A different form of revenge
It struck me as odd that Diane would dream that the casting of the lead in the Sylvia North Story was a recasting. What would cause that and did it really happen? A recasting might happen if the original actress cast in the role were to die or simply disappear. Could someone have orchestrated that?
We
know from the reality segment of the film that Camilla Rhodes had the lead in
the Sylvia North Story. However, we don’t have any background on how she got
the part. In the dream segment, a "girl is still missing," leads to a
recasting where strong arm tactics (somewhat supernatural at times) are used to
pressure the director to cast an actress named Camilla Rhodes. Could the dream
accurately depict how the real Camilla Rhodes got the part?
This plays directly into one of David Lynch’s clues (#8) where the question is asked whether talent alone helped Camilla. The usual interpretation is that Camilla used her sex appeal to further her career but could something more sinister have happened? There is no doubt there was a lot of competition for the role. Diane admitted wanting it at the dinner party. In the dream, the high-powered casting agent whisks Betty for an impromptu audition for the part which she says that Betty "could kill." Interesting choice of words but it was clearly a highly prized role for any actress. So, who could have eliminated the original actress?
If Diane had arranged it, then it certainly didn’t do her any good since she didn’t get the part. However, it is consistent that the phone calls about the girl still being missing wound up going to what we later learn is Diane’s phone. And, if that’s the case, then the dream is all about what else could Diane have done to have gotten the role. She eliminated the competition but forgot (or couldn’t afford) to strong arm the director. She shot the Sheriff but didn’t shoot the Deputy).
Camilla, on the other hand, looks like a better candidate to have "killed" for a part. She
DID get the part and certainly had the same motivation as Diane in
having it. In Diane’s dream, Camilla/Rita is loaded with money. Although Diane
shows Joe a bundle of cash for "dealing" with Camilla in the reality
segment, it pales in comparison to what comes out Camilla/Rita’s purse in the dream. Camilla
would seem to have more money to buy her way into a role both
through contract killing and intimidation.
Camilla, in the dream, also acts like she’s guilty of something. She's afraid
of the cops for no good reason. She reacts to the dead body as if she were
responsible for it. Could the dead body be the original lead actress? The "easy" answer is that the corpse is the dead Diane who died of a broken
heart (or suicide) after being rejected by Camilla. However, it could also be a
corpse from Camilla’s past manifested in Diane Selwyn’s apartment.
Now, Diane on the other hand doesn’t show any fear or reaction to detectives asking
about her. Even in the reality segment, after Diane awakes and answers the door
to the Lamp Lady, she shows no reaction to being told two detectives were
looking for her. Curiosity should have prompted her to ask "what did they want?" The
assumption is that the detectives were looking into Camilla’s
disappearance or death. But isn’t that premature? And, if they were really
looking to a disappearance or a death of Camilla, wouldn’t they have
questioned the Lamp Lady as well? At
least asking if she had ever seen Camilla around the complex? It’s more likely that the detectives where investigating an older
event. Perhaps, even one that Diane contacted them about in the first place.
If Diane knew Camilla was involved in the disappearance or death of the first actress cast in the Sylvia North role, then it might shed a different light on Diane’s relationship with Joe and how Diane could get revenge on Camilla. Rather than killing Camilla, Diane could expose her. The whole blue key with Joe is strange and overly dramatic if not down right melodramatic. Classically, the blue key is viewed as the way Joe would tell Diane that Camilla had been killed. But, that doesn’t make a lot of sense. If Camilla disappears or dies, it would be pretty common knowledge and Diane would be aware of it since she’s in Camilla and Adam’s inner circle. Diane does ask what the key opens and Joe just laughs at her. It would be ludicrous for him to give her a key to where he might have stashed a body. That would put Diane directly in line with a murder charge.
On
the other hand, in Diane’s dream, Joe is not an assassin. That role apparently
belonged to Ed and although it didn’t go as planned, he wasn’t worried about
it. This reinforces the notion that merely insuring a missing actress was enough
for whoever paid the bill. Joe’s role in the Diane’s dream, is to steal
Ed’s "history of the world in phone numbers." To get it, he shoots Ed (and
two others) but does wind up with Ed’s book. Does this book prove Camilla was
connected, ordered, and paid for the disappearance of her competition for the
lead role as Sylvia North? Would it prove complicity in strong arming that
film’s director into choosing her for the part?
It’s also possible to argue that the actress rendered missing by Ed might have
survived. Perhaps she was disfigured from an "accident" and maybe even had
amnesia? And, in Diane’s dream, Joe is looking for her; tracking her down as a
now bruised streetwalking prostitute.
Another
of David Lynch’s clues (#4) states that "an accident is a terrible event...
Notice the location of the accident." The only accident in the film takes
place in Diane’s dream. It appears to take place on Mulholland Drive;
supposedly where Camilla had Diane’s limo ride stopped to take a short cut to
the dinner party in the reality segment. There is however, a strategic
difference. In the dream, there is a street lamp in front of the stopped limo.
The lamp looks strangely residential in nature. A lamp more likely to found down
the hill rather than on the dark and meandering Mulholland Drive. In fact, the
lamp looks suspiciously identical to those seen outside of the Havenhurst
apartment building while the two detectives are seen driving by during Diane’s
dream segment. This would support the idea that an accident did happen to the
original lead actress but that it really didn’t take place on Mulholland Drive
but rather in a more common area and the actress might not even have been in a
car.
Now, in the reality segment, when Diane is "hiring" Joe, he already has a book which is similar to the one Diane dreams he takes from Ed. This doesn’t preclude whether Ed’s books is similar to Joe’s or if Diane’s dream merely filled in any book as a needed detail. In all probability, Ed’s book might be considerably smaller than the one seen in the dream segment.
I do postulate the idea that Camilla is alive and that Diane was only getting evidence to put her away (and out of the way). Does this impact the ending of the movie? Ultimately, no. At its core, this film is a love story. Diane loves Camilla. Camilla does not (or can not) love Diane back. If Camilla is "the one" for Diane, then Diane’s future is empty and lonely. I believe this is Diane’s inherent conflict. And, throughout the film, she is confronting it and seeking ways to avoid it. Whether she has Camilla killed, whether she turns her into prison for life (or a death sentence), or simply does nothing, Camilla will not be the part of Diane’s life she craves.