David Lynch’s 22 Strangest ‘Otherworld’ Characters
4. Bondar The Magician & Club Silencio Inhabitants: Mulholland Drive
No hay banda! There is no band! Il nest pas de orchestre! This is all a tape recording. No hay banda! And yet we hear a band! It is an illusion! Described by many as Lynchs greatest ever sequence, the Club Silencio scene in Mulholland Drive is the ultimate work of beauty, darkness and mystery from a director that specialises in all three. Betty (Naomi Watts) and Rita (Laura Elena Harring) arrive at the club late at night, where they watch Bondar AKA The Magician perform a routine that summarises many of the themes outlined here. With music playing in the background, Bondar (Richard Green) repeatedly shouts No hay banda! There is no band And yet we hear a band! Interpreted by many as being a statement about narrative realism in cinema (everything is an illusion), it can also be seen as evidence that Bondar is yet another otherworld character that recognises the narrative mechanisms at play in Lynchs films. He is reminding Betty of the fact that none of what she is experiencing is real, coercing her into waking from her fantasy (much like The Cowboy). The scene reaches its climax with Rebekah Del Rios performance of Llorando (a Spanish version of Roy Orbisons Crying), during which she collapses with the tape recording continuing to play in the background. This further amplifies the illusive nature of the performance. Notably, there is also an enigmatic woman with blue hair sitting in the clubs gallery throughout the scene. She utters the films final word: silencio but who she is, exactly, is yet another Lynchian mystery.
