first time. Lynch's script has many more details and scenes than ended up in the movie. He seems to have shot the film script and then deliberately removed scenes that explained or elucidate the story and thus came up with his mystery. Here's a link to the script.

http://you.co.il/scripts/BlueVelvet.html

Here's what the script says about the scene in the apartment at the end.

As to what exactly happened, it's not quite clear. Somehow Frank must have found out that The Yellow Man was being investigated and dealt with him. It never made sense to me why he'd go back there, though.

In the actual film of course we know this didn't occur. What I was wondering was if they did when Jeffrey came back the next time, when Dorothy says "I looked for you in my closet tonight." Probably impossible to say definitively. The next scene is a dissolve to Jeffrey watching Dorothy at the Slow Club.

The script excerpt is very interesting, thanks for posting. I read the script myself one time, and the differences are very funny. Among many other things, Lynch really does treat his scripts like rough blueprints.

Or that in the script Frank sucks on Helium instead of Amyl Nitrate (Dennis Hopper's suggestion)

I just have some questions about the movie, if anyone can help, it would be appreciated.









Sorry for all the questions

Here's some comments that will hopefully help you:

Thanks for the help. As with most David Lynch movies I always have questions afterwards

We all do, man. And Lynch wouldn't have it any other way!

1/2. The man in yellow was a cop, the other man, as mentioned, was Dorothy's husband. And the man in yellow wasn't dead, as such. He had been shot in the head and was still standing in a state of shock -- don't know if it makes any sense, but that's how it was written in the script. My take was that Yellow Man was working undercover to infiltrate Frank's organization.

3. Frank disguised himself so he could move around without being recognized. He was a criminal, after all.

4. Yes, I presume so. I assume that Dorothy's husband was working with Frank in some (probably minor) capacity, crossed Frank somehow, and Frank killed him. And Frank, a sexually dysfunctional man, then used his position to abuse Dorothy. I would also think that Frank probably had a fixation on Dorothy before her husband was killed.

Wasn't Don, Dorothy's husband?