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David Lynch, Master of the Surreal, decrypted in a documentary by Stéphane Ghez
In David Lynch, une énigme à Hollywood (Welcome to Lynchland), Stéphane Ghez offers a fascinating journey into the singular world of the independent American filmmaker, a pure artist who refused to bend to the diktats of the Hollywood industry, while sharing his surreal vision of the American Dream in cinema and throughout the art world.
From Eraserhead (1977) to Inland Empire (2006), through Sailor and Lula, Palme d’or at the 1990 Festival de Cannes, David Lynch has created a unique legacy where fantasy and reality intertwine. As Blue Velvet (1986) revealed the darkness lingering beneath the deceptive appearances of the American Dream, his cult series, Twin Peaks (1990), was revolutionizing the world of television.
By revisiting the chronology of his career and of his fascinations, Stéphane Ghez recounts how, from Twin Peaks, Fire Walk with Me (1992) to Lost Highway (1997), and all the way to Mulholland Drive (Cannes Award for Best Director in 2001), his convoluted culmination, the American filmmaker blasted through classic narrative structures to better explore, in a living nightmare, Hollywood’s false pretenses.
Stéphane Ghez’s documentary also points out that it was alongside French producers that David Lynch – who originally had wanted to become a painter – found the freedom he needed to push his art to experimental limits. It was this obstinate refusal to succumb to Hollywood industry boundaries that would later lead him to Inland Empire (2006) and the revival of Twin Peaks (2017), his last cinematic creation.
Through interviews with the director and a deep dive into the heart of the mythical Twin Peaks Red Room, Stéphane Ghez conducts a detailed investigation where the clues laid out by Lynch in his films are meticulously uncovered. Guided by his favorite actors – Laura Dern, Kyle MacLachlan, Naomi Watts and Isabella Rossellini – viewers are invited to don their detective hats to try and unlock the mystery of one of the most elusive cult artists of his time.
