David Lynch’s 22 Strangest ‘Otherworld’ Characters
20. The Dreamself Of The Heartbroken Woman: Industrial Symphony No. 1
Moving near the edge at night Dust is dancing in the space One aspect that seems to link many of Lynchs otherworld characters is their connection to emotionality, as seen in his early 1990s stage musical Industrial Symphony No. 1. A tale of love starring Laura Dern, Nicholas Cage and Michael J. Anderson, it is Julee Cruises performance as Derns vocal muse The Dreamself Of The Heartbroken Woman that stands out. After Cages Heartbreaker ends his relationship with Derns Heartbroken Woman, the play enters into a dream in which Cruises Dreamself vocally embodies the Heartbroken Womans pain. Lynch utilizes music and vocals throughout his films to amplify melodramatic emotion until it becomes almost unbearable, and Industrial Symphony No. 1 is the most extensive example of this. If the otherworld characters in Lynchs films seem more aware of the narrative that confines them than other characters, then The Dreamself provides an instance of a character driving the story almost singlehandedly through the emotionality of her songs.