Narrative layers in overview — HarryTuttle
MD is constituted of a bunch of layers overlapping, half see-through sheets of paper where reality prints in different languages. Here is my suggestion of the structural construction of the movie:
-
Screenplay
A young unsuccessful actress, an amnesiac seeking identity, a director who loses control, an unknown dead body. BREAK. A waitress who lost her illusions and contracts a hitman. A suicide.
This makes little sense, and requires a follow-up (sequel) to understand the narration gaps. But MD contains the answers within itself, so a re-reading will reveal another level of understanding, deeper in the mystery.
-
Dream
Betty is Diane's fantasized image, likewise Rita is Camilla's fantasized image, in Diane's dreamt-up reality. So the movie is a mirror of reality and dream of the same events.
-
De Rosa
De Rosa is actually Diane's partner more than was ever Camilla, so Diane transfers her relationship with the "girl next-door" onto a rich glamorous actress. So most of the movie is like Diane telling us (or herself) a beautiful story, exaggerating reality with emphasis and mythomania. She tells us about her dream.
-
Dan
Dan is obsessed by a vision of a monster (the censorship of the subconscious: expression of a repression, of a terrible truth that cannot be worded) and introduces us to his demons impersonated by (his anima) Diane's life (where all are one person: Diane/Betty/Camilla/Rita — the multiple aspects of his inner conflicts dealing with theoretical studies of desire/repressed love/wish to kill/social oppression…). We look into Dan's (Diane — I guess someone already noticed that) analysis.
-
Lynch
Lynch uses this movie to express his fears and disappointment about movie illusions in particular, and about love subconscious feelings in general. He writes to relieve himself, and encrypts it with dream symbols, by a transfer of himself into Dan and Adam.
-
Jung
All belongs to the collective subconscious that even escapes Lynch's awareness — unintended symbols, Freudian slips, non-rational development, dreamy visions (his springing ideas that feed his work = emotional inspiration). The decoding of this teaches us about each and all of us, because those fears, demons, desires, and taboos work the same for everyone.
So we can interpret symbols that belong to each level, relevant to each purpose of the specific level. To interpret 'wild' symbols that Lynch didn't create willingly is not relevant to MD, but to humankind in general (6th degree). And to stop at level 1 is to refuse to see the hidden meaning of things — Lynch manipulates reality to drive our curiosity into places we are scared of… — HarryTuttle