MovieChat Forums > Blue Velvet (1986) Discussion > Is this a mystery (spoilers)?

Is this a mystery (spoilers)?

posted 9 years ago by tgemberl
4 replies | jump to latest

Is this story supposed to be a crime mystery to be solved? Or is it just about some weird characters and their interactions?

There seems to be a relationship between Frank and the "Yellow Man," and there's a hint that Det. Williams knows about it. Is it about corruption, where the Yellow Man, who works for the police department, is involved with Frank, Ben, and his other thugs? Does the ending solve the mystery? Or are we supposed to experience the film just as a series of dream-like scenes? There is a hint at the end, when Jeffrey wakes up on his lawn chair, that the whole story up to this point has been a dream. Maybe we're not supposed to make a coherent story out of it.

But even Mulholland Drive, whole mostly a dream, is supposed to presuppose a real story about Diane Selwyn as a failed actress. Is there a real story in Blue Velvet?

"Extremism in the pursuit of moderation is no vice."

[–] Yorick_Brown 9 years ago

But even Mulholland Drive, whole mostly a dream, is supposed to presuppose a real story about Diane Selwyn as a failed actress. Is there a real story in Blue Velvet?

Nope. This is one of the most overrated films ever made.

When the stars are the only things we share
Will you be there?

-Benjamin Francis Leftwich

[–] franzkabuki 9 years ago

"Is this story supposed to be a crime mystery to be solved?"

Not after Jeffrey steps into Dorothy's closet, even though cosmetic tension is retained with the drug bust gone bad and the initially unclear role of The Yellow Man and The Well Dressed Man. It's essentially a coming of age story where the true mystery is human nature.

"Maybe we're not supposed to make a coherent story out of it".

What are you talking about? The coherent story is there on the screen, up-front and straight-forward. No leaps in time and space as in Lynch's later films.

"facts are stupid things" Ronald Reagan

[–] 9 years ago

[deleted]

[–] tgemberl 9 years ago

Well, what I mean by coherent story is something like this: first this happened, then that happened. Maybe the word "coherent" isn't right there. I just mean is there a narrative behind what we see on screen, as there is in Mulholland Drive? A series of events happened in an order, an order we could recognize as real life.

"It's essentially a coming of age story where the true mystery is human nature." A coming of age story for whom? For Jeffrey and Sandy?

"Extremism in the pursuit of moderation is no vice."