below is probably the best known scene from lost highway. it is the scene at andy's [later killed by pete (balthazar getty)] party where fred [bill pullman] meets the mystery man [robert blake]. i've must've watched this clip about a half dozen times. i admire the way lynch sets the scene and has the background music fade when the two meet. it is so like a man facing his singular obsession in the flesh. i don't know how else to describe it.
perhaps the mystery man is indeed fred's anger, murderous rage and jealosy. consider how renee and andy flirt right in front of fred just before the mystery man appears. and that the mystery man is both in front of fred and also at fred's house, where the mystery man claims he was invited, that he becomes the physical focus of fred's desire, rage and jealosy, which for fred began in the home he created with renee. so it seems natural that the mystery man was indeed invited by fred into their home, and that is where he'll stay. it is an absolutely fascinating and brilliant piece by a master filmmaker, david lynch.
2 Comments:
Richard,
Since I take the lowering of the music to be a turning inward, Pullman's solipsism, I'd agree. The character is most likely some feeling, present where Pullman has been. Though what does seem weird is that he's also where Pullman isn't (in his house).
ryan: absolutely. however, i don't find it strange that the mystery man is also at pullman's house since it is the locus of pullman's rage and jealousy in reference to renee/alice's perceived infidilities.
the fact that andy and others can see and interact with the mystery man is a device by lynch to literalize the dream state of pullman. whether andy really sees the mystery man or simply somebody else dressed in black is rather ambiguous.
also, note how pullman reacts when he's told by andy that the mystery man is a friend, tho nameless, of laurent. like his guilt hits him straight in the face.
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