DianeSelwynNaomiWatts


Sex

 

Female

Quotes:

"Camilla, you've come back?"

"This is the Girl."

Age

Late 20s

Origin

Deep River, Ontario (Canada)

Address

Apt #17 - 2590 Sierra Bonita

Occupation

Actress

Fashion style

Shabby robe

Family

Aunt Ruth

Relationship

Camilla, Woman in #12, Joe

Doppelganger

Dan, Betty, Rita, Adam, Rebekah


Diane SelwynNaomi Watts about the story line

"Rita's character is very distressed in the beginning and I am this one who is keeping it together, the happy, magical, energetic one. My character takes care of Rita and there's a friendship that's formed. And then...there is a twist and I end up being the distressed one and she is the light, basically, and I am the darkness. 

"Making Of" interview

"I see Diane as this failed actress in an unrequited love story. Camilla represents everything she wants. Because the love is not being reciprocated, she starts planning the worst. When it's done, things go into a horrible place. Before the end (there is) a stream of consciousness – her wish of how it could have been."

Wrapped in Plastic #56


Laura Elena Harring on Naomi's character

"Her reality is, that I [Camilla] have helped her out all her life, given her roles, and she's been under my wing and in my shadow. You know, I had an affair with her and I cared for her, but it was nice and fun for me, but I have my relationship with my fiancée. Whereas she became obsessed because her mind is weak. So in the reality, when she wakes up - in my opinion - she really needs me, but her unconscious, her wish, is that I need her, and that's the reason that she created this whole torment of me needing her, and her helping me out step by step.

zap2it.com


Desires through wish-fulfillment can be in the form of many different aspects of the dreamer’s life. For Diane, the two main desires that she wishes to fulfill within her dream are, firstly the desire to become enriched in total fame and stardom, secondly, the desire for Camilla to return as her lover. With both these desires, the process of wish-fulfillment produces elements to the fantasy that can directly match elements to that in reality, however due to the unconscious certain aspects are altered. - (SavageWalker)


Diane is actually the heroic character of the movie, and, perhaps, the only one in the story who displays true passion. Camilla has thrown Diane over for Adam, power, fame etc. Did anyone believe the toast “to love” as they greeted Diane? Adam further reveals his shallow character when he relates how he could have given a Roll’s to the judge.
But Diane in the character of Betty states: "I’d rather be a great actress than a Star." Betty (Diane) doesn’t sell out, as she can’t. She may be a starry eyed girl from Deep River Ontario, but she has true passion. Her passion is what ultimately destroys her as she cannot bear the loss of her love Camilla, and cannot bear the knowledge of having killed her. - (Bill)


Negative cognition pattern

DianeI think when you're depressed you develop a negative cognitive thought pattern. The way you interpret the world becomes delusioned and everyone is 'against' you in your own mind, which doesn't necessarily reflect reality. Diane lost her ability to control her surroundings, relying on Camilla to help her get roles and move up the ladder in Hollywood. As Camilla succeeded Diane failed, and by thinking of Camilla, Adam, and everyone else that she ran into as being evil she developed a defense mechanism to protect herself. Because of her negative cognitive thinking she became helpless and weak without the drive or attitude to succeed in her field, the same way she was helpless against her sexually abusive grandparents (maybe?). As she reflected on the multiple failures in her life she exaggerated them to the worst extreme.

Its highly unlikely that Camilla and Adam stopped the set to make out in front of her, but the pain that would have caused her was reflected in her memory. Camilla was moving up in the world right in front of Diane's eyes as she began sinking lower and lower, in her career and in her mind. Diane's mind was warped and delusional in her thoughts before her decision to have Camilla killed, and the guilt from that was enough to take her over the top. Silencio. - (dk23)


Camilla not real?

Isn't it possible that the only reality we see in the film is Diane alone in her apartment masturbating - because she is simply unable to seek, pursue or establish any meaningful human connection at all due to her victimization and the deep personal devastation that resulted. Having exhausted all other escape mechanisms and unable to self-gratify any longer, the source of her dysfunctionality - the violators - now become too overwhelming to bear and she kills herself. What I am positing here is that the Camilla never really existed at all - nor, for that matter did anyone at the Mulholland Drive engagement party. Does Diane's appearance and her living habitat really suggest she would even be hobnobbing with this kind to begin with? Is it likely that someone of Camilla's elegance and moral vacuity would ever be "slumming" with the likes of a Diane to begin with? Instead, Camilla could possibly be a fantasy version of her actual ex-lover, the woman in Apt. 12. - (Maitlands)


  • Diane (but not Betty) wears a wedding ring on the right ring finger, symbolizing an openly lesbian relationship? It could as well be representative of Diane's feeling of connectedness, etc., to Camilla. Or even an allusion to how many gay men and women cover up there sexual preference in public, i.e. appearing to be part of the status quo by appearing to be married. 

  • Laney, the streetwalker behind Pink's and Betty, the waitress at Winkie's, could represent other versions of Diane. She might have gone through three stages in her life in Hollywood: actress, waitress, prostitute.


Threads:
Diane Was Sexually Abused - The Missing Link? - (Maitlands)
Organic origin of Diane's Neurosis - (sphygmo)
Why do they swap apartments? - (dotdotdot)
What's between the masturbation scene? - (Petar)

Related Threads:
Naomi's interpretation... - (Dave H.)

Topic: Anatomy of Melancholy - A. Solomon (The New Yorker)

Related:
The Diane Selwyn Story
Diane and Camilla in Roman Mythology
Real-life connection: Peg Entwistle
Sexual Abuse
Betty Elms

Camilla Rhodes

Naomi Watts

Theories:
The abortion theory
Diane projects herself as Rita
Betty & Rita = Light & dark side of Diane
Dying Moment / Afterlife theory