Blue Velvet (1986) is only the second David Lynch production I have watched and, following his masterpiece, Twin Peaks it had some huge shoes to fill. Any nerves were put immediately at ease by the vibrant artificial roses and Badalamenti’s soundtrack in the very first shot. Lynch masterfully maintains his singular peculiarity while gracefully revealing a thrilling plot.
We meet Jeffrey Beaumont (Kyle McLachlan) as he walks through the quiet town of Lumberton, North Carolina, to visit his father in hospital. Upon his discovery of a severed human ear, Jeffrey’s love of mysteries prompts him to endeavour on an investigation into the bizarre mystery. Jeffrey follows the snippets of clues overheard by the police chief’s daughter, Sandy (Laura Dern), and finds himself at the foot of beautiful nightclub singer Dorothy Valens (Isabella Rossellini).
Emboldened by Sandy, Jeffrey tricks his way into Dorothy’s apartment one evening while she sings smooth blues on the other side of town. When she returns, he hides in her wardrobe and watches her undress. She discovers him and attempts to seduce him, before her lover arrives and Jeffrey is thrust back into the wardrobe. Through the slits in the door, Jeffrey squints at a sado-masochistic frenzy and commits himself to the violent psychodrama of the singer’s life.
The film is a visually glorious and pure nightmare. It holds in front of our eyes the vivid colour and swaying naïveté of Lynch’s world while it draws in our mind a divide between light and dark, simplicity and brutal gore.
Blue Velvet is an encounter with a seductively dangerous force. The depravity it displays is in constant contrast with its basic setting, which tightens the satire and illuminates the damage caused by sustained abuse and ceaseless curiosity. The end of the film leaves a taste of bitter falseness that commands much latent attention, maybe a rewatch but certainly a deep-dive on Lynch.
It is darkness cast over the American Dream, the misplaced hope that red roses will cast off terror, or can be planted over the top of it. Lynch insists that to open the door to darkness is not to brighten the room, but to allow us to see more, to see better.
“David Lynch Weekend” by Just Jefa is licensed under CC BY-ND 2.0.
