Presentation Script Draft

Presentation Script:
"The Directors film reflects the directors personal creative vision, as if they were the primary auteur" (12)

Speaker: If this theory is true, does this apply to David Lynch?

Projector: Display a picture of David Lynch

Speaker: When "good" directors become known their style almost becomes a trademark, Anderson has symmetry and almost 2D sets, Meadows has his eye level and gritty, underclass plots and Lynch, well Lynchs style is so unique it is hard to label, I suppose the best way to say it is, surreal. It is that unique infact, could Lynch be considered an Auteur?
An auteur tends to influence a film in a variety of ways, such as using similar shots or even using the same actors/actresses. The latter can definitely be applied to Lynch as the actress Laura Dern, is in almost every one of his films with 'The cinema of David Lynch' stating "David Lynch has manifested and intense interest in the female performer" (10) and David Lynch himself describing her as "one of the all time greatest actress', she can play anything" (7).

Projector: Display a Film Poster of Inland Empire (13)

Speaker: Inland Empire is a 2006 surrealist drama written and directed by David Lynch. It is based around Nikki Grace played by Laura Dern who is playing Susan Blue in the upcoming film, however the persona of her character is beginning to take over her life and the so called real becomes the surreal (2). Although difficult to depict its true meaning, certain themes are apparent throughout; such as the permanence of memory and the natures of men and animals. This makes me believe he is an auteur. This response to his films are apparent across most of them. Nearly everything about Lynch’s films defies the typical and known, and yet there is something deeply horrifying about his work. Unlike most horror directors, Lynch’s most powerful tools of fear are not supernatural predators or psychotic killers. Instead, what makes his films so disturbing and unique is that they exist in worlds very similar to ours but that are run by dream-logic. "close enough to our own, to be really disturbing" was said about the worlds Lynch creates within his films (6). Lynch himself even said "It can say things that are difficult to say in words, just like when you have had a dream with so much understanding for you but when you tell a friend it is difficult to say in words and have them have the same experience you had" (7).

Projector: Show Rabbit scene from Inland Empire (1)

Speaker: This scene is a perfect example of Lynch's previous statement. As you can see from this, Inland Empire is arguably "one of the most confusing and mentally tortuous film experiences to be had" (16). In fact, Lynch has brought the complexity of his style to such great heights that only a few very patient Lynch fanatics can truly comprehend and appreciate the films without the help of the Internet. What makes this scene surreal is difficult to pin down as on the surface, it seems a relatively sane film, other than the rabbits playing human roles, but from somewhat further analysis, everything seems to follow this pattern, sane yet surreal simultaneously, for example the dialogue within this scene, relatively normal with sentences such as "it is still raining" but the order in which they are spoken in is completely nonsensical, a conversation cannot be made from this scene, they are almost talking as if each character is in there own little world; this then accompanied with the parody like nature of sitcoms in which I believe this scene is mocking almost, such as the canned out of place nature and the awkward pauses, makes a scene that is so surreal, it appears normal; this supprts the concept of "dream logic" as when in a dream, everything makes sense but when one awakens and remembers that dream then the whole absurdity that occurred is more apparent and you struggle to understand it.
The Theories of this film I previously stated stemmed from a selection of promotional posters, like the one I have shown you earlier. Now surrealist films tend to be set in a form of dream world, this is apparent in this film as it is making the real, an actress playing a role, into the surreal, the persona begins to takeover her life; innocent conversation like talking getting to know your neighbour take a sick turn when they say things like "brutal fucking murder" and "yes, me, I...I can't seem to remember if it's today, two days from now, or yesterday". This is what surrealist films do, they make the real, to ensure it to be seen as realistic and believable and completely flip what you see to make you uncomfortable, nervous and even scared. This makes the surrealist manner and drive in which Lynch has whilst making these films apparent. But does this make him an Auteur?

Projector: Shows the DVD cover of Wild at Heart (14)

Speaker: Besides the typical "lovers on the lam" story, Wild at Heart is about nothing, perhaps, except the power of pictures to shock the audience – so much so that the film is rated X in the U.S with only a censored version available to the public. With shots that show a mans head getting smashed to a pulp, explicit sex scenes which at the time were seen as somewhat controversial, It goes to show that Lynch is always either trying to shock or confuse his audience. 

Projector: Shows the scene of the 'Nice Witch' descending to greet a beaten 'Sailor'. (2)

The surreal creative imagery and cinematography within this film just shows the control that Lynch had over this film; with the constant references to the Wizard of Oz, this is Lynch's homage to Oz and with the creative control he had over this film he could do so. This scene to a somewhat passive audience, will appear normal but when analysed more in depth it is definitely surreal; When Sailor does get beaten up and the high angle shot shows him surrounded by the gang, the attackers just disappear and fade away, is this creating some alternate world in which Sailor resides? This then accompanied with the Good Witch, again a homage to Oz, descending to Sailor in a ball of light makes another not obviously surreal but again similarly to the previous Inland Empire, Lynch's style of surreal. With obvious overacting, in the form of unrealistic accents, it proves that Lynch is not aiming to appeal to the masses and that he chooses to be surreal, to me this shows that he is making them because he loves doing them, this is also shown in one of his responses to an interview with Damon Wise, when asked "will you ever be making another film?" his response was "Oh no no no, I could easily keep going without. But I love it if I fall in love with the subject..."(11), which surely indicates his control and passion over the film with the way his inspiration of Oz and his distinct style made the film what it is today.

Projector: Shows the DVD cover of Mulholland Drive (15)

Speaker: Mullholland drive is a confusing film that fans and critic argue over to what the actual meaning behind it is. This film has been the centre of debate to decide whether Lynch is surrealist film genius or he is just making it up as he goes along, is he a director or is he an auteur? 

Projector: Shows the opening of Mulholland Drive up until the credits start (3)

Even before the credits start at the beginning of the film viewers are "thrown into the deep end" and left confused by the long dance sequence with duplicates of couples dancing to upbeat jazz music, and the fading in ghostly figures, this all creates so many questions that the audience is asking themselves (9). I believe this just shows how surreal Lynch is and essentially the control he has over the film as he is making these for himself, and again, not aiming to appeal to the masses. "His favourite Directors, he has said are Tati, Herzog and Kubrick, all of whom can be said to use silences of various lengths to great effect"(9) was said by a reporter of the guardian; although this sequence does not specifically have a silence, I believe the "silence" means no dialogue which Lynch can be known for.

Projector: Shows the clip of Lynch explaining why he films some of his films himself (5)

Speaker: This is somewhat unheard of in the director world and this alone shows how much control he has over his films, so much so he even took over the role of the cameraman. So surely this entitles him to be seen as more than a director?

Projector: Shows where David says the story of the soap in the coffee pot (6)

Speaker: Now this is the perfect example of how personal his films are to him, he took a funny experience with soapy coffee and used that within his own work. This shows that he is known for bringing personal experiences when coming to making a film, which surely isn't a normal occurence with hollywood directors. This also relates to his use of obscure, non mainstream and in depth characters, such as the "failures of LA in Mullholland Drive and the 'shunted by society' in the Elephant Man, rather than the typical hollywood mainstream characters (8); he makes his films that much more realistic and personal to both himself and his niche audience; and again metaphorically pushing the boat out in regards to his Director role; Should he still be seen as an Auteur?

Projector: End


Speaker: I believe that the mass of evidence points to the fact that Lynch is indeed an auteur and this evidence is most strong in the three focus films that I have studied. The evidence is less strong in other films such as 'The Straight Story'. It could be said that I have searched for the most relevant works to prove my argument but to my knowledge there is no other director that approaches their work in the surreal, dream like, personal approach that Lynch uses. A quote from Lynch himself states, "I believe in creative control. No matter what anyone makes, they should have control over it"; I believe this quote is very apparent across all of his work and therefore deems Lynch as an Auteur, however it also could be argued that this surreal, confusing style surrounding these films, as stated before, could be seen as a 'front' to hide the lack of narrative however, I personally do not believe this is the case. I believe Lynch is an auteur however the word auteur is French for author and what author writes a book without a narrative?