*contains spoilers*
Early this year, cinephiles and everyone in between with a love for film mourned the heart-wrenching loss of one cinema’s most cherished and unique visionaries ever to hold a camera, the great David Lynch. A master of dream-state surrealism and hauntingly beautiful visuals, Lynch has left behind an influence within the film industry, all on his terms.
In celebrating the legacy of a director with such an undeniably diehard fanbase, it only makes sense to give proper spotlight to one of Lynch’s more under-discussed works, “Lost Highway.” This is a film that, upon its initial release 28 years ago in 1997, received very divisive opinions. These sentiments are still very much alive among fans today.
Although, with time to digest its robust ideas, the development of media literacy and rare input from its director, “Lost Highway” has been revisited with greater appreciation, despite qualms that fans may still have with the film’s complicated and strange narrative structure. The film transitions between the convoluted storylines of its two protagonists, Fred Madison (Bill Pullman) and Pete Dayton (Balthazar Getty), who oddly intertwine with one another through a series of inexplicable events and conniving acquaintances that blur the lines of their reality.
Fred, a saxophonist, is overwhelmed by the inclination that his reluctant wife, Renee (Patricia Arquette), is having an affair with gangster and adult film producer, Dick Laurent (Robert Loggia). After a videotape of Fred feverishly laughing next to Renee’s dead body covered in blood is discovered, he is convicted of his wife’s murder and sentenced to death while pleading for his innocence.
Seemingly out of thin air, Pete, a young and well-liked mechanic, replaces Fred in his jail cell and is let go to the authorities’ astonishment. As Pete attempts to reintegrate into his daily life, he is tempted by the mistress of a notorious autoshop client named Alice (Patricia Arquette), who strikingly resembles Renee. Through her seduction, Alice strings Pete along a descent of lustful affairs and crime.
Discussion of the film must mention Robert Blake’s performance as the chilling Mystery Man. The camera-wielding character’s costume design is notable, with his all-black buttoned outfit, parted slick-back hair, shaved eyebrows, white powdered face and dark red lip grin that is straight nightmare fuel. Blake’s presence sucks the viewers in and lingers within their subconscious even as he is off-screen. Thanks in part to the film’s incredible sound design and the character’s freakish beady eyes that never blink.
Oddly enough, Lynch himself, during future interviews discussing “Lost Highway,” had revealed his obsession with the O.J. Simpson case during the film’s conception in the mid-90s. Lynch’s fascination with this real-life event gives viewers insight into what inspired and influenced the film’s themes, as long as audiences are willing to connect the dots.
The late filmmaker was specifically enamored by how someone presumably responsible for their horrible actions, due to overwhelming evidence against them, could go about the rest of their life without having a hard time feeling guilty for what they have been accused of at least within the public eye. This idea is translated in “Lost Highway” through Fred’s transformation into Pete Dayton under his dream-state psychosis to distance himself from the murder of his wife after acknowledging her infidelities with Dick Laurent.
Fred’s refusal to accept reality and responsibility for what he has done is a characteristic that is conveyed to the audience during a pivotal scene within the first act that becomes central in analyzing the themes in “Lost Highway.” In a discussion about video recorders involving the police in Fred and Renee’s bedroom, Renee tells the officers that Fred hates cameras. He justifies his hatred by explaining, “I like to remember things my own way … How I remembered them. Not necessarily the way they happened.”
The tapes of Fred and the video recorders seen throughout the film essentially represent the truth of reality that can not be manipulated or altered in the same way that Fred desires within his subconscious.
Out of the multitude of ideas with vast interpretations in “Lost Highway,” Lynch sheds light on how easy it can be for an individual to shape the narrative of their memories towards how they perceive themselves or what they want to believe, no matter how far from reality their recount is, in order to justify their actions.
Verdict: “Lost Highway,” like many of David Lynch’s films, has a complicated narrative to follow even upon multiple viewings. As a director who notoriously refused to explain his films on a silver platter, he challenged viewers to navigate their interpretations of the ideas presented in his work.
