What happened to the child?
I was not sure about what happened to the child (Luna) - why she died? was she attacked by the dog?
shareYes, she was. It was even told by her mother about 30 minutes after. But, in some way, it was exactly NOT the dog, what killed her. It was her father's mistake. I think that is the reason why the accident wasnt shown.
shareWhat in the world? The answer to your question is YES, the dog attacked/killed Luna, as her mother said later in the film...but why?!
After Luna was attacked, we see Lorenzo hauling @$$ out of there. Then we see the mother calling Belen, who is in the hospital, from a pay phone on the island and telling Belen to cry because it helped both of them. But Belen wasn't even attacked by whatever attacked Luna. Was she in there because of the mental shock?
Why on earth would a dog that's been the family guard dog for years attack one of its own? Specifically, the child? Why the broken window on the OTHER side of the room, many feet away from where Luna was killed? Remember, she was killed just outside of the bedroom in which Belen and Lorenzo were just about to...
That particular scene doesn't make the slightest bit of sense. I have a feeling it's "not supposed to". It's probably "supposed to symbolize something deeper" - but sorry, no cigar. That scene is awfully contrived and confusing. If someone can shed more light on it I'd be glad to read and consider.
Luna's father's mistake? What mistake did Lorenzo make? Almost cheating on Lucia with Belen?
They way I understand it is that the dog attacked and killed the child. Lorenzo freaked out, jumped through the window and ran away. Belen was so devastated that she cut her wrists (notice that her wrists were bandaged when she received the phone-call from Elena) and thus ended up i hospital.
Very aggressive dogs (e.g. pitbull terriers and such) sometimes do attack without provocation. Maybe something like that happened here.
I agree with the message by Skylarkin,
only some things should be added.
The reason why Lorenzo is/feels guilty is because he left the door open to Luna's room. This again was because Belén took him with her to the other room.
This explains both his aswell as her feelings of guilt.
The fact that she cut her wrist can also be deducted from the end of the scene where she looks at the broken glass.
About the dog. Well the dog already proved excited when Loranzo entered (this could just be a guarddog behaviour), and whene Belén is standing in the room alone wearing the sexy outfit.
The child dies because Belen tells the dog to guard the house or the room for tonight. There's a scene that cuts to the child waking up and walking in on them, the dog then attacks her there?
But there are still parts that is unclear to me. Such as... there are two girls with their wrists cut... who was the other girl other than Belen?
The other girl was Belen's mom. It was more part of the story that was being written though. In "reality" as far as it goes here, Belen and her mom just ran away from Carlos. They did this rather than choose between Carlos and each other, in essense, let a man come between them. But the writer (totally forgetting his name right now and I am too lazy to look it up) was taking some liberties is his story on what he thought had happened to them. In reality I believe Carlos's story that they just ran away. That's what I think I guess. The idea of a mother daughter suicide pact doesn't make a ton of sense in the real world but makes for a much better story if you were writing a novel about your crazy life.
shareMy two cents:
I agree with you. In my perception Belen and her mother did run away in "reality", and it was the writer (Lorenzo) in his story that "kills" both mother and daughter in a simbolical way to his own reality. In my opinion, Lorenzo wants to kill his past and everything that has happened since he found out that he had a daughter because is driving him insane living a double life, writing a book where life and reality are becoming a mesh of his own demonds, and all is taking him away from Lucia who he loves; and so he has to simbolically kill them both mother and daughter as a way to kill his past and escape the hell he's in.
Also, there's the "wanted" poster of Belen, her mother, and Carlos on the computer. They were being looked up by the police, but in no way mentions that they are dead. Had they been dead, the "wanted" sing would have asked only for Carlos in the killings of Belen and her mother. Elena and Lucia make the assumption that he killed them. But the poster was looking for all of them and did no mention possible homicide. So, Carlos was indeed innocent. He always told the truth.
I though it was a great movie, and I loved the ending. I had to watch this movie because my namesake is "Lucia", and I was getting tired of everyone asking me "what's that all about that movie "Sex and Lucia" so I had to watched. Really good thought-provoking film.
Later,
Luciaa
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"...and whene Belén is standing in the room alone wearing the sexy outfit."
That was a pretty subversive moment, wasn't it? To the dog she says something like, "Tonight you stay outside and watch the door". I guess he understood Spanish really well, because that's what he did. A dog wouldn't normally attack a child like that, I don't think...it's just a movie. Then again, you do hear about Pit Bulls and such mauling little kids.
Remember that the dog belonged to Elena's boyfriend. She says to him as she hops into his car for the evening, something along the lines of, "you are just like your dog". Now, I wish for the LIFE of me I could remember WHY she said that to him, as it is sure to hold much meaning to the dog's behaviour. I will have to go and replay that scene.
share1 is the guy, 2 is elena.
1"Why the boyfriend?"
1"Can't they wait?"
2"She asked me as a special favor."
1"Maybe they can't."
1"They'll *beep*."
2"Good for them."
1"We don't even know him.
And in our bed?"
2"You're just like your dog."
Of course the dog understood Spanish really well, because it lives in Spain with Spaniards. I highly doubt the dog would have understood any English.
shareI had a friend who had a pit bull for a pet. He would yell "watch the door!" and point with animation in an angry way and the dog would sit there staring at the door for hours, until he called the dog away. I had the feeling that whomever opened the door would get mauled. Sometimes he would have the dog watch the door jokingly when entertaining friends because he knew that we were too afraid to chance leaving by opening the door only to be attacked.
Belen tells the dog to watch the door, and the dog is guarding the door. When Luna opens the door, the dog attacks. The montage of events will show the dog leaping in attack.
In addition to seeing a child killed in front of them, Belen has feelings of guilt that she caused the dog to attack, because in a big way, she did. Similar to how my friend would feel if someone walked through the door and was attacked by the dog - much less a child killed.
Lorenzo doesn't feel guilty, just absolute remorse at watching his daughter die in front of him. Later, in the middle of the night when Lucia, is sleeping, he says "You both must die," and he writes into the story that both Belen and her madre die by slitting their wrists, in an attempt to rest his troubled mind. We know this is a dream and that they are alive because the wanted poster has all 3 of them listed. Belen did slit her wrist in an attempt, which is why she is in the hospital, but she isn't dead. This is another way that the story parallels real life.
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After Luna was attacked, we see Lorenzo hauling @$$ out of there. Then we see the mother calling Belen, who is in the hospital, from a pay phone on the island and telling Belen to cry because it helped both of them. But Belen wasn't even attacked by whatever attacked Luna. Was she in there because of the mental shock?
actually, if you pay attention she had bandages around her wrist, meaning she probably tried to kill her self.
I think maybe what michal.kasparek-2 meant (see above) was kind of along the lines I interpreted the events.
Put another way, I usually think in metaphors when something happens and I can't really explain it.
The scene never showed the dog attacking Luna. In fact, Luna and the dog weren't even shown in the same shot. We're not shown the grisly results of an attack, just the aftereffect on Lorenzo and Belen. The fact that we don't see what happened places this scene in stark contrast to the very candid portrayal of just about everything else in the film (i.e., sex, nudity, suicide). From this, I conclude that there is a deliberate reason that we weren't shown what happened to Luna. I think that reason is because what happened was more of a psychological trauma than a physical thing.
I'm not quite sure this works, I need to see it again, but I'm thinking that the dog is Lorenzo's guilt (either for developing this thing with Belen, or for abandoning his role as a dad, or because he's too firmly identifying himself with the threesome in the story he's creating, or whatever). Moreover, Luna might not even be real, could be a symbol (for Lorenzo) of innocence. When Lorenzo transgresses and succumbs to Belen's seduction, the two symbols collide and one destroys the other. He panics and bolts. From Belen's perspective, I don't know how it works out, but it might not need to make sense, because Belen herself might be something dreamed up by Lorenzo, another metaphor.
Who knows? I'll need to think about it more. Certainly it's mentioned 30 minutes later that the dog killed Luna, so maybe I've completely off. But, to my credit, I -did- figure out what the hell was going on in MULHOLLAND DR. before any of my friends did. :)
The dog kills the girl. Like you said, it IS mentioned in the 'real' story. It happened. I also agree with your interpretation of what the event may represent. I found the scene to be absolutely heartbreaking...what a dose of reality right in the middle of what was going to be the hottest sex scene I've ever seen in a 'legit' flicker.
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