by Joseph Powers
Twin Peaks: Fire Walk With Me….Six simple words right??? Wrong! These six words represent something very far from simple. These words combined just happen to make up the title of one of the most divisive films of the last fifty years. Spawned as the sixth feature length motion picture by infamous surrealist auteur David Lynch, Twin Peaks: Fire Walk With Me has divided and confounded critics and viewers alike since the moment it’s ominous and jazzy opening credits rolled onto the screen on May 16th, 1992 at the Cannes Film Festival. In mere minutes, viewers would begin to boo, jeer, and walk out of the theater altogether, bringing with them an air of emotions rarely seen in viewers towards any film in recent memory.
SCORN, BEFUDDLEMENT, ANGER, SADNESS, HATE, LOVE, CONFUSION, AMAZEMENT, TERROR, BEWILDERMENT, DISAPPOINTMENT, PITY, JOY, ELATION. These are just some of the known reactions Fire Walk With Me has caused over the years. I’m sure by now, most of the knowledgeable fans have heard the quotes from other directors and critics (Yes I’m talking about you Quentin Tarantino, Roger Ebert, and Vincent Canby to name a few) voicing their dislike, absolute contempt, and uncalled for comments against David Lynch and his creative abilities (or lack thereof).
In spite of the initial hostile and negative reaction towards the film however, there has been a growing critical re-evaluation and appreciation of it recently. Some critics and film-goers are now going as far as calling Fire Walk With Me a masterpiece, David Lynch’s “magnum opus”. However, most of these articles, critics, or bloggers hardly ever really touch on exactly WHY Fire Walk With Me is Lynch’s masterpiece. Well, that is all about to change right now. I understand fully after having seen the new “Missing Pieces” deleted scenes of Fire Walk With Me, combined with years of reflection and repeated viewings, why it IS in fact David Lynch’s “magnum opus” as well as why to this day fans of the series Twin Peaks still do not like the film. As a great FBI man once said “I have no idea where this will lead us, but I have a definite feeling it will be a place both wonderful and strange.”
After a noticeable absence from the series Twin Peaks, David Lynch returns to the set and personally improvises what would become the last ever episode of Twin Peaks. The resulting episode (which aired June 10, 1991) ends up being the strangest and most mind-blowing hour in prime-time television history. It also ends on a hugely controversial cliffhanger. In hopes of persuading ABC to give a green light for a third season, and also to reel in viewers for that hoped for season, David Lynch puts the lives of characters Ben Horne, Pete Martel, and Audrey Horne in jeopardy. But most famously, Lynch and co-creator Mark Frost decided to put arguably one of the most famous TV characters of all time in peril. Special Agent Dale Cooper appears to be trapped in the Red Room/Black Lodge, and his evil doppelganger possessed by the murderous spirit entity known as BOB now is living among the townsfolk of Twin Peaks in his place. Viewers who have remained steadfast through all the declining ratings and timeslot changes by ABC are flabbergasted and want closure! However, ABC decides a few days later not to renew Twin Peaks for a third season. It appeared as though Twin Peaks was dead with no chance of solving the mysteries and cliffhangers of beloved characters. Fast forward a month later, David Lynch leaks word out that he has decided to make a Twin Peaks feature length motion picture with French company CIBY-2000 financing what would be the first film of a three-picture deal. Fans are ecstatic and people around the world are excited and anxious to find out what happened to their favorite characters, especially the fate of Special Agent Dale Cooper……and this is where our story begins…
Privately, David Lynch had been having friction and creative differences with co-creator Mark Frost and other writers such as Harley Peyton during the second season of the show. So he decides he is going to tackle the film without their help. David gives Frost a producer’s credit (by law of being co-creators of Lynch/Frost Productions). Also Frost voiced that he was not really interested in a prequel. From the get-go there are problems for the upcoming Twin Peaks motion picture. The first major setback happens on July 11, 1991. Ken Scherer, CEO of Lynch/Frost productions, announced that the film was not going to be made because series star Kyle MacLachlan did not want to reprise his role of Special Agent Dale Cooper for fear of being type-casted. David Lynch and Bob Engels then rewrite the parts that involve Agent Cooper and replace him with the character of Special Agent Chet Desmond, and the project was back on schedule. With the help of his casting directors, David Lynch casts music star Chris Isaak as the new Special Agent. He also hires a very A-list Keifer Sutherland as the forensics agent sidekick Sam Stanley (who was briefly alluded to in the pilot episode by Agent Cooper). But just when it appeared things were about to be back on track, another setback occurred. Characters Audrey Horne, Ben Horne, Donna Hayward are were featured heavily in the film’s script. But Sherilyn Fenn, Richard Beymer, and Lara Flynn Boyle (who play those characters respectively) all declined to appear in the film. Most of them cite their displeasure with the dip in quality during the second season of the show as the reason. So David Lynch is thrown a big curve ball, especially in the case of Donna Hayward because she is a big presence in the script. So David decided to find a new Donna, and casts young Moira Kelly who was just about to break out in the acclaimed movie Chaplin. Problem seems to be solved right? Well, as we have already seen, things are never what they seem in the world of Twin Peaks. Kyle MacLachlan reaches out to his friend David Lynch and announces that he would actually like to be in the film after all, but just not in a huge part like originally was planned. Lynch then has to re-write the script again and somehow balance the fact that there is now a Special Agent Chester Desmond AND a Special Agent Dale Cooper in the same movie.
So, David Lynch worked his unbelievable magic and creativity and managed (with the help of Bob Engels) to somehow integrate both the characters of Agent Desmond and Agent Cooper into the same story. Filming began soon after. The production of Fire Walk With Me was one of the fastest in recent memory for a major budget feature. David Lynch shot the film in the same parts of Washington in which he filmed the classic pilot episode of the series. Mostly parts of Snoqualmie and North Bend were once again used along with some other small parts of that upper northwest area of the state. Filming began September 5, 1991 in Snoqualmie, and lasted until October of the same year, with four weeks dedicated to locations in Washington, and another four weeks of interiors and additional locations in Los Angeles, California. This is a sticking point for many who believe that the film is “flawed”. There are many on the fences that fault Lynch’s fast shooting schedule towards the “flawed” outcome of the end result, and there are others who feel it actually adds to its hectic and fast paced aesthetic. However, he started filming at a different time of year than the pilot was filmed. Twin Peaks the series was filmed in March of 1989, and it displayed many characteristics of that time of year such as cold, frost, and a darker gloomy atmosphere. In Fire Walk With Me, it can clearly be seen that it is fall. The trees, leaves, and general brightness of the daytime shots add to this obvious contrast. Some say it was a deliberate decision by Lynch to symbolize duality, which he often employs in his work.
Many of the scenes were filmed very quickly. Kyle MacLachlan only worked on the movie for a few days and so did David Bowie who played FBI Agent Phillip Jeffries. Besides the previously mentioned actors, most of the cast from the series were shot in various scenes for the film. However, by the time Lynch finished filming he had over four hours of footage. As is the norm, Fire Walk With Me would not be granted a theatrical release at such a long running time and hope to have any success at the box office. So David Lynch and editor (long-time partner and future wife) Mary Sweeney went about trying to make this conglomerate of footage a cohesive motion picture. The task at hand was very difficult. David had to not only try to keep some continuity with the show, he also had to figure out how to answer the hangover cliffhangers from the series finale, and at the same time introduce new characters and story-lines for the upcoming two films (per the contract he signed with CIBY-2000). But, something happened which changed all of what was originally planned. David Lynch had originally wanted to film this movie because he was in love with the character of Laura Palmer. It’s what made him want to return to that world in the first place after becoming bored by having to reveal her killer. He wanted to see Laura alive, and see the road which would lead to this innocent child’s eventual destruction. So halfway through filming he realized that this could not just be a rehash of the series on the big screen in the vein of a Star Trek film. This was the story of a young girl who had no chance at sanity or normalcy in life since the age of twelve. A young girl who’s innocence was taken away from her in childhood by the very person who was supposed to love and protect her the most. A young girl whose only way out was drugs, sexual pleasure, and ultimately her own death. THIS is what Fire Walk With Me became, the story of Laura Palmer, the most intriguing and complex dead girl in the history of TV. This meant David Lynch had to edit and cut almost all the scenes that included many characters from the show, because once he shifted the focus on Laura and her domestic nightmare of incest and abuse, the other scenes just did not allow the story to flow properly. These scenes became the “Missing Pieces” which were sought after by fans for over 20 years and finally just released in the Twin Peaks Entire Mystery Blu-ray set.
This leads us to the whole question of why Twin Peaks: Fire Walk With Me is David Lynch’s “magnum opus”, or masterpiece. Well, in order to travel that road, we have to look at what came before Fire Walk With Me, and what came after. Most artists in every field have what’s called a turning point, or peak in their creative abilities. David Lynch’s career as a director began with short films, most importantly The Grandmother. He then went on to make his feature length debut Eraserhead with the help of family and friends. His next feature was the acclaimed Elephant Man. He scored an epic box office failure with the science fiction classic Dune, and then a surprise comeback hit with the critically acclaimed Blue Velvet. However, it was really the surprise cult phenomenon hit series Twin Peaks which made David Lynch a household name and landed him on the cover of Time Magazine. A year before Fire Walk With Me, his film Wild At Heart starring Nicholas Cage and Laura Dern won the Palme d’Or (highest prize awarded at the Cannes Film Festival), even though many feel that it might not have been fully deserved. This put a big bull’s eye on the back of Mr. Lynch from critics, fellow directors, and fans. Just when it seemed David Lynch could do no wrong, it all started to crumble. Season two of Twin Peaks was an uneven debacle which led to its cancellation. Wild At Heart was not a big success critically after its win at Cannes (however it managed a decent $28 million haul at the box office for a moderately budgeted “art film”). Even Lynch’s own daughter Jennifer Lynch felt the Lynch backlash when her debut feature Boxing Helena was mauled critically and at the box office. Even Lynch’s personal life was beginning to unravel. He was going through a separation and heartbreak from Isabella Rossellini. It seemed that Lynch was at a cross roads both career wise and personally.
Lynch decided to fall back on something and someone he loved, the world of Twin Peaks and Laura Palmer. This is what drove him to make Fire Walk With Me and what helped pick him up out of his funk. He flung himself into the project wholeheartedly at a break neck pace. Lynch took elements he used in his previous films, added them to what he used in Twin Peaks, and then added new touches which would become the elements used in his later and more recent works down the line. In his pre-Fire Walk With Me features, usually there was the premise of a character seeking knowledge or spiritual Enlightenment. This is true with The Boy in The Grandmother, Henry Spencer in Eraserhead, Paul Atreides in Dune, Jeffrey Beaumont in Blue Velvet, and to a small extent Sailor in Wild At Heart. Lynch once again uses this technique in Fire Walk With Me. But, he did something different this time. For the first time he used a female in the lead role of the seeker. This would become a staple of his future movies, most notably Mulholland Drive and Inland Empire. Lynch would also use another technique, which would also become an integral part of every one of his films to the present day. Fire Walk With Me is split into self-contained segments, the first being the Deer Meadow segment, the second the Philadelphia FBI office segment, and the third being the story of the last seven days of Laura Palmer. Lynch fuses these segments together with the backdrop of an extra-dimensional realm known as the Red Room/Black & White Lodges. The shift in seemingly opposing segments midway through the film is something he would do again in Lost Highway, Mulholland Drive, and Inland Empire.
At the time, David Lynch said Fire Walk With Me was his most experimental project to date. Perhaps we finally realize that he was talking about the upcoming shift in the way he would make his films. This shift or change would involve having two or three separate/ opposing segments, as well as putting a female in the seeker character (with the exception of Fred Madison in Lost Highway). Lynch took the things he did best in his previous work such as lighting, surrealism, long drawn out camera shots, vibrant colors and patterns, cinematography, quirky mundane dialogue, and a character in search of cosmic enlightenment and combined them with all these new elements. David also improvised many things which were not even in the script such as Laura’s angel, and the whole concept of the owl ring and its “victims”. Some people have even speculated that the ring elements were added in only in post-production with inserts and tricky editing! If I was to compare this “peak” of David Lynch’s creative abilities or the “turning point” in his career to another, it would be The Beatles and their Rubber Soul album. The Beatles took all the elements that made them great in their younger albums and combined them with a new sound, new studio technique, and a maturity not seen before in their material.
David Lynch rolled the dice and took a chance with a new vision he felt strongly about. He combined many different elements which were cutting edge at the time in cinema. He put them over the backdrop of one of the most beloved TV series of the last thirty years. As well all know David Lynch received commercial and critical backlash for his vision and love of Laura Palmer and her world. But, how does Fire Walk With Me stack up to not only the other films of Lynch’s career, but the films it went up against at the 1992 Cannes Film Festival. Can anyone really say they remember the Robert Altman movie The Player or that it was better than Fire Walk With Me?! Can you truly say that Altman and Tim Robbins deserved the Best Director and Best Actor awards at Cannes over David Lynch and Sheryl Lee?! Time has definitely been kinder to Fire Walk With Me than The Player over the years, to the point where people are outraged that Lynch and Lee didn’t get an Oscar nod or awards at Cannes. And what about the film that won the The Palme d’Or that year?! That prize went to Den goda viljan (The Best Intentions) by Bille August and Ingmar Bergman. That film was just a cut down theatrical version of a Swedish TV mini-series. Also, the jury president at Cannes that year was Gérard Depardieu! The award was basically voted on by our imaginary friend BOGUS and our hapless father in My Father The Hero! Can anyone honestly say that they remember any other film that debuted at Cannes that year other than Basic Instinct and Twin Peaks: Fire Walk With Me?!! The answer is obviously NO….
This brings us to the ultimate point and reason why Twin Peaks: Fire Walk With Me (and the series Twin Peaks as well) was dealt a death knell. It is a story about INCEST! The series Twin Peaks left a certain sense of ambiguity on the topic of whether or not Leland Palmer knew what he was doing in molesting and murdering his daughter. However, the film and Lynch in particular pretty much hammers home the point that Leland Palmer pretty much was solely responsible for his actions. The film also expands upon the very briefly referenced to point that Leland was probably also a victim of abuse from when he was a young boy, and hence continued the pattern of abuse which is very common. Lynch mostly does this with symbolism and does not directly reference the topic (as is per usual with David Lynch). So here in the next few paragraphs, Twin Peaks: Fire Walk With Me will be dissected in its symbolism and why it not only is a masterpiece, but also how it allows Twin Peaks to come to a full “perfect circle”.
David Lynch has a very different way of telling stories as we all know. He is an artist first and foremost rather than a director. That is what he started as and still pretty much considers himself one to this day. He is heavily influenced by the works of Francis Bacon and Edward Hopper. Most importantly he is obsessed with the idea of the subconscious of the mind and cosmic possibilities of higher and/or different states of consciousness. This is EXTREMELY important in regards to almost ALL of Lynch’s films since the earliest days. This probably has to do with his learning of Transcendental Meditation which coincides with his film career since the first days of it. What does this have to do with Twin Peaks? Well, pretty much everything. From the dreams of Cooper, to the Red Room/Black & White Lodge sequences, to the clairvoyance of people like Sarah Palmer and the Log Lady, Twin Peaks is about this other state of the subconscious or different possible states of reality etc. Much like the scenes in Eraserhead featuring the Lady In the Radiator or the Club Silencio scenes in Mulholland Drive, Twin Peaks walks the thin divide between two or more states of reality or consciousness.
However, unlike the films in which David Lynch had complete and final say over everything, Twin Peaks (the series) had many different writers and even a co-creator in Mark Frost who were also putting their own points across on the screen. These other writers have a much different perspective on story telling than David Lynch does. Mark Frost’s writing, dialogue, and character creation did work well with Lynch in the pilot episode and first season. But, by the time the second season came it was obvious that Lynch and Frost had totally different views of where to take the show. Mark Frost preferred a heroic quest Cooper adventure saga emphasizing masculine dominance. Most of the female characters who were integral in Lynch’s vision became written out or side-notes that were no longer relevant to the overall story. Lynch has a long history with the opposite of this approach. He tends to feature his female characters as the heroines who must go through hardships in order to reach the end enlightenment. Naomi Watts, Laura Dern, and obviously Sheryl Lee have all played this role in his films. The female characters are generally the ones who help the male hero gain higher knowledge or access in Lynch’s work. This is seen with Laura Palmer and Agent Cooper, or Sandy (Laura Dern)/Dorothy Valens (Isabella Rossellini) and Jeffrey Beaumont (Kyle MacLachlan again) in Blue Velvet. This way of unique storytelling went by the wayside in the second season in large part due to Lynch’s non-involvement and other writers/Frost creating opposing story-lines.
When ABC pressured David Lynch to reveal Laura Palmer’s killer in the middle of season two, he grew bored with the show for a while. He was also having friction with Mark Frost over the direction the show had gone. By the time Lynch came to rescue the show in the final episodes, he pretty much considered it almost un-salvageable. He blatantly “tossed out” Mark Frost’s script for the final episode of the series and tried his best to bring the show back to his original vision, the exploration of the subconscious and other states of reality or being. Hence, the whole episode pretty much took place in the Red Room/Lodges. It was too late for the show, it was cancelled anyways. But, Lynch was still so adamant about how his creation had been compromised that he went ahead and made Fire Walk With Me and was supposed to make two sequels as well. Obviously this did not happen because of the backlash from critics and fans that Fire Walk With Me was met with. What a shame, because Fire Walk With Me is the masterpiece of Lynch’s career, when in conjunction with certain elements of the show that were most definitely Lynch’s work. The film helped the show come full circle according to Lynch’s vision. The circle or snake in many religions like Hinduism is huge for Lynch. The time in the Red Room and our reality is non-linear and cyclical. In the film (and Missing Pieces) Agent Dale Cooper is already in the Red Room comforting Laura Palmer before her angel comes to guide her to the next life or consciousness. However, the events of the show have not even taken place yet, most importantly Cooper being trapped inside the Red Room in the series finale.
While the Red Room/Lodges/BOB/Mike/Man From Another Place might be real physical or spiritual places or entities, David Lynch certainly shows in the film that they are most importantly symbolic of actual things as well….BOB is Leland’s guilt over being molested himself as a kid in Pearl Lakes by someone named Robertson or Bob. Unfortunately the guilt and molestation led to him also abusing his own daughter sexually which is very common in this world. The little boy with the mask (the Tremond boy with the grandmother) is Leland’s lost innocence trapped in the Lodge. The grandmother Tremond is the comforting figure to this young boy like in Lynch’s short The Grandmother. Behind the mask you also see a monkey/ape. This is showing the carnal nature behind sexual abuse/rape/murder which we do actually share with our primate cousins! It happens and it’s awful, but yet it is common in our world and has always been! The mask represents the facade that people/families/societies put over such things to help cope with the awful reality and truth of it being present in their lives and world.
The whole Mike persona is a man who also probably used to be one of these people who committed rapes/molestation/and murders but had the desire or courage to stop his chain from continuing (unlike Leland). He cut off his arm and the evil remains in the Lodge as the Man From Another Place. He refers to himself as “The Arm”. Garmonbozia is pain and suffering. Mike asks for his garmonbozia so that he can finally have the guilt washed away in the Lodge with the arm, which is why Little Mike touches him where the arm used to be during this scene of Fire Walk With Me. This is also why he gives the owl ring from the Formica table to Laura. This absolves him finally not only of his own guilt, but also to help Laura break her chain of pain and suffering which was brought onto her by Leland/BOB. Also, notice that Phillip Gerard and Mike are both the same person, unlike BOB who is able to change people. This is because Mike stopped his evil deeds and cut off the arm. He takes his medication whenever he starts to feel the suffering and guilt of his past deeds in order to not turn into the former Mike again.
I feel sympathy and also conflicted over Leland’s guilt in Laura’s murder. Leland knows BOB wanted to conquer Laura fully, but that she was a lot stronger than he was as a person. He also wants to save her from all that has happened to her and what her life was turning into. That is the “good side” of Leland. On the other hand, Leland kills Laura just the same as he did Teresa Banks, in order to keep his evil secrets undercover, as well as the ability to continue on with them. The scene at the end of Fire Walk With Me shows Laura finally attaining peace when the angel appears to her. The scene is absolutely touching and brings chills and tears to your eyes when you see it in the context that David Lynch intended; as a “perfect circle” of enlightenment.
In conclusion (and my humble opinion), Twin Peaks: Fire Walk With Me is the greatest thing David Lynch has ever made, his “magnum opus”. When taken in conjunction with the series pilot, first Red Room dream sequence, the Tremonds appearance, the BOB/Leland episodes in mid-season 2, and the final episode, Fire Walk With Me forms a “perfect circle” both horrifying and beautiful. I have never cried at the end of one movie the way I do with this one. I literally sat in a room with my mother and roommate (who are both fans) and we all cried tears of sadness and joy at the end of the film. Sure the movie is missing some of the quirkiness and characters of the show. But David Lynch was able to bring Twin Peaks back to his original vision before it meandered in the second season by making this film. The cinematography is absolutely amazing, especially the colors. The acting is superb, especially Sheryl Lee, who was snubbed for a rightly deserved Oscar nod! Also, the surrealism is the best of Lynch’s career. This is the ULTIMATE David Lynch film. It’s “Lynchian” beyond compare. Lynch is at the height of his powers and genius here and it shows. That is why it is only just recently that people are taking notice of this film, after they bashed it and overlooked it upon release. Certain classic films such as Citizen Kane had this same problem. Some films are just too ahead of their time to be recognized and need time for people to catch up to their genius and greatness. This is most certainly the case with Fire Walk With Me. David Lynch will ultimately be vindicated as this film starts to get recognized as the amazing piece of cinema it is in the years to come. Its acclaim and recognition have grown with age, hindsight, and repeated viewings. All in all, the Twin Peaks/Fire Walk With Me saga touches the mind, heart, and soul in a way unlike any other film in recent memory, but only if fully comprehended and experienced in the context the creator intended….
Couldn’t agree with you more: I’ve always loved this movie, and this without having seen more than snippets of the TV series. Thanks especially for the huge amount of background information you’ve brought together. A very valuable essay.
Excellent and impassioned essay on one of the most disturbing, beautiful, strange and unforgettable films. I love the series and I love the film. If only things could come full circle again…Cinema needs Lynch more than ever, but I fear he’ll never fully return.
Wow, thank you so much for the praise and kind words! I am so happy that I finally have not only finished this essay, but also that I have the honor of having it read by damn fine people like yourselves! Thank you so much for posting this on what I consider one of the great film blogs out there today! Thank you to Joel Bocko as well! I hope that all of us can collaborate on something together sometime soon! Maybe a back and forth discussion either article or podcast involving Twin Peaks/Fire Walk With Me/David Lynch stuff!
– Joe
Enjoyed reading this (again) and want to compliment you on placing the film in its full context. I can think of few other films with such a complex and fascinating history behind them: not just the show, but the way Lynch made the film (in well under a year from conception to premiere), adding elements as they came to him – even during shooting. I’m also very intrigued by the role Sheryl Lee herself played in redirecting Twin Peaks. As much as the network forcing the reveal (which is a tragedy for the fate of the series but was fruitful in other ways, eventually) I think it was Sheryl Lee’s unexpected screen presence (and acting chops) that pushed Lynch to ultimately take the direction he did. She was chosen for a few days of shooting in the pilot but after seeing the video footage, he decided he wanted to keep her around, creating the character of Maddy for her. Her presence in the series also lends Laura a certain gravity and reality, so that what could just be a sultry/playful MacGuffin eventually comes to have real weight. I also wonder if the script for FWWM doesn’t contain so many extra details in part as protection: Lee was very untested as an actress and who knew if she’d be able to carry the film by herself? The fact that all the extra stuff ended up on the cutting room floor may in part attest to her achievement.
I don’t know if I’d call Fire Walk With Me Lynch’s masterpiece…I think Eraserhead is his most perfectly-realized and executed film while Mulholland Drive may be the fullest expression of his sensibility. I could even make a case for the bewildering Inland Empire, as it is the full culmination of everything he’s been working toward (and may end up being his last feature film, knock on wood). That said, Fire Walk With Me (aside from being my favorite Lynch film at the moment) is undoubtedly, along with Twin Peaks and to a lesser degree Wild at Heart, Lynch’s most pivotal work: the film in which EVERY aspect of his filmmaking undergoes a change, many of which you have pointed out above. Fire Walk With Me, even more than Blue Velvet, is when the “Lynchian” truly reaches full flower, stylistically, narratively, thematically, and in many other ways as well.
As for the content of the film, there are many aspects open to interpretation, many of which Lynch himself probably does not have a definitive answer on (supposedly Michael J. Anderson walked by his editing bay once and overheard him comment, “So THAT’s what I meant by that…”). My current reading holds that Laura is the one who (perhaps subconsciously) summons the angel at the end to save Ronette. There’s an explicit visual parallel created between this moment and the one in which she saves Donna at the Pink Room, with the bright and flashing lights (and Donna and Ronette are established as doppelgangers, of both each other and of Laura’s two sides, on several occasions: when we dissolve from Donna drunkenly spinning on the dance floor to Ronette emerging out of the shadows, when Leland flashes from Donna & Laura innocently sitting on the couch to Ronette & Laura awaiting an orgy in the motel room…and let’s not forget it’s Ronette herself who laughs and asks, “Is that Donna Hayward?” in the Pink Room, drawing Laura’s attention to her). I believe Laura saving Ronette, expressing love and compassion vs. Leland’s fear and violence, is what delivers the ring to her (this is literally true inasmuch as it’s the now-freed Ronette who opens the door, allowing the ring to roll in), sealing her fate and determining once and for all that Bob cannot have her.
Oh, and I’ll stick up for Gerard Depardieu who has had a very distinguished career in France albeit not so much in his occasional American projects. Coincidentally, Lynch shot a French TV commercial a year or two later in which Depardieu appears so apparently there were no hard feelings. Then again, it is the silliest and most un-Lynchian work in the director’s career (Depardieu plays a cafe owner rushing into the street to feed little girls and female bikers Barilla pasta), so maybe this was his revenge! 😉
Joseph, my deepest apologies for getting over here late. My family and I were out all day today and yesterday at area book festivals. Left early in the morning both days and could not address this magisterial post of yours as timely as I would have liked too. This is very unusual for me. I see the incomparable Joel Bocko has placed a definitive response above. True I am not the avid FIRE WALKS admirer that many are, but neither have I seen it as often as most Lynch zealots. I do LOVE the director passionately for the body of his work, but have invested enough time with the TWIN PEAKS series nor really with re-exploring this venerated film. My wife is a huge fan and she greatly enjoyed and was enlightened by this magnificent treatise, one that makes fair claim as one of the best written on this film. I love when you broach all the gamut of emotions one feels while watching it, but this is surely one of teh most intricate reviews we ever had at the site. I have my fingers crossed you will write more, but for now this stands as a masterful examination of the film and of Lynch’s cinema in general. Congratulations!
Always good to see someone sticking up for this film. Depending on my mood, I would rank FWWM right up there with BLUE VELVET as one of the defining films of Lynch’s career. It really is a powerful film featuring his trademark atmospheric sound design and exquisite cinematography. I love the autumnal colors he drenches the town of Twin Peaks in, which give it a kind of warmth – in sharp contrast to the horrors he unleashes over the course of the film.
The critics were clearly gunning for Lynch when FWWM debuted at Cannes. Many felt that WILD AT HEART shouldn’t have won the Palme d’Or and many were disappointed with the second season of TWIN PEAKS and perplexed by the Lynch-directed finale so the knives were out and waiting for him to make a false move, which many felt was FWWM. Personally, I agree that it could very well be his masterpiece. It is a film that improves over time and I think you did a brilliant job outlining why it is such a great film and deserves to be regarded as highly as his other masterworks.
Thanks for such a fine essay Wondersinthedark! I just watched the whole series, film, and deleted scenes for the first time in November and am now about to finish the series for the second time, eagerly awaiting the film. Yep, FWWM was not what I was expecting; the original cut featured none of the comic foils or even hints of small-town innocence that made the show stand out. But perhaps having already mastered that stuff with the show, Lynch wanted to move forward with something newly challenging.
I was 7 when Twin Peaks was cancelled. Its type of plot and its style on par with film is common in TV these days, so common that neither seemed particularly groundbreaking to me. To illustrate further: I watched Blue Velvet for the first time in December. I was let down! But then I realized it’s probably because Blue Velvet was so influential that its dark humor is ubiquitous nowadays. Fargo has the same kind of “quirky characters and small-town veneer hide horrors” M.O., and when it came out in ’96, the style was still something new. But it was a whole 10 years after Blue Velvet!
Twin Peaks builds on that blueprint and expands it a ton. So I imagine that Lynch felt he had already mastered it and wanted to challenge himself and his audience. I’m a musician who spent the last 7 years working up through Brooklyn’s indie rock scene. However, MOST of the bands I see around here, most I’ve seen at SXSW, etc., are boring to me. I want something that challenges my ears! Next to Julee Cruise (thanks to Twin Peaks), I’ve been listening to a lot of Stravinsky, Bartok, and Prokofiev lately. It’s challenging to listen to! Classic rock is great; indie rock is great; but since I can easily play it, I’m bored listening to it. I wonder if this is one reason for Lynch’s big leap from dark humor to horror with FWWM; he wanted to challenge his audience and himself, and it would take something other than odd folksy dialogue and crimes behind happy curtains to do that.
I’ll be watching the film again soon and I’m glad I’ll have your insights in mind, but before I go, I want to touch on gender roles in Twin Peaks. I haven’t read much about Lynch/Frost’s relationship, but I feel like the second season of Twin Peaks DOES show female heroes. In many story lines, the roles reverse from the traditional hegemony seen in the first season.
For starters, in the first season, Shelley is afraid of her husband and instead of reaching out to the police, she entrusts her protection to another manipulative man (Bobby). Though she tries to shoot Leo, it doesn’t work; she remains trapped. In contrast, Leo is comatose for much of the second season. He reverts to being a baby. No, we don’t any non-traditional heroics from Shelley, buuut….
One of the annoying story lines finally makes sense when Nadine saves Ed from Hank. Rather than Cooper running in to save Audrey or James showing up to save Donna/Maddy when they get trapped at Harold’s, this time we see a woman beat up the manipulative, malignant Hank.
Another annoying story line sees a female save the day when Donna rescues James from the trappings of the wealthy woman who’s trying to frame him. Donna saving the day seems to be the one worthwhile event in that story line.
Josie also changes her role by finally killing the male who had abused her throughout her life. I don’t know what exactly was intended, but maybe Josie was supposed to be struggling with BOB like Leland and Gerald? Maybe she was inhabited when she was fearful of Eckhart and killed in the past? Whatever it is, she defeats Eckhart physically and something supernatural happens to her.
And one of the most interesting turn-abouts is when Bryson saves Cooper from Jean Renault. Bryson wins by dressing as a woman! Renault cannot help but expect the normal female role; he doesn’t think she could be dangerous….
In the first season, we see women falling prey to the primordial (and now outdated) female characteristic of submission. In the second season though, we see men, like Renault, falling prey to the primordial male characteristic of being all too interested in physical beauty and sex: James falls in love with that wealthy woman without knowing her; it’s just about beauty and sex. And most striking of all, Cooper falls in “love” with Annie at first sight, without barely a word with her. Annie plays a central part in Cooper’s eventual defeat–the rise of fear in the red room–and he first falls down like a 4th grade boy who gets his first crush on a girl he’s never even spoken to.
I don’t know how much Lynch had to do with any of those stories; maybe it wasn’t even his idea at all to offer some gender role reversals. In any case, the gender roles were a hugely interesting part of the show, and, again, they made the two lame side stories involving Nadine and James seem to fit with an overall theme of the show.
One final thought on FWWM: I think it was a bit of good luck that Lara Flynn Boyle would not return. She certainly portrayed the mix of conflicting and confusing emotions befitting a young woman caught in a love triangle whose best friend had just been murdered. But she leaves an impression of darkness. She is often bitterly jealous of Laura. When she puts on sunglasses and smokes cigarettes, she seems a bit like a doppleganger to the innocent and curious Donna portrayed by Moira Kelly. This makes it seem purposeful even that there is a different actress portraying Donna before Laura dies. Kelly’s Donna feels young and wants to grow up (an innocent childhood trait) so she follows Laura and tries to emulate her. But then with Laura’s death, Donna stops trying to emulate her and instead often manifests a dark character, not someone who’s trying to find out what it’s like to be mature and sexual, but someone who IS mature and sexual. In my personal thinking, I’ll say that change of face from Moira Kelly to Lara Flynn Boyle is akin to the change of Leyland’s appearance following the death of Maddy.
Thanks again for the essay; I’ll have it all in mind when I soon watch FWWM and when I get to know Lynch’s other films.
FWWM is a great film that, contrary to popular belief, you do NOT need a knowledge of the show to enjoy. It was expressly crafted for even non-viewers of the show to understand (or be puzzled by). Frankly, the film is filled with enough surreal mayhem and bizarre images that left even die-hard fanatics puzzled.
This a 100% Lynch movie, meaning he’s not catering to the viewers wants or demands, and is filled with beautiful abstractions – many not even in the original script. Are there easy answers to the riddles of Lost Highway, Mulholland Drive, Eraserhead? No, this is art that stimulates you emotionally with it’s visuals and symbolism, taking you on a ride through your unconscious.
Whether FWWM is Lynch’s greatest work or not is, of course a matter of opinion, but there’s no denying it’s a flawed work: it’s disjointed structure, choppy pacing and unwieldy running time point to serious problems in editing. It just feels like a lot was cut out, and a lot thrown in at last minute. There’s a chaotic energy to these great scenes that ultimately don’t hang together neatly the way they should. Yet the film contains some of Lynch’s best scenes. This is a problem shared by Mulholland Drive, another great film that shows it’s troubled roots in television by it’s unconventional storytelling and structure.
The deleted scenes found in the new blu ray box, while fascinating, don’t really help the film, or answer the questions TV fans were expecting:proving FWWM is the film Lynch meant to present to us at the time. It may not be his “master work”, but it’s damn good.
Good lord, the smugness in this article is quite sickening. Ragging on The Player as if its some forgotten film? It is still widely regarded as a great satire on the Hollywood system. It IS a great film. Just because YOU think it is crap doesn’t change the fact it is a highly admired film.
Gotta also love how you diss The Best Intentions & disregard Ingmar Bergman as if he is a nobody. Bergman is objectively are FAR superior & more influential filmmaker than Lynch. Some of his biggest admirers, & filmmakers he has influenced, include Kubrick, Fellini, Tarkovsky, Scorsese, Allen, Kurosawa, & even Lynch himself. The Best Intentions might not be the most known work he has been associated with, but he made so many masterpieces from the 50’s, right up until the early 80’s with Fanny & Alexander (the mini-series version is a much better TV work than Twin Peaks).
I like Twin Peaks, & some of Lynch’s work too, but I can’t stand arrogant, smug fans such as yourself, that have to tear down other films the way you did. You’re the kind of pretentious moron that claims to love art house & surrealist films, but whenever somebody mentions a film like Persona, or 8 1/2, you just dismiss them as rubbish. Typical arrogance from obnoxious Lynch fans.