10 Movies You Weren't Supposed To Understand

9. Inland Empire

Vivarium movie
Studio Canal/Absurda

After the huge success of the first season of Twin Peaks and the mega popular movie Mulholland Drive, it seemed as though David Lynch could do no wrong.

So when Inland Empire (still his last theatrical effort) was announced, Lynch fans were excited and ready for another movie that would dive deep into the psyche of the film industry once again, hoping for another glamour-less take on Hollywood, similar to the aforementioned Mulholland Drive.

However, where Lynch's previous works had maintained an undercurrent of a traceable and coherent story, Inland Empire was a mess of confusing sequences and surreal non-sequiturs that had audiences rattled and discombobulated by the time the credits rolled three hours later.

The movie follows a young actress cast in a new film as the world around her seems to crumble and blend into the fabricated universe written into the pages of the script. The movie she is staring in seems to be cursed, and she, the people and the characters around her become flies trapped in the web-like world this curse has weaved.

Laura Dern gives a standout performance as a fictional actress reminiscent to Alice from Wonderland; a seemingly intentional allegory due to the movie's constant references to talking rabbits and a Wonderland-like environment. But the actress' performance did not help make the movie's plot become more tangible and palatable for its audience.

People all over the internet have spent years trying to discern the meaning behind Lynch's film and to this day fans cannot come up with one concrete answer as to what his intentions were. Maybe, that was the intention all along?

Contributor

Lily thought it was about time she wrote Top Ten lists for people other than herself. She also owes her dog a lot of money so she thought it was about time to pay her dues. There is no tv show she likes that she hasn't seen at least twice.