I have to absolutely go with ThisIsTheGirl aswell. The "happy ending" was absolutely beautiful and incredibly powerful, my favourite part of the film. One thing I find facinating about this is the fact that everybody says "Oh i didn't understand what was going on" and "who were they supposed to be" etc etc. And yet, we all feel these emotions about the ending, whether we chose to call it happiness or melancholy, or whatever. That suggests to me that we understood more than we realise, and to me, thats fascinating!

I would also agree that it is not an entirely happy ending. There is some great tinge of sadness in the closing scenes. On top of this there is something a little frightening about the closing credits, especially the opening bars...and that brilliant final word "Sweet."

 I was reading Catching the Big Fish the other day and one chapter discusses how David gave the Polish actor (who I believe plays the phantom) a choice of three props for his scene. One of these was a small red bulb. This actor then apparently came out from behind a tree with it in his mouth and David loved it. Does anyone know what Im talking about? And does this directly relate to the scene in IE when the phantom comes out from behind the tree, with what I thought was a screwdriver in his mouth? I began doubting myself and thought maybe it was a bulb in his mouth in the film??

That's it! Very well put!

As for the lightbulb thing - I've heard a few people refer to it as a lightbulb, so I guess it must be. Personally, I thought it was one of those miniature bottles of whiskey! The scene is terrifying - the way he appears from behind the tree is really freaky. I think as Laura moves backwards away from him, she picks up the screwdriver from off the top of a barrel or some other piece of junk lying around.

I'm not disagreeing with your comments about INLAND EMPIRE at all. I'm only questioning your comment "David is not known for liking subtitles, and most of his own DVDs don't even have a subs feature". His addition of subtitles to parts of the US release of FWWM and the presence of subtitles on the majority of the Lynch DVDs in my collection (including some where he had sufficient control to prevent the inclusion of chapter stops) suggests to me that that is not the case. My copy of Mulholland Drive is the first Universal R2 release and it has subtitles. 

I agree this is a rather trivial point (though for deaf people it might not be!)

Hahaha! Very true.

And as you say - my comment was that he is not known for liking subs - i.e. I am unaware of him being on record as saying he likes subs. If I'd said "he is known for not liking subs", I could understand the confusion!

OK, I'm starting to piece together my views on IE now - I really want to know what people think on the issue of "Smithy" - I think it's a reference to the Alan Smithee cut of Dune - and possibly an insight into how David feels that Dune exists in a kind of limbo. The more I think about it, the more I think that IE is DL celebrating his career highs, and mourning the lows. I was reminded of something he said at the NFT last week:

"It was on Dune, where I knew I was selling out, and then still you get a bad review, that's dying two times"

Dying two times.....

Not sure about the Smithy thing. They make references to Smithy's house on the set in the beginning and the set not being completed yet (Dune IS the only film Lynch didn't have final cut on) and isn't Smithy's house that Nikki runs into before she crosses over into Lost Girl's world? There is a very brief mention that the role of Smithy has not been cast yet, so like I said not sure of the relevance of "Smithy" but the Dune connection is kinda cool.

"Every day holds a new beginning and every hour holds the promise of an Invitation to Love." 

Bleep you, & bleep the establishment, and bleep all of you who are trying to make me part of the unestablished establishment.

I've watched it again.

I was afraid that it would end up being a total let down now that I had already formulated a theory. But I liked it more, I got new things to work with and this time around I also was able to make some pieces of the puzzle meet. Anyway, I don't find the polish happy ending goofy anymore. Actually that music is so beautiful and I would like to know if anyone managed to transcript the lyrics to it. I'm sure the song contains a poetic meaning to the finale.

I think Nikki dies actually. She shoots herself, as a matter of fact overimposed on the Phantom's face is Nikki's face regurgitating blood (as a mirroring image of her last dying effort in High in blue tomorrows's last shootings). Everything that comes after that moment, for me, it's just limbo. It's the waiting room translated in another language, which is more real. I know some of you think the credit sequence is actually an extradiegetic insert, and in some evident ways it is. But I think it also tells us a lot about Nikki. What do you think?

"Did they scoff the whole damn Smörgåsbord?" (Audrey) 

"Gimme a donut!" (Coop)

Oh, I forgot... Is that guy making comments on Nikki's ass David's son Austin? I think I saw him in Pretty as a picture when he was about 15, I guess. Now he's a handsome 25... Oh, of course he played Mrs. Tremond's grandson in Twin peaks.

Then, I also would like to know if in the original English language film Bucky's voice is actually David's? I think I read this one thing here on the message board, but I kind of forgot who pointed that out. The italian dubbed version has a youngster's voice over Lynch, which is kind of illusory trying to make it sound like somebody else. I think that scene is amazing and if that's Lynch, also kind of humorous because that would mean he sort of kicks himself out of the film as he plays (off screen) someone who doesn't do his job correctly on the set, causing problems and issues.

"Did they scoff the whole damn Smörgåsbord?" (Audrey) 

"Gimme a donut!" (Coop)

Bucky Jay is indeed voiced by David - funny scene.

Quite like the way he's put himself into the story, sort of like the way "Sue" is the person they hear behind the set during the audition scene. I think Sue was born at the moment Nikki started reading for the part.

"Every day holds a new beginning and every hour holds the promise of an Invitation to Love." 

 Very twisted and, in my opinion, questionable theory. Anyway, each interpretation is at least worth listening to.

I like the idea that an actress ends up killing herself without actually realizing it, because she is so taken by her role that she wants to say 'goodbye' to her old self. In the end, for me, it's like she actually transmigates to another world, the other side, talking cheap The world of the dead.

Anyway, I thought the way Laura Dern plays the last scene when Nikki stands up after the final shooting and goes away is really an amazing moment of her whole career. She portrayed so beautifully the world of actors. The way she looks at Kingsley and gets away is like she was saying "You don't know nothing about acting and its dramatic consequences on the persons who take certain roles. You only want us to quickly do the job to get this damn film finished". In a way, I think Lynch with this film and Mukholland Dr. expressed his respect and admiration for the actor figure and he really put the directors figures (Adam Kesher before, Kingsley now) under a subtle but still pessimistic light.

I actually start getting the joke of David Lynch when he said "I think this is the simplest film I've ever made". I think that each of us can have fun deconstructing the movie and reading what we want in it. For me, it's a movie that is to be taken as a whole and bringing a very deep message on making films as an actor (actually, actress). And this makes me think that female characters are chosen more often by not only Lynch, but almost every director that makes a metacinematographical movie. 

Of course, there will be exceptions. They just don't come to my mind now or, more simplier, I haven't seen any example of male acting portrayal.

"Did they scoff the whole damn Smörgåsbord?" (Audrey) 

"Gimme a donut!" (Coop)

That god damn trailer's more popular than Uncle's Day in a whorehouse!

That god damn trailer's more popular than Uncle's Day in a whorehouse!

"Did they scoff the whole damn Smörgåsbord?" (Audrey) 

"Gimme a donut!" (Coop)

I finally saw the film.We have it on screens since the 23rd.The cinema hall was the smallest one they could find. This movie was obviously considered not to be for a "wide range of audience", actually it was like that:maximum 15 people and imagine - it was only the second day after release! The film was in original version-in English subtitled in Spanish, it was a real present for us as translation spoils the whole thing. I have never seen anything similar before - during the film it was an absolute silence, nobody ate popcorn or spoke, seemed we were alone in the hall! We stayed in the hall untill the last letter on the screen and an usher who opened the door was angry as it was late about 2:00 and as we didnt want to leave the hall he called us all "fanatics"!

When I returned home I was so excited that I even wanted to comment on some detail here but now I just want to share my deep admiration and enjoyment after seeing it. I guess I need time to try to understand it all, its like a magic box.. You open it and find another one inside and then more boxes inside, the film is so complete and can pure emotions be understood and analyzed? I have an impression of a dreaming at night when all you "see" seems to have logic and sense but when wake up you can hardly explain and understand it..but you still FEEL it..I think its common psychology, but so right expressed!

Dialogues are fabulous, music.. the main character..I really LOVE this film. I think I will come back to see it this week.I could never imagine that emotions can be so well understood and expressed in a visual form.

The Art of Glenn Mason

I know this was mentioned on of the two previous Inland Empire threads, but I don't feel like searching through 40 some pages of posts...it was mentioned when the DVD of Inland Empire was going to be released, would anyone be willing to clue me in? Thanks, Smokey

"Every day holds a new beginning and every hour holds the promise of an Invitation to Love." 

Okay, I saw IE a second time last night and here are some random thoughts.

 Every woman portrayed in the film is an aspect of Womanhood. Like an onion, the Lost Girl is the bottom-most layer that triggers the rest above it.

The first shot of the record player says "Axxon N is the longest running radio show in history..now in the baltic region, the story of a girl in a cold hotel (sic) ". Perhaps the MOVIE IS THE RADIO SHOW AXXON N. The tower/interrogation room with the silent crooked glasses man, I believe, is the radio station - Axxon N is seen outside of the building, and a cardboard square with an A is on the wall. Perhaps Laura is relaying her life so that the man can record it and play it again for...us?

Did anyone notice who the man is that hits the Lost Girl in her room about two hours into the film?

Grace: "Is your husband involved (with the film)? " I now believe that her husband was in Poland when the original film 47 was filmed. He was the caretaker of the animals in the circus. The question is whether the circus was within or outside of 47...I'm trying to figure out which Poland scenes are 47 and which are behind the scenes.

To go along with this train of thought, I noticed that the sound the record makes at the beginning of the film is heard in the background of EVERY SCENE IN POLAND. So...are those scenes Axxon N, the longest running radio show?

The husband is hired to kill the Phantom, because the Phantom hypnotized the wife of the Polish actress to kill the actress and her husband, who we see dead in one scene.During the seance, is the ghost-like girl the Lost Girl aka his wife back home in America?  The scene where the Husband drives to the shack to look for the Phantom, I believe this is where the circus had been. The man there says "they ahve all left"'; the circus has moved on. The Phantom has traveled to Los Angeles and moved next door to the suburban house of the Lost Girl and the Husband.

So WHY is the Phantom AFTER the Lost Girl? He also seems to go to America to attempt to enter the Rabbit Room / Room 47, which we see at the beginning of the film. Perhaps the Lost Girl stands in his way...?

The Polish girls faces' became confused for me. There is the Lost Girl. There is also the woman which figures promiantely in the scene on the Polish street where her old boss confronts her for being out at night; she is also the face that tells Laura to burn the cigarette through the silk. Then there is the murdered actress (when we see her body, the prostitutes ask "Who is she"?"  I believe the former woman is the murderer of the Polish actors, and her ghost calls upon Laura to enter Poland and witness what might happen to her.

 Someone previously mentioned the japanese girl's monologue of the torn vagina. This is a common occurance to prostitutes, so seems to be a reference to Infedility.

If we are to assume that the Lost Girl is the nexus of the film, then this implies that the Polish plot is the actual reality of the film. The Nikki/Sue saga is a symbolic extension of the Polish drama to enable the Lost Girl to wrap her mind and heart around the "consequences of her actions" and to be able to finally face herself.

Looking at you guys' posts, it seems there are differing but substantial conceptions of the Nikki/Sue aspect of IE, so i will not dwell upon it.

THE RABBITS. At the end of the Polish seance, the three old men slowly move into seemingly random positions. We then see that this fades and bleeds into the three rabbits in the exact same position.  These benevolent old men may be the rabbits. The man who guards the entrance from Phantom to Rabbit Room/Room 47 at the beginning of the film,is the same man who gently leads Husband into Seance, where he hears the voice of the Lost Girl, beggining him to save her.

I equate this voice  to Laura's phone call to the Rabbit Room.

I'm still not sure why this Rabbit Room has so much significance as a portal, if the Polish men already reside in it...When they dissapear at the end of the film, Laura looks devastated, not happy...

Lost Girl's Room is not Room 47. The rabbit room is Room 47. So where is this hotel? And the hallway that the two main prostitutes run down joyfully at the end?

The son at the very end is named Smithy's Son in the credits. So this husband is the Smithy that Kingsley mentions early on (this girl keeps asking, Who's playing Smithee? Who's playing him?) , and also the owner of the house in the set that Devon mentions. Thus, Nikki's Husband / Lost Girl's Husband WAS in the original film. And did anyone notice that at the end when the family embraces, Lost Girl's reflection in the window is Nikki???

One last interesting observation: During Beat Up Laura's monologue, she talks about the place where she lived (the suburban house) and how factories spewed gas that caused hallucinations and other weird things. Maybe this is a metaphor for the factories of Hollywood, and the consequent blurring and destruction of Identity.

AND WHAT THE F*(^(*%   IS THE LB TATTOO ON LAURA'S HAND?? 

This would look good on your wall.

-Noah- 

"Every day holds a new beginning and every hour holds the promise of an Invitation to Love." 

That threw me for a loop too.

The movie was very complex but that part was one of the top WTF? moments.

"Every day holds a new beginning and every hour holds the promise of an Invitation to Love."