Why are people so confounded by this movie? It's not that obtuse. *spoilers*

`Dan tells Herb at Winkie's that he had his dream twice. We see lots of things in duplicate. Duplicate apartments, both Rita and Diane ride in the back of the limo on Mulholland Dr., we see the cowboy twice,`

Yes, MD is often compared to Persona for good reasons. Lots of duplicates, but also triplicates. With this I mean that it´s not black and white, but grey with lots of gradual transitions the way I see it. Rita just doesn´t become Camilla overnight, we first have the made-to-loo-like-Betty/Diane Rita. We have Betty-Diane seen through Betty´s eyes-Diane transition.

We see the cowboy 3 times: when he speaks to Adam, when he wakes up Diane and at the party.

`So, what has Diane done that is so wrong? She failed to fulfill her desires. That's why she's in pain. That's why she's ugly, and that's why she wished she were dead.`

The cowboy first shows up in the waking scene and later on at the party. So somewhere in between these two instances Diane must have done something bad. So do you think that between these scenes we get to see her doing bad in that it depicts her being miserable and failing to fulfill her desires? And what do you think her desires are?

`Betty is the dreamer's ego ideal; the person the dreamer would like to be.`

Do you mean that Rita would like to be Betty? And that when Camilla turns out to be the real moviestar she has accomplished this? Do you consider this to be one of the unfulfilled wishes of the dreamer?

You say that because of unfulfilled desire the dreamer feels miserable and wishes she was dead. How do you interpret Diane ordering the hit on Camilla?

`For example, Diane switched her apartment with her neighbor in Sierra Bonita.`

It seems that Diane is trying to dodge the police, but I think the crime drama aspect of the movie is just a 'red herring'. I must confess, however, that I can't think of any psychoanalytical explanation for why the neighbors switched apartments. Most of these changes occur right after Rita opens the blue box and vanishes into an abyss, but I don't know why. However, the fact that Diane's neighbor is willing to help proves, in my opinion, that they are more than casual acquaintances.

"If we are indeed witnessing the dreamer´s unconsious, how can we be sure of anything?"

We can look for elements that are repeated, such as the woman and the man carrying suitcases to a car outside of Diane's apartment. That seems to match what we saw in the beginning of the film. When Rita sneaks into Aunt Ruth's apartment, we see a man helping Aunt Ruth put suitcases in the back of a cab. Now, think like Freud. A man and woman carrying baggage. That means someone is pregnant. The birth of a new child means that the older sibling will get jealous of the younger one, because the parents will pay more attention to the new arrival.

We can look for elements that seem to be missing. At the beginning of the film, we see a bunch of people dancing, but where was Betty's partner? Later in the film we see Diane wearing a wedding ring, but where is her husband? What's almost completely repressed is what is most upsetting of all to the dreamer. The fundamental truth is that someone VERY important in the dreamer's life is not there. This absence is represented by the blue key that we see on Diane's coffee table.

We can tell how the dreamer feels. Remember that scene at Ryan's Entertainment, where a mafioso orders an expresso and then spits it out in disgust? We have no idea what they are doing there or why Adam MUST cast Camilla Rhodes in his film. But we DO know that someone is not happy.

"So do you think that the dreamer had an abortion (maybe due to rape) and this dream is how she copes with that. Cause if you believe this, the dreamer must be a woman."

Any interpretation may be valid, but I don't take the meaning so literally. I just see it as something the dreamer has repressed. In fact, from my point of view, the whole movie deals with the dreamer trying to see the truth, but he/she is unable to do so, because it is simply too upsetting. Going back to the car crash on Mulholland Drive, the truth was too glaring. Attempting to witness it literally destoryed Rita's ego. Then, at Winkie's it was too ugly, causing Dan to faint. At Ryan's Entertainment, it was too disgusting. In apartment 17, it was too frightening. And, watching Adam make out with Camilla was too outrageous. One exception to this pattern was what happened in Aunt Ruth's apartment, where the truth was simply unfathomable.

"Though it is an old and often used trope in Hollywood movies, most famous example being The Wizzard of Oz. In movies people dream all the time about themselves."

Dreams are almost always personal, no matter how you look at them. The Wizard of Oz, however, is purely a fantasy. MD is clearly intended to seem more like real life. The use of POV is an important clue.

When you consider portions of it to be reality, the pov perspective has already been broken.

https://ulozto.net/file/saCexsq2PnBR/mulholland-dr-diane-s-apartment-mp4

When Diane walks into the living room, we suddenly find Camilla lying topless on the sofa. Suddenly, Diane is also topless and wearing denim shorts. She wasn't wearing these when she got out of bed earlier. Diane's coffee has just become a glass of whisky. The blue key has disappeared. In it's place is a vase with two flower buds (roses?). DeRosa's ashtray has now returned. Diane is on top, but she's not in control. Camilla wants to break things up. After a frustrated struggle, Diane says:

'It's him isn't it?'

So, if you believe that Diane had been dreaming all along and has finally awoken, you have to conclude that she's also hallucinating. As for my interpretation, Diane didn't lose her lover 3 weeks ago. I take the age of her fridge and stove as an indication of how long it's really been. For example, Rita Hayworth was born in 1918. When she was a young woman, she probably had a fridge and a stove that looked like the ones in Diane's apartment. Since Diane is wearing a wedding ring, she could have lost her husband. Camilla is simply an imaginary substitute. I also take the blue key as symbol of her lost lover. We only see the key on the coffee table when Camilla is NOT there.

What about the sexual images? According to Freud, playing the piano is a metaphor for masturbation. You may not believe him, but, apparently, David Lynch does. Soon after her encounter with Camilla, we'll see Diane masturbating. I've danced with myself a few times. Sometimes, my imaginary partner is a movie star. In most cases, however, my partner is not a real person.

https://ulozto.net/file/MI5kJ6yfZEHj/mulholland-dr-red-lamp-2-mp4

Notice that Diane is wearing denim shorts. She cries and she's frustrated, but all she can see is a stone wall. Then, the phone rings. Suddenly, we see a red lamp, an ashtray and telephone. These are exactly the same one's we saw earlier, when Mr Roque and company were looking for 'the girl'.

https://thumbs2.imgbox.com/4b/24/rYhflszB_t.png

After 4 rings, the dreamer hears the same message Betty and Rita got when they called Diane Selwyn. This time, however, someone answers. As if by magic, Diane is now in a black dress.

"Hello, its me. Leave a message."

"Diane, the car's waiting. Are you ok? You coming?

"Uh huh"

"Good. It means so much to me. Go on, the car's right outside your house. It's been waiting, ok?"

"Ok"

"It's 6980, Mulholland Drive"

Given that Diane was just masturbating, we have little trouble understanding the line 'are you cumming?' Also note the soft, sentimental tone in Camilla's voice. There are 8 cigarette butts in Diane's ashtray. Yet, neither Diane nor Betty smokes. On the other hand, we know Adam and Camilla smoke, as does the blond assassin and his prostitute. We also know that Diane's neighbor has an ashtray. However, there is no red lamp in Diane's apartment. In fact, we have no idea where the lamp comes from. The other odd fact is that Camilla tells Diane that the car is outside her house, but Diane doesn't have a house.

By now you recognize a couple of Freudian metaphors. The pun and the ashtray filled with cigarettes. Perhaps the number of cigarettes refers to the number of sexual experiences. There is one more reference you probably didn't guess. The simple fact that Diane will soon be taking a long drive. As you can see, driving can have many different interpretations.

https://www.learning-mind.com/dreams-about-driving-a-car-meaning/