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nTitle: Blue Velvet (1986)
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nDirector: David Lynch
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nCast: Isabella Rossellini, Dennis Hopper, Laura Dern, KylenMacLachlan, Dean Stockwell, Brad Dourif, Jack Nance
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nBlue Velvet came around the time when Lynch was trying tonbounce back from the financial disaster that was Dune (1984). Now if you asknme, I’m one of the ones that loves Lynch’s Dune, always have and always will,nbut more about that on my review for Dune! So for whatever the reason,naudiences just didn’t engulf Lynch’s vision of Frank Herbert’s Dune universe. Didnthis mean Lynch was a bad director? Hell no, he’d already proven himself to bena force to be reckoned with Eraserhead (1977) and the incredibly moving The ElephantnMan (1980), both mind blowing in their own ways. Dune was just a hiccup alongnthe road. Dune tanking at the box office was not going to stop Lynch fromnmaking more movies. So, thanks to the benevolent help of producernextraordinaire Dino DeLaurentis, Blue Velvet got the green light. The trick tongetting this film made was making it for very little. Blue Velvet was a riskynpicture to commit to because it dealt with both sex and violence and it was anvery dark picture. Some sacrifices were going to have to be made if Blue Velvetnwas ever going to see the light of day, and so, with everyone getting a payncut, Blue Velvet was made with a mere six million dollars.
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nOn this film we meet Jeffrey Beaumont, a college kid who’sncoming back home to see his father who’s suffered from a devastating stroke.nWhile wandering through his old neighborhood, Jeffrey stumbles upon a human earndecaying on the grass. Jeffrey is a good natured kid; he has a very positive,ngenerally happy outlook on life, you get the feeling that he hasn’t seen enoughnof the world to become bitter and angry. Jeffrey is also a naturally curiousnyoung man, so he picks up the ear and takes it to the police, who decide toninvestigate further. Problem is that Jeffrey thinks he can investigate faster onnhis own, so he takes it upon himself to go deeper down the rabbit hole. Where willnhis investigations take him, especially considering the strange world we livenin?
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nBlue Velvet is all about sex and violence, and how sometimesnboth of these worlds can get entangled to the point where they are difficult tondifferentiate. At which point are you “roughing it up a little” during sex and atnwhich point does sex become sadomasochistic? Jeffrey Beaumont is a characternwho is exploring his boundaries, he wants to see that dark side of life that he’snnever seen, he wants to see what’s hidden underneath, the taboos, the things nonone wants to talk about. This is one of the defining themes of this film; thatnmaybe the picture perfect world we see in front of our eyes isn’t as picturenperfect as we’d like to think. I loved how Lynch mixes snap shots of a suburbannneighborhood, picket fences, flowers and shinny new cars, with the horrorsnthat are hidden underneath it all. Here, Lynch shows society living a façade.nOn the surface we see beauty, but if we look just a bit deeper, we see therenare some pretty nasty things going on in this world. An example of this isnJeffrey, walking about this grassy knoll only to find a dead, decaying humannear when he decides to look where he’s walking. There are many references tondarkness beneath the light in the film, for example, we see the picture perfectnneighborhood, while inside of the houses, people are watching violent mysterynstories on television, alluding to humanities allure with violence.
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nOn the sexual side of things is where Blue Velvet reallyntakes off though. We are presented with Jeffrey Beaumont and his new girlfriendnSandy Williams (18 year old Laura Dern) both of whom represent innocence andnpurity. They are so pure that they can’t stop giggling all the time; they can’tnhelp being excited by the mystery that’s unfolding before them, like two littlenkids. They learn the hard way that some things are better left alone. On BluenVelvet, Jeffrey’s “innocence” is corrupted when he meets Dorothy Vallens, playednby Isabella Rossellini, a battered character that’s emotionally andnpsychologically broken. Rossellini conveys all these emotions wonderfullynthrough her performance which comes off as a woman who can’t escape thendarkness she’s in, she’s gone in too deep; to top things off, she’s grown into anmasochist. This desire to get pleasure from pain comes as a shock to Jeffrey,nwho’s only about caring for others. While Jeffrey asks “are you okay?” to Dorothy,nshe asks him to hit her. So we have to diametrically opposed characters,nattracting each other because of their differences. Jeffrey is attracted bynDorothy’s intensely erotic nature while Jeffrey’s tenderness is something newnto her. He’s a good natured kid getting mixed up with a damaged soul. So these two worlds are clashing with eachnother, there’s no way that Jeffrey is going to come out unharmed from all ofnthis. Yet there’s nobility to Jeffrey. He doesn’t have to get mixed up in this,nbut he does, because he feels sympathy for Dorothy. By the way, this is a verynvulnerable performance from Rossellini, she bares all in a character that’snworth exploring.
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nEnter Frank Booth, one of the most evil, dark, twistedncharacters you will ever meet on any film. He’s the kind of character thatncomes off as truly scary, Frank will make you scared of the idea that there arenpeople like him roaming the world. Dennis Hopper delivers an amazingly dementednperformance, very intense. He represents the worst thing that a man can becomenand that’s abusive of women. And this is one of the most important questionsnthe film asks: “Why are there people like Frank in the world?” There’s a scene where we are in the backseat of a car as Frank Booth is driving, Dennis Hopper plays it so evil that you get this feeling that you do not want to be there! Why are theirnpeople so messed up that they have to abuse women? That they get pleasure outnof inflicting pain? Men who have to show that they are the alpha males, thatnthey are the ones with physical power and that they can abuse it. With BluenVelvet Lynch once again addresses the theme of psychologically and physically abusednwomen. He also played with these themes in Inland Empire (2006) albeit in anslightly more surreal fashion, but it’s in Blue Velvet that he explores themnmost deeply. Isabella Rossellini is the poster child for abused women as Frank Boothnis the poster child for abusive men. I did like how not all men are portrayednas abusive, because while Frank is all that can be evil about a man, Jeffrey isnthe complete opposite. He cares for women and wants to show them tenderness andncare.
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nWomen have always made up a huge part of Lynch’s body ofnwork. Twin Peaks: Fire Walk With Me (1992) is yet another film about abusedngirls. Mulholland Dr. (2001) also centers on women. Same as Federico Fellini,nwomen are a favorite topic of Lynch’s and same as many Fellini films, an admiration, an adoration of the female is felt. There are many other elements to BluenVelvet that will remind you that it’s a David Lynch film; the art direction,nthe colors in a room, the mellow lighting, the peculiar looking lamps; thatndroning sound and same as in many Lynch films, somebody singing a sad song from anstage will always figure into the story, in this case its IsabellanRosellini herself who will hypnotize you while singing ‘Blue Velvet’. Lynch’s lovenfor a good mystery is also at the heart of Blue Velvet. We discover this intricate mystery as we follow Jeffrey, deeper and deeper into this dark, dark world. Also,nthere are wonderfully weird moments that will let you know you’re in Lynchnterritory, like this scene in which Dean Stockwell sings Roy Orbison’s ‘In Dreams’, wow, now that’s weird! These scenes will stir emotions in you that you didn’t know youncould feel, and that’s what is so great about Lynch. He creates premises sonstrange, so surreal that they’ll trigger an emotional reaction out of you, evennif you don’t fully comprehend what you are seeing. But speaking of coherence,nBlue Velvet is actually one of Lynch’s most linear films; it just goes intonreally strange, dark places. But, like any good mystery, you’ll end up lovingnit and wanting to see it all the way through, like Jeffrey, Lynch will turn you into a voyeur who can’tnstop watching.
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nRating: 5 out of 5
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