Does ``Mulholland Drive'', a representative of difficult movies, expose the darkness of Hollywood?

Hollywood's "glories" and "failures"

A car is driving down Mulholland Drive at night. There is a brunette woman (Laura Harring) in the back seat. There is a man in the driver's seat and a man in the passenger seat. The driver suddenly stops the car. He points a gun at the confused woman. In the next moment, a car approaching from the front at high speed crashes into the woman's car. The woman survives despite being injured, but gets out of the drive on her own and wanders the streets of Hollywood. The film opens with this series of accidents.

Another woman appears in the film. She is a blonde aspiring actress with dreams of becoming a star, whose aunt is the famous actress Ruth (Naomi Watts). The brunette woman wanders into Ruth's house and introduces herself to Betty as Rita. She then reveals The Truth: that she lost her memory as a result of an accident. She also borrowed the name Rita from the lead actress Rita (Hayworth) after seeing a poster for the film Gilda (1946) on the wall.

"Mulholland Drive" (c)Photofest / Getty Images

This actress, Rita Hayworth, was an actress who ran through both the front and back of Hollywood. Her success in "Gilda" catapulted her to the top of the charts. However, her scandals with men became more prominent, and her popularity began to decline. Her rise to stardom was quick, but her fall was also quick. Gradually, her film appearances decreased, she tried to turn to television but failed, and in her later years she suffered from alcoholism and Alzheimer's, and the former star actress died in vain. Or rather, she was killed by the city of Hollywood.

"Mulholland Drive" depicts both Rita Hayworth's glory days and her failure days. Her glory days are as Betty, and her failure days as Rita. However, their relationship takes on the opposite appearance from the middle of the film. Is this a dream or reality? It would be fine if it was all a dream, but reality is not like that. It is a common belief among movie fans that the first half of this film is a dream and the second half is reality. But is that really the case? The director does not provide a clear answer. The audience will construct the story for themselves. However, no matter how it turns out, the dark side of Hollywood will be revealed.

"Mulholland Drive" and "Sunset Boulevard"