I am not sure how much this has been commented on previously, but as I see it IE is the most Twin Peakian film Lynch has come out with since 1992 or that whole era...

Would others agree at all?

Not really.

It seemed like a combo of Lost Highway and Mulholland Drive to me...with a dash of Eraserhead. 

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

There's a story doing the rounds at the moment about some Francis Bacon paintings going on sale. We're all familiar with David's appreciation of Bacon - well, one of these paintings up for sale is this one:

As soon as I saw it, I was reminded of the two blurred faces in the hotel room at the beginning of IE.

I don't think that Nikki is a B-Movie actress, just one who has not had a significant success for a few years. It's worth familiarising yourself with the movie Sunset Boulevard if you want a good insight into Lynch's mind - it's one of his favourite films, and it's all about an aging actress in need of a "return" (don't call it a comeback!).

You bring up an interesting point though - Nikki's house is opulent, palatial even. So when the Visitor tells her the story about "the route to the Palace", I was thinking "but she's already in the Palace". Perhaps Nikki is being reminded of how she got there....

I loved freddie howard (harry dean stanton), bumming a couple of bucks here & there.

I just gotta see this film again soon!

I just saw IE, and it was good as I was hoping for. A lot of good observations have already been made, I'll need another viewing to really digest it. I'll just add a couple more questions regarding details:

- Why was the husband character wearing his coat inside out for a few scenes?

- The scene where the prostitutes have old-fashioned hats and an antique car goes by, was it intended to represent the time when the original "47" film was being made?

- Anybody else pee themselves when clown-face appeared? That was equal to the thing behind the Winkie's dumpster in MD for creepiness.

PS:

One more thing, I loved the "cigarette burn" gag, during one of the rabbits scenes, the hole that signifies a reel change in the upper right corner is on fire. This also ties to burning a hole in silk, maybe seeing "through" the projection screen? 

It's interesting to read all the different interpretations of the film. There are so many different ways of seeing and interpreting it!!

I didn't notice Nikki's husband wearing his jacket inside out, but he was wearing a shiny green jacket at one point.

But I did noitce that in one of the Polish sequences, there is a horse and cart going past, and I thought that it must be the 19th century or early 20th century. So the initial events in Poland must have happened a long time ago indeed!

I think the Rabbits are creatures from another world, possibly another planet. Their dialogue does not seem to make any sense. It seems like non sequiturs. But now that I ahve seen the film twice, certain phrases start to be meaningful. One of the rabbits says "What time is it?" (reflecting Nikki's confusion about time throughout the film). Another says, "The phone didn't ring today."

Interesting about the object in the Phantom's mouth. I really thought it was a screwdriver, but then I read here, it was a light bulb. Perhaps he is like Uncle Fester in the Addam's Family!

Was gonna write a long interpretation but without the luxury of having the dvd to refer back to, it would be pointless so I'm just gonna throw a few ideas out there ... 

The unpaid bill - Nikki/Sue/Lost girl owes a duty of fidelity to her husband by the virtues of marriage . By having an affair, this leaves a fidelity deficit, therefore to rectify this debt, nikki sacrifices herself by providing the screwdriver with which doris side visits brutal fucking murder on her. Brutal fucking murder is also visited on Devon/Billy/? around about the midpoint of the film. 'The man in the green suit did it'. Green = Jealous rage.

Inversion of male & female - Bare with me on this one but I definitley got a feeling of this from the film. The character that plays Nikki's husband (Peter Lucas) seems to be evil and good in different parts of the film. He seems to have a jealous wife (julia ormond) and a lover owing to the scene where Julia Ormond's character is arguing with him as he is leaving the house to meet his lover. Obviously Nikki/sue has a lover & a husband, but it seems clear that Peter Lucas' character is having an affair too. I think nikki & her husband are the same character but inverted, mad as it may seem. nikki has two men (peter lucas & devon) & peter lucas has two women . I think this relates to the rabbits in a way as well IMO. The rabbit doing the ironing represents the marital spouse and the one on the couch represents the lover. I reckon the 'male' rabbit is Nikki/sue as he seems to be the main protagonist.

- Breaking the Vicious cycle (past/present/future) (vier sieben / BBQ scene in the real Inland Empire = present? / On high in blue tomorrows). In order to repay her debt, Nikki sacrifices herself on hollywood boulevard. After this she ventures eventually to a cinema screen where she is on screen. To me, this signifies that a new script is being written and a new film being made. nikki/sue eventually kills the phantom and frees lost girl (the past) with a kiss.

I know I'm not being very coherent here I just wanted to put down in writing what i got from the film (before it fades) and see if anyone else felt similarly...

The unpaid bill - That's great, Roque....that is one reoccuring motif that hasn't been mentioned yet and I am surprised since it is such an obvious one...The unpaid bill is connected to infedility...I am not sure if the debt is repaid through brutal f-ing murder. Your ideas so make sense and do fit within the film as a whole...it has been over a month since I last saw it, but several viewings have left me with a pretty clear outlook of the film...Nikki does give the screwdriver to Doris, which she picked up when she visited the Phantom next door to her in suburbia...so maybe this is her way of paiying the bill, because this happens right after the creepy Steenburgen neighbor drops by and reminds about the "bill"...overall, Nikki and Lost Girl's lives parallel each other and they both have things in their life they have to rectify and by Nikki making the journey through the Inland Empire and Lost Girl watching "It Could Have Been A Wonderful Life" in the hotel room in which she is trapped...they exorcise their demons and re-evaluate and reconsiders their lives and how they should lead them during and after the "rescue"  

Inversion of male & female - As far as Peter Lucas' character...I think that Nikki's husband is jealous and controlling and would have specific and violent ways in which he would react to infedility of his wife...Lost girl's husband, on the other hand, is more calm and "understanding" or even aloof when he hears the news of her pregnancy...Yes, there is that one scene of violence when he attacks her and it seems that this scene is placed within the context of Lost' Girl's experience and not Nikki's...I would say that this is a release of all the pent up rage and resentment for his wife's messing around and getting knocked up by another man, and that is when he decideds to run away and join the circus. I'm sorry, I don't recall any scene with Peter Lucas and Julia Ormond, what part of the film is this scene in?  

- Breaking the Vicious cycle - I think I clarified my thoughts on this in the first part of this post,,,great ideas, Roque and as always I am pleased when I read that someone on the TPG has had the pleasure of seeing Inland Empire in the theater. 

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

quote - 'I'm sorry, I don't recall any scene with Peter Lucas and Julia Ormond, what part of the film is this scene in?'

 Smokey I'm 99.9% sure there is a scene, around about the middle in which Julia Ormonds character (but not doris side since she is married to billy) tries to stop peter lucas' character  from leaving what i assume is the marital house, to meet his lover. We mostly see the back of her but I'm pretty damn sure its her. She said something like ' i know i can't have you child' and 'i'm gonna stop you from running to her' . It really threw me as he is the one who is impotent as nikki's husband. sorry if thats a bit hazy but there's just so much to take in and recall!

 Again I got so much out of it the second time that i didn't get first go. I never really had the depth of sympathy for laura dern's character that i was feeling 2nd time round. For a 25 yr old fella to have watery eyes during the end scenes is a big credit to Lynch! We shouldn't overlook karolina gruska's brilliant performance either. She holds your attention so well. I particularly loved the scene where she is told that her lover has been killed.

Overall I think it is a brilliant movie that people will gradually begin to accept as lynch's best.

you know what?

The more I think about it, INLAND EMPIRE is the greatest motion picture I have ever seen. Somebody on on imdb said that if you don't like it your not *really* a lynch fan at all. That is bound to get many folks' backs up, but I kinda agree in a way. INLAND EMPIRE is pure lynch, at his most uncompromised, and most importantly, at his optimal best in terms of technical ability. I bet you he is in a very content place now after making IE. Well done David!

Can't wait for the DVD :-)

I just want to say I adore this movie. Words fail me. I've seen it 3 times now and it's grown on me each time, every viewing has felt like a different movie. I feel I am going to have a long and special relasionship with it. Going to see it one more time, will write after.

 'SoOoOoOo Strange'

IE premiered in Finland last Friday, I went to see it first on Saturday and then again on Monday. I enjoyed the second viewing a lot more than the first one. After that, I read through this thread and now would like to add some thoughts regarding a few details of the film:

- LB tattoo on Nikki's hand when the gun is taken from the drawer. On the official website's discussion board someone mentioned "Light Bulb" which really lit a light bulb inside my head! Remember the red light bulb the Phantom is having in his mouth when he first appears to Nikki. I mean, the mouth is where Nikki shoots him in the end and it's where he bleeds from. 

Also the Axxon N. door in the end (behind which she finds the Phantom) is written in formal typeface while the ones she sees before have been written in an infantile way. Could this, put together with the tattoo, indicate that Nikki's goal to attack and destroy the Phantom (perhaps in herself, as discussed here earlier) has become more and more clear to her?

On the other hand, it is also stated by Nikki in numerous occasions that she doesn't know what's going on, she doesn't remember, she's mixing things in her mind - tattooing the essential is a Memento kind of thing. When she sees the one with the red light bulb, he's the one. "Kill him."

- The rabbit in the black suit is somehow deeply connected to Nikki. He's the one who picks up the phone when Nikki calls, he's the only one who leaves the room (while Nikki is the only one who comes in there) and he's the one who finally sits in the same place that Nikki does when she's talking to the man with the glasses.

Another thing I saw being discussed on the official site: The letter A appears in the room of the man with the glasses, while the letter K is clearly visible on Kingsley's megaphone. Possible connections: 1) the way hindus describe the creation of the universe (A=continuum, K=abstract stop, leading to creation)... 2) AK-47, how about making a theory out of that one :D

If the numbers interest you, I also found out that when Nikki is snapping her fingers to the (other) hookers on the street, on the FOURTH time the other hookers snap their fingers too, and on the SEVENTH (last) time there's a closeup of Nikki's fingers. Also, I think that snapping fingers is a traditional link to hypnotizing. How the snap-hypnotizing-logic works here, however, is at the moment unclear to me. It's repeated over and over again. Even Kingsley's first act after the scene on a "beautiful day" is to snap his fingers even before saying "Cut." It's about bringing the actors out from the hypnosis of acting in that case, at least. ;)

Musings on Inland Empire

Found out from a professor that IE was playing in town! This was a big surprise, so I stopped at the art theater on my way home from campus, got a cocktail and some popcorn and just sat back and enjoyed. I had heard so much negative reaction, like DL had lost it and it was just a bunch of half-baked experimental stuff crammed together in crappy DV to make a dollar.  But I truly thought it flowed together with an unexpectedly beautiful rhythm, and looked great.  The cashier was someone I sort of knew and he said he liked IE because it was a totally independent vision, even if it didn’t make sense.  I responded it’s about the pleasure of just watching. 

Sorry for blathering on. Here are some random things I jotted down during the movie:

I love the idea of getting sucked into and trapped in another reality using a movie set as a portal, and the seemingly haunted cameras, movie screens and monitors. Was there a line about Hollywood stories coming from the imagination, not the truth?  And how important is truth versus fiction, anyway? The merging of Darkened Room and Rabbits (she calls Billy and gets Jack the Rabbit, whoa) added another dimension to the film’s world, too.   

The chemical released into the air from the plant that caused confusion, hallucinations and dreams of the apocalypse is something I’d like to know more about.

The scenes could have been in any order. How the different scenarios/characters doubled back on themselves and sometimes mirrored one another for some reason reminded me of flipping back and forth between VH1 and MTV in the 90’s and seeing the same songs on each channel, repeating themselves and switching, or the same artist on both channels at the same time.  Only this didn’t bore me.

The Pink living room where the whores hang out triggered The Pink Room song and the Bang Bang Bar from FWWM in my head.

Is IE, like LH, another movie about what happens when you are unfaithful to your spouse? Do they both explore the fragmenting of the self that happens when you divide your love? Her strange cruel admission that she’s a whore, and then the ugly stabbing, seemed almost like a revenge- on herself out of guilt, OR almost as if DL’s was furthering Fred’s revenge on Renee.  If we saw LH from Renee’s perspective, would it be like IE?  Is Grace Zabriskie’s character the Mystery Man of IE?

A possible tag line for the film could have been “Another Bad Dream from David Lynch” Axxon N. is also a great phase. I used it as a handle for a while when I first heard it.

Sue says she doesn’t know what happened first, what was before or after and it was a mindfuck. The audience is right there with her. 

OK Haven't been here for long but watching INLAND EMPIRE for the second time compelled me to visit oncemore!

 What a terrific movie! But what the hell man, this is even way way way more deep and complicated than md and lh!

I have a few questions and a few observations.Well here it goes! What does the tattoo on Nikkis hand mean? Why was the polish husband looking for the phantom in the woods?

 I think that Freddy and the polish husband both have connections with the rabbits. They both have 'a way with animals' and the husband recieves the gun and freddy is the first one to have heard about the curse. The rabbits know everything and they are good spirits I think. Nikki has a mission, given to her by Grace Z. (who is I guess sent by the rabbits) She has to 'get to know her neighbours' (the locked up girl) and she does this by gathering information (through the back ally) and information is the most valueble commodity according to Jeremy Irons. This info she gathers by entering the polish film and through the polish film (through the silk) looking into the real life of someone else: the locked up girl. All the info she has gathered she brings to the rabbits (the filthy clerk at the desk) so they can help even better. The phantom is a real person, but very a frightening one, like a real BOB. And the rabbits want him out of the way, so they call for Nikki and she eventually helps them and the locked up girl out.

Nikki uses the remake to enter the polish film, and the polish film to look into someones life. The lockedup girl has asked for helpand she recieves it from nikki.

Oh, and I really like the white lodge at the end of the film! (dancing spirits and one man sawing and so on...)

I'm sorry for not being coherent and for maybe saying things that have been said much earlier but I just had to type anything regarding this movie!

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

With regards to the chemical plant - I figured that it was another metaphor for Hollywood, and maybe specifically for the Studio System. I think it's also a comment on his switch from film to digital. Film obviously requires the use of various chemicals to get it from camera to screen. The films themselves are the "hallucinations", experienced by all of us!

Anyway, glad you enjoyed the movie, 12R!

 I think it's more general - Lynch paying homage to his own idols. I believe he uses some of the music from The Shining in IE too.

One thing which could be relevant about Lolita is that the word has now become synonymous with pornography, an industry which exploits women. The exploitation of women seems (to me, at least) to be one of the many themes running through IE.

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

"Gimme a donut!" (Coop)