Dick Laurent is dead

Obituary: David Lynch (20 January 1946 – 15 January 2025)


27/01/2025

Born in Missoula, Montana, in 1946, Lynch was one of the most influential filmmakers of our time. Even people not familiar with his work can grasp what the ‘‘Lynchian’’ means—official proof he made it into the Zeitgeist.

Lost Highway, one of Lynch’s darkest works, begins and ends with the main character (played by Bill Pullman) saying to himself via intercom that “Dick Laurent is dead”. It is then implied that the story, like a Möbius strip, is destined to repeat itself forever. This scene came to mind as soon as I read in the news, “David Lynch is dead”. It sounded as surreal as most of its work. In this case, though, it is unlikely to repeat itself. Here, the loss is final—but his legacy will remain.

Filmography

Early Works and the Suburban Dark Side.

[Disclaimer: while discussing Lynch’s filmography I am basing my claims on what are the most popular analyses among film critics and fans alike, but in the words of Lynch, there can be several interpretations and they are all valid].

Lynch’s  first financial success with Elephant Man (1980) came after a series of experimental shorts and the very dark, surreal Eraserhead (1977) that found its way into being a cult movie for the midnight screening circuits. After Dune (1984), both a commercial failure and the only movie he repudiated, Lynch finally develops what later would be considered his niche: stories revolving mostly around trauma. More often than not, women are the protagonists, or at least fundamental characters, as victims of evil men (or forces), yet strong and empowered at the same time. The aesthetic is the golden era of Americana, as if time in Lynch’s movies was somehow stuck in the 50s (think about the opening scene of Blue Velvet, accompanied by the eponymous song or the Audrey Horne’s outfits in his most successful venture, Twin Peaks). 

This phase, which starts with Blue Velvet and encompasses Twin Peaks, Wild at Heart (with a more pulp take), Twin Peaks: Fire Walk With Me (the prequel to the TV show), focuses on the dark underbelly of the American suburban dream; what horrible nightmares crawl beneath the surface of perfectly mowed lawns, white fences, diners with cherry pie and coffee? Apparently anything from rape, incest, violence, crime, cocaine and underage prostitution to evil spirits, entities that could easily be just projections of our darkest desires.

The ‘Unofficial’ Los Angeles Trilogy

Later, Lynch starts his “unofficial” trilogy (except the 1999 detour of A Straight Story, his most linear movie). Lost Highway (1997), Mulholland Drive (2001, considered by many one of his best movies and the best movie of the century according to BBC) and the utterly experimental (even by his standards) INLAND EMPIRE (2006).

Now, even if the unique stylistic markers of Lynch are still very recognizable, the focus shifts from suburbia to Los Angeles, to Hollywood, the furnace that produces cinema (and therefore, dreams) itself. However, as suburbia, and each one of us, has a shadow self, so does Los Angeles. Lost Highway sees its main character, a jazz player, allegedly killing his wife out of jealousy. The rest of the movie is generally interpreted as a psychogenic fugue. Mulholland Drive delves even deeper into the same concept. Diane Selwyn (Naomi Watts) wants to make it big in Hollywood. Instead, she ends up falling in love with movie star Camilla Rhosed (Laura Harring), . When her affection is not returned, Diane orders a serial killer to murder Camilla. Overwhelmed by guilt and horror after the fact, she has a long dream of how things could have worked out differently. 

The last film of the unofficial trilogy starts with a similar premise. We find ourselves in Hollywood, we are shooting a movie, there is a dark secret and a woman is in danger. This time, though, the psychogenic fugue turns into ego fragmentation in dozens of characters. Underlying are the themes of trauma, violence, and the doom to repeat the same mistakes over and over, even in different timelines. Most importantly, it’s a movie about abortion, which makes it particularly interesting as, to the author’s knowledge, Western media never really developed proper iconography on the subject. It’s worth noticing that here Lynch further develops a concept roughly sketched in Mulholland Drive; in L.A. not all that glitters is gold. In one of the most poignant scenes, when the character (or one of the many characters) of Laura Dern is about to die after having been stabbed in the belly, she is helped by three homeless people of color. Their discussion about apparently trivial subjects (how to get to Pomona by bus) reflects the awful disparity in the city between minority communities and the wealthy. Let’s also not forget that INLAND EMPIRE, while it can be interpreted as a kingdom of the mind, is also an area of California known for its significant working class presence.

25 Years Later

The latest (and unfortunately, the last) project of Lynch was the 18-hour limited series Twin Peaks: The Return. It plays with the fact that in the last episode of the 90s series Laura Palmer’s doppelgänger says to detective Dale Cooper, stuck in the Black Lodge, “I’ll see you in 25 years”. And 25 years later, indeed, what is considered the third season of Twin Peaks saw the light. Critically acclaimed, it was divisive for fans, as instead of giving them closure, the series left them with more questions, although it is undeniably a strong piece of art and still has some so-called “fan service” moments to keep the original audience happy.

Legacy, Politics, Allyship

As Lynch has been famously beloved on the Left, most of all by outcasts, queers, weirdos, or simply viewers curious about the depth and complexity of the human psyche, we cannot ignore that throughout the years his art cannot always be considered completely unproblematic.

In terms of work for the community, Lynch was a huge fan and advocate for Transcendental Meditation (TM), listing all sort of benefits, from boosting creativity to reducing stress to spreading peace, love, and understanding among people. His humanistic approach and deeply empathetic worldview have been confirmed by many who knew him, loved him, worked with him. However, TM has often been criticized for being elitist, due to its high cost. Despite Lynch’s great efforts in trying to make it more accessible (especially for students, communities at risk and war veterans with PTSD), he never really managed.

In American politics, with the exception of his support for Sanders, he was never overly involved. One could say that his humanistic views resonated more with “lefties” than with conservatives but not to the point of ever being explicit.

Important discussions have been had about several stylistic choices of Lynch through the years that, for today’s sensibility, might appear quite conservative. One for all, the “male gaze” is predominant in most of his movies, Kyle MacLachlan spying on Isabella Rossellini getting undressed in Blue Velvet, several female characters (Laura Palmer, Diane Selwyn) switching fluidly into homosexual sex in a way that is more reminiscent of lesbian scenes in porn movies catered toward men than authentic queerness. Speaking of queer, the elephant in the room is the absence of explicitly gay male characters in all his productions—except maybe the camp effeminacy of the villains in Blue Velvet, reflecting old Hollywood tropes where camp equals gay equals evil.

Where Lynch really took a stand though, is with the character of Denis/Denise in Twin Peaks. In the show’s second season of the 90s, during a time when Lynch was absent from set, the show writers chose to introduce a transgender character. David Duchovny’s character, once known as Denis, was now going as Denise and “crossdressing”. While even in the original series this was not done for laughs (and it’s remarkable, considering the times), it was at best done for “quirkiness”. However, when 25 years later Lynch took complete artistic control of the project in the Return, he decided to have Denis/Denise back in the story; Gordon Cole, head of the FBI, comments that certain colleagues are not OK with Denise’s new identity. He recounts that he told them to “go fix their hearts or die”. This was considered a great gesture of allyship by the LGBTQ community.

Conclusion

The outpouring of love online after Lynch’s passing has been incredible and (for a huge fan like this author), heartwarming, coming from his long-life collaborators (Kyle Maclachlan, Laura Dern, Naomi Watts, Sheryl Lee, Nicolas Cage, and others), to all people that worked with him in the industry, to people who got closer to him thanks to TM. Not to mention all the fans around the world who his stories, his views, his sensibility and his aesthetics resonated with, and who claim their lives would not have been the same without Lynch’s art.

David Lynch’s work transcended genres, challenging us to confront the darkness within ourselves and our world. He leaves behind a legacy that will haunt and inspire generations to come. As fires rage in Los Angeles—a city he so masterfully deconstructed—it’s hard not to wonder what Lynch might have made of this apocalyptic reality, a director who uncovered beauty and terror in equal measure.

Rest in Peace, David.