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Blue Velvet (1986)
My favorite film of all time... beautiful and nightmarish
"Blue Velvet" is a take on film noir with typical Lynch weirdness, unique atmosphere and breathtaking cinematic work. Although I did not appreciate it on my first viewing, I came to love it, and now it's one of my favorite films of all time. Jeffrey Beaumont (Kyle MacLachlan) comes home from college to visit his sick and bed-ridden father who had a tragic accident. Having made a startling discovery (to be more exact, a human ear lying in the grass), out of sheer boredom and driven by passion for adventure Jeffrey decides to proceed with this mystery and gets involved with a beautiful, seductive night-club singer Dorothy Vallens (Isabella Rossellini) living in a shabby apartment building, which is somewhat incongruous to the sleepy, picturesque suburban paradise of Lumberton.
Dorothy, a queer mixture, of "damsel in distress" and "femme fatale", is in a middle of a life and death situation involving her husband and son. She is subjected to sexual abuse and other forms of violence by a psychopathic man named Frank Booth (Dennis Hopper) and his demented associates. Jeffrey's further investigation reveals that one of the police detectives is also involved in the criminal activities of the gang, and that means that he will have to deal with these people using his own resources. He confides in Sandy, a good-natured and sweet blonde, whose father is a hard-working and honest policeman. Sandy is obviously fascinated by Jeffrey's recklessness, but her level-headed nature prevents her from becoming his full-time accomplice and ditching her boy-friend, at least, not until later on.
Stylistically, Blue Velvet is a precursor to Lynch's notorious collaboration with Mark Frost - the cult classic TV series "Twin Peaks". These creations share a lot of elements including the small seemingly sleepy town setting, a dangerously attractive brunette, oldies often played under disturbing circumstances, dreamy angel-like singers (remember Julie Cruise in Twin Peaks), flame and even the famous red curtains. Although "Blue Velvet" is an erotic thriller without any supernatural context, somehow you expect the Dwarf to pop up and start dancing at any time... although no dwarf appears, it manages to get just as weird as Twin Peaks.
The blue velvet is a leitmotif of the film. "Blue Velvet" is a song that Dorothy has to perform in a club every night looking straight in the eyes of her tormentors. Dorothy also wears a blue velvet gown at home, and Frank has a fetish for blue velvet using it in his perverted sexual games. Blue velvet is a symbol of mystery, obsession and hidden passions lurking beneath the exterior of men.
Lynch uses different colors for the scenes taking place in the normal world of American suburbia versus Dorothy's apartment or Ben's house. Lumbertown is depicted as idyllic joyful place with bright yellow tulips against the white fence and bright green grass. Everything involving Dorothy or the criminals is shot either in the darkness or unnaturally striking colors. The director makes an interesting application of the contrast between the two women in protagonist's life. Dangerous and seductive Dorothy is a voluptuous brunette wearing blue or red gowns, whereas Sandy is a slender blonde, your typical American next door cheerleader.
Kyle MacLahlan is adorable and gives an incredibly convincing performance. His love-making scenes with Rossellini are tasteful, beautiful and disturbing at the same time. Rosselini was quite adequate, especially if we take into account the complexity of the character, but I couldn't get rid of this thought in the back of my head that Sherilyn Fenn would have been much more memorable. Perhaps, I am irreparably spoiled by Twin Peaks... However, Rossellini's was Lynch's favorite at the time, so we can understand being a little bit biased here. Dennis Hopper is way over the top as Frank Booth, yet still turns in an amazing performance, being psychotic, violent and pitiful at the same time. His every appearance on the screen is a an avalanche of emotions, swear-words and craziness. He is a dangerous man and Jeffrey who stepped in his way knows that the only way for him to stay alive is to eliminate Frank.
Lynch decided to end this flick on a joyful note. Everything goes back to normal in Lumberton, Jeffrey and Sandy will probably go on to have a long and wholesome life together with children on the way. Dorothy is hugging her son in the final moments of the movie, and the robin as the symbol of good is devouring the bug just as in Sandy's dream. However, despite the obviously happy ending and triumph of the good over the evil, the final scenes have such a dream-like and surreal quality that one cannot help suspecting that something bad is doomed to happen again. With Lynch you never know for sure... a controversial classic, not to be missed.