![]() ![]() Jack Nance appears out of nowhere as a campy rambler who unsettles everyone by talking about his dog. Frances Bay projects a quiet menace as the master of ceremonies during a dinner scene where contract killing is the special of the day. David Patrick Kelly seems underutilized as the only member of her gang not dressed for Mardi Gras. Sherilyn Fenn makes an unforgettable appearance as Sailor and Lula witness the wreckage of a surreal car accident (the music in the scene is oddly reminiscent of that in Twin Peaks.) Grace Zabriskie portrays a grotesque henchwoman who derives sexual satisfaction from ritualistic murder. ( Wild at Heartwas released between seasons one and two, at the height of the show’s cultural and popular appeal). But the most significant source of inter-oeuvre actors is the concurrent television phenomenon of Twin Peaks. Harry Dean Stanton also makes his first of many appearances for Lynch as the lovable and ill-fated Johnnie Farragut. In addition to the casting of Dern, her Blue Velvet co-star Isabella Rossellini turns in a truly bizarre depiction of the wonderfully named hitwoman Perdita Durango. Wild at Heart includes more than the usual number of performers cross-pollinated from other Lynch projects. Yet another intertextual note: it was during the production of said play that Diane Ladd met Bruce Dern, resulting in the conception and eventual birth of one Laura Dern. It is worth further noting that in the film, Sailor’s most prized possession is his snakeskin jacket (a “symbol of individuality and belief in personal freedom”), which is Cage’s homage to Marlon Brando’s character in The Fugitive Kind, a 1959 film directed by Sidney Lumet which in turn was based on a Tennessee Williams play called Orpheus Descending. It is worth noting that the scene-stealing/chewing Diane Ladd (who received an Oscar nomination for her effort), is in fact the real-life mother of Miss Laura Dern, who portrays her daughter here. The couple hit the road and along the way, we learn some hideous secrets and macabre details of Lula’s family history as we encounter a whole Night Gallery of creepy cousins, fiendish henchmen, and grotesque villains from every point along the Lynchian spectrum of ickiness and decay. The film is bookended by Sailor’s two stints in prison, and between them Lula’s mother, Marietta ( Diane Ladd), places a contract on him to be killed. The film centers upon Sailor Ripley ( Nicolas Cage) and Lula Pace Fortune ( Laura Dern), two young lovers who can only find relief from an ugly world in each other’s arms. ![]() Closer analysis, however, reveals that these are surface level schticks, a winking director testing a new manner of sleight of hand for delivering more covert messages and conveying deeper themes. The hysterical pace and narrative composition continue to baffle, and even now the paper-thin characters and discursive plot hardly seem the logical progression from the deliberate and focused author of Blue Velvet. The nostalgic appropriations of 1950s pop culture and the on-the-nose references to The Wizard of Oz sit uneasily beside the grotesque characters, hideous violence, and explicit sex. Lynch’s most excessive film all but dares us to take it seriously as it skates on the thinnest of ice, appearing to value the cheap and cute over the heady depths we expect from its director. The consensus seems to be there is no point in looking for profundity in something so obviously shallow.Īt first glance this is no wonder. While critical hindsight has come to embrace such erstwhile objects of scorn and dismissal as Twin Peaks: Fire Walk with Me and Lost Highway, Wild at Heart remains seldom revisited. Mainstream audiences, too, were unsure what to make of the film, its glitzy postmodern cuteness seemingly at odds with the noir trappings of Twin Peaks or the pathos of The Elephant Man, let alone the thumping industrial darkness of Eraserheadand the rich textures of Blue Velvet. Arriving on the heels of the immensely popular first season of Twin Peaks, the film puzzled critic and audience alike during the Cannes film festival before unexpectedly winning the Palme d’or. Three decades after its release, Wild at Heart remains David Lynch’s most disagreed upon film and, arguably, one of his least understood. Altobell, go to his website, and be sure to check out his Patreon page! Surfaces and Depths: An Appreciation and Analysis of David Lynch’s Wild at Heart Introduction Altobell takes a deep dive into director David Lynch’s sometimes-misunderstood film Wild at Heart.įor more from Mr. In this exploratory essay, first-time FreakSugar contributor Matthew S. ![]()
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