Blue Velvet

This psychological thriller, made in 1986, is the perfect window into the mind of David Lynch for you can really see the mad genius behind this piece of art. The movie like all of David Lynch’s movies is like an artichoke, you have to peel the layers to get to the heart. In this mysterious journey we follow a young man, Jeffrey Beaumont (Kyle MacLachlan), in his quest to discover the meaning behind a cut off ear that he found in the woods. This journey will take him into a world of danger, erotism but mostly craziness. For we all have it in us to be seduced by the abnormal.

Why is that a movie so disturbing is so critically acclaimed by everyone. Is it that David Lynch’s movie calls to our darkest, scarier self. A part that we wish could stay buried forever. For even if the story in itself is pretty basic the effect it has on the spectators is ,shall we say, revealing   and disturbing. We are put face to face with the atrocities this world can offer and the effect it has on people. The main character himself gets dragged down in this dark but appealing reality by starting to care for a deranged and hopeless women, Dorothy Vallens, (Isabella Rossellini

). All kind of atrocities can be committed by any kind of man but if we are not careful anyone get be dragged down in the mud. All it takes is the right hook.

Throughout this movie David Lynch uses different technique to increase our discomfort and maybe even perhaps our dizziness. The movie often replay deranged parts in slow-mo to let it sink into our brain. To fill our brain with unconventional scenes to prepare us for the next and more skin-crawling scene. He keeps us on our toes throughout the whole movie not by feeding our heads with stress but by giving us enough to become addicted and hooked. He makes us feel like addicts who are deprived of their drug. Throughout the whole movie the only song we hear is “Blue Velvet” with is used not only as lullaby but also as a mark of ownership of a person to another. This confuses us by mixing our moments of calm with moments of unease, never allowing us to be prepared for what comes next. It really is about never knowing in which extremity we are at the moment, making us unsure of ourselves during the whole movie. A scene can go from an erotic and incredulous sex scene to a bizarre and unsettling exchange in less than a minute. Anything and everything can happen at any moment.

Another tool that David Lynch uses throughout the movie is colours. Another way to scramble our landmarks. Bright colours like dark blue and flashy red our seen throughout the movie like with the woman’s blue velvet dress or the blood red curtains and rugs in her apartment. All of this contrast is dragging or instinct to rationalise and analyse events trough the mud. By accepting that nothing makes sense and by having no footing we start to adapt and accept this new reality. Bizarre and unsettling becomes the new normal. It causes us to change our perception of what normal and what is not.

When judging the quality of a piece of art, be it a painting or a movie, the most important factor is to ask ourself: Did it make me feel something? Though I felt extremely uncomfortable throughout the whole movie I can not deny that once again David Lynch has made us feel more than what we bargained for.

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