VIDEOS. He was one of the greatest contemporary directors: American filmmaker David Lynch passed away at the age of 78.
David Lynch is not dead. Like David Bowie in “Twin Peaks: Fire Walk With Me”, he just disappeared in a snap, joining the moon or the Black Lodge. Steven Spielberg, the Zeus of Olympus of great directors, perfectly summed up what David Lynch represents in the eyes of moviegoers, “an original and unique voice. » “His films have already stood the test of time and always will,” he added. A look back at five films forever remembered by moviegoers.
« Eraserhead » (1977)
The filmmaker’s first film which already imposes a fantastic and disturbing universe, in a gloomy black and white. For the record, the film was shot at the American Film Institute (AFI) in Los Angeles during and after the filmmaker’s studies, with the help of production designer Jack Fisk and his wife Sissy Spacek. In the credits, we also find the cinematographer Frederick Elmes, who would later collaborate with Ang Lee or Jim Jarmusch. The adventures of Henry, a father desperate by the monstrosity of his child, quickly became cult. The film even won an award at the Avoriaz international fantasy film festival in 1978 from William Friedkin, the director of “The Exorcist”.
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« Elephant Man » (1980)
Building on the small reputation of “Eraserhead”, David Lynch is hired to produce an adaptation of the memoirs of Frederick Treves, the doctor who treated Joseph Merrick, nicknamed “Elephant Man” for his face deformed at birth. This is its director’s most classic film, enhanced by the black and white, the incredible interpretation of John Hurt and the music of Samuel Barber – the famous Adagio then covered by Oliver Stone in “Platoon”. The film received eight Oscar nominations, won three Baftas and the Grand Prix at Avoriaz.
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« Sailor et Lula » (1990)
Poorly produced, the adaptation of Frank Herbert’s “Dune” destroyed David Lynch’s commercial ambitions in 1984. The deviant thriller “Blue Velvet” put him back on the artistic scene, two years later, but it was his film next, “Sailor and Lula”, modern version of “Bonnie and Clyde”, with Laura Dern, Nicolas Cage and a sublime python skin jacket, which allowed her to win the Palme d’Or from the hands of Bernardo Bertolucci (“Last Tango in Paris”). The film has aged a bit but the trailer is incredible with the divine music by Chris Isaak.
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« Lost Highway » (1997)
I’m Deranged by David Bowie, Patricia Arquette, Dick Laurent is Dead, This Magic Moment, the looping scenario of Moebius, incomprehensible for some, luminous for others, who accept the schizophrenia of the main character.
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A great neo-noir film to watch again urgently.
« Mulholland Drive » (2001)
His masterpiece. First designed to be a series about Los Angeles, “Mulholland Drive” is a precipitate of David Lynch’s cinema, through its zig-zag narration (or rather swing, like the opening sequence), its form of waking nightmare, its eroticism on all levels. Best Director at the Cannes Film Festival in 2001, the film earned David Lynch his third and final Oscar nomination.
