Trying to Make Sense of Inland Empire

Matthew Guarnieri (Double Blog Assignment)

            Going into Inland Empire, I expected an extremely convoluted story line due to that fact that it is a Lynch film. Most of Lynch’s films do not follow a traditional story line, which leads to a lack of understanding and confusion. Never the less, Lynch’s films are very interesting and unique.

            On the surface, the film is about a somewhat washed up actor trying to resurrect her career. She gets a part in an upcoming movie and is a paired with an actor with a shady reputation. They are told that the film they are making is not an original script and that it is a remake, however the original was never finished. Supposedly the original two leads were murdered and the script was cursed. Nicky attempts to conform into her role as much as possible and in doing so she begins to lose her self-identity.

            We were told to try and make as much sense out of this movie as possible. When told to do so I thought to myself that it wouldn’t be that difficult. After watching the film, I now realize it’s easier said than done. I’m not going to lie, there wasn’t a lot about the film that I actually did understand.

            What I did take away from the film however was that it was a story of character evolution. Throughout the film, the viewer can see Nicky slowly losing her sanity. I believe that when she was told that the film was cursed, this notion had a significant psychological impact on the star. This is seen when she is talking to the man with the glasses and she is saying the “F” word every other sentence. Earlier in the film when the old lady visited her and used profanity, Nicky was deeply offended and uncomfortable. This shows that her character is clearly going through psychological changes. It is also very difficult for the viewer to distinguish what is a part of the film and the film within the film, which makes it difficult to follow the story. To me, it seemed as though the crying woman in front of the TV screen was spectating everything that was going on with Nicky, in and out of the film within the film. I believe that this woman was the main character of the film, and everything that unfolds in Nicky’s world is just a representation of the woman. There seems to be a prevalent theme of infidelity in this film and primarily in regards to Nicky, so I was assuming that this also applied to the crying woman. When I checked some online blogs pertaining to the film, this was the general consensus. As for the rabbits in the television; supposedly they are homage to Alice in Wonderland, suggesting that Nicky is having difficulty distinguishing between reality and her “dream world”. This correlates to the psychological effects mentioned earlier due to the script being cursed.

            There are certain aspects of the film that I couldn’t quite get a grasp on. For example I couldn’t quite follow the story line of the crying woman’s husband. However when he found their son it became clearer. I also did not understand the relevance of the prostitutes. Maybe they were a symbol of what the crying woman did not want to become. Perhaps a consequence of being unfaithful.

            Inland Empire is one of those films that people could talk about for hours because there are many aspects that can be interpreted differently.