Studies Dualities in MD

Duality is opposites: good/evil, straight/gay, love/hate, person/doppelgänger etc.

To David Lynch duality is a very broad term. He shows it in mirrors, in colors, in numbers, in repeated words and phrases, in copying things from old movies, in scenes or individual shots that are repeated. Duality is continuing things from one movie to another — whether they are his or not his films.

Duality is opposites, good/evil, straight/gay, love/hate, person/doppelgänger etc. — ctyankee

Parallel worlds

In the 'dream' there is the scene which takes place in the Havenhurst kitchen, by the sink, where Betty wears a pink robe and Rita is in red. They are rehearsing Betty's script: "You're still here? I came back, I thought that's what you wanted? Nobody wants you here!" (Betty says angrily)

In the 'reality' part after Diane wakes up and the woman from #12 takes her box of stuff, Diane walks over to the kitchen sink, in a robe (same style as Betty's but different color) and Camilla pops up, dressed in red — "Camilla, you've come back!" Diane then gets angry and emotional, like Betty's script called for. Diane then takes the place of Camilla and we could see the line of "I hate you — I hate us both —" being applicable here, as if Diane was saying that she hates herself.

Odd that this sequence is shown after Diane wakes up, considering the blatant similarities between the two scenes. It seems like a reflection from a parallel world, almost as if Lynch is showing us that Betty's audition was actually for the role of Diane Selwyn, and after we switch worlds we see Betty playing 'for real,' when it got 'real.' — dropkick23

Visual echoes

Apartment

• Aunt Ruth's apartment complex at 1612 Havenhurst is a "spiffed up" version of the apartments on Sierra Bonita. Note the courtyards and the entryways/doors to all three apartments (Aunt Ruth's front door, and #12 and #17 at Sierra Bonita).
• Similar layout of Havenhurst and Sierra Bonita's apartments: Kitchen–Hall–Living–Bedroom+Bathroom.

Appearance

• The similarities between the Monster Behind Winkie's and the cloaked Louise Bonner.

Blue van

• The blue van the prostitute, Joe, and the pimp get in at Pink's.
• A blue van is seen driving ahead of the elderly couple's limo from LAX.
• A blue van passes by when Rita comes downhill onto Franklin Ave and Sunset Blvd at night, at the beginning of the film.

Car smash

• Adam smashing the Castigliane Bros' limo echoes the car crash at the beginning of the film.

Counter

• Dan looks to see Herb by the counter.
• Diane looks to see Dan by the counter.

Couples

• The assassin with his short blonde hair (Joe) kills his friend with long dark hair (Ed) — a parallel to Diane and Camilla, because they were also friends once.

Drawer

Aunt Ruth and Diane doing exactly the same thing but in reverse:

• When Aunt Ruth returns to the Havenhurst apartment to get her keys, her first action is to search through a drawer before she sees her keys on the table.
• The next (and only other) time a woman puts her hand in a drawer it's Diane pulling the gun out of her bedside table in the final scene — after staring at a key on a table.

Flower

• The "Bird of Paradise" flowers appear in Havenhurst as well as in Sierra Bonita.

Headlights turning on

• Headlights in Mr. Roque's office turn on as Ray enters.
• Floodlight illuminates the corral as the Cowboy enters the scene.

Key

• The key left by Aunt Ruth to Betty, given by Coco, left on the table by Betty.
• The blue key left by Joe for Diane, sitting on the coffee table.

Kiss

• Camilla + Adam in the '50s car. Camilla glancing at Diane watching.
• Camilla + Blonde Camilla at the dinner pool party. Camilla glancing at Diane watching.
• Adam directs how to kiss Camilla in the car: "and she starts to cry, don't pull her toward you."
• Betty knows how to kiss an experienced actor (Woody).

Limo

• Rita (Camilla) and Diane ride the same limo, on the same stretch, and stop (apparently) at the same location.
• Dialog clue: "What are you doing? We don't stop here!"
• The elderly couple ride a similar limo from LAX.
• The Castigliane Bros have a similar limo too.

Microphone

• Carol's old microphone on the '50s set for "16 Reasons Why I Love You."
• Rebekah Del Rio's old microphone at Club Silencio.

Nudity

• Rita in shower at Havenhurst.
• Rita in bed at Havenhurst with Betty topless. Rita on top of Betty.
• Camilla and Diane topless on the couch at Sierra Bonita. Diane on top of Camilla.

Purse

• Rita's purse contains the blue key / Betty's purse contains the blue box.
• Rita's purse contains the bloody money / Diane's purse contains the hit money.

Phone & lampshade

• Mr. Roque initiating a phone call chain ("The girl is still missing") ending on a phone by a red lampshade.
• Camilla calls Diane on the same phone since "she is still missing" from the party.

Photo résumé

• The photo résumé calls for the blond wig worn by Rita — it shows the blonde Camilla just like she is at the dinner pool party (same earrings, same necklace, same hairdo, same look).
• Blonde Camilla's headshot at the Ryan board, handed out by Luigi to Adam.
• Camilla Rhodes's headshot at Winkie's, handed out to Joe by Diane.

Rug

• Rebekah Del Rio collapses on rug.
• Next scene: the blue box falls on a similar-looking rug.

Sink

• Betty and Diane's breathing at three of the sinks is a special touch.

Tree

• The foot of the red lampshade (phone call chain) and the tree designed on top of the fireplace at Havenhurst.
• A tree foot also appears together with a white shade at Havenhurst in the scene where Rita takes off the blonde wig.

Intertextual & abstract parallels

• Coco saying "Just call me Coco" when meeting Betty at Havenhurst and Diane at the pool party.
• At the audition Bob Brooker explains to Diane: "The two of them with themselves." / On set Adam explains to Camilla: "The two of you are alone."
• Rita says "I thought sleep would do it." Rita is trying to remember, whereas Diane is trying to forget in her sleep.
• Broke: Cynthia's declaration to Adam, "You're broke!," as a parallel to Diane's feeling of being broken and beaten by those who have abused her all her life. Diane's just handed her nut over to the hit man. Once Camilla's dead, she's irredeemably broke(n), both materially and spiritually.
• Linney tells Betty there's a project she will "kill" / Diane killed the project because she had the leading lady killed.
• Getting out:
  — Louise wants Betty out of Ruth's apartment: "I want you to get her out!"
  — Lorraine throws Adam out of his house: "Get out."
  — Betty's character wants dad's best friend to leave: "Get out, get out before I call my dad."
  — Diane evicts Camilla from her apartment.
• Laughter:
  — Adam and Camilla at the dinner pool party before their announcement.
  — Joe's mocking laughter at Diane's question about the blue key.
  — The elderly couple (Irene and her companion) has an evil mute laugh in the limo from LAX.
  — The same elderly couple freaks out the poor Diane by laughing like crazy right before she commits suicide.
• At Winkie's: Dan & Herb = analysis of a dream / Betty & Rita = recalling memories of the accident.
• Betty served by Diane / Diane served by Betty (indication that Diane was a waitress?).
• Dan's heart attack before the Monster behind the wall / Camilla's shock and awe before the corpse at Sierra Bonita.
• Aunt Ruth and Betty "swap" places: Betty arrives from Canada to LAX Airport and goes to Havenhurst while Aunt Ruth leaves Havenhurst for LAX Airport to leave for Canada / Diane and the woman in #12 swap apartments at Sierra Bonita. #12 ↔ #17.
• Aunt Ruth helping Betty with the apartment / Aunt Ruth helping her with inheritance.
• TSNS director liked her but was forced not to pick her / TSNS director didn't like her (they were different people).
• Adam thought she had potential / Adam dealt with her because of Camilla.
• At Pink's the hitman is asking about a "brunette" / Woody remembers auditioning with that "black haired girl."
• Hitman an incompetent fool that screwed up Rita's hit by passing it on / Hitman is competent, to Diane's horror and regret.
• Two men from Adam's bank come looking for him and tell Cookie he's maxed out and his line of credit has been cancelled / Two detectives come looking for Diane, who feels she's coming to the end of her rope, with all hope running out.
• The two detectives who come looking for Diane and interview her neighbor, De Rosa / Betty and Rita playing detective, who talk to De Rosa in their search for Diane Selwyn.
• Diane masturbates on her ratty couch, sobbing, unable to achieve orgasm / The fresh-faced Betty reclines on an elegant leather sofa, running her fingers over the leather while talking to her aunt on the phone about learning her lines "like a real movie-star."
• We can also contrast the bed with the couch. On the bed Betty and Rita are in love / On the couch she gets rejected and can't even masturbate.
• Diane on Mulholland Dr., going up the hill hand-in-hand with Camilla to the party / Rita on Mulholland Dr., going down the hill, injured and disheveled, after the car accident.
• In her kitchen Diane wears a bathrobe that looks like a pale version of the pink bathrobe Betty wore in Aunt Ruth's kitchen while practicing her audition scene with Rita. Standing in her kitchen in that bathrobe seems to be what triggered the vision of Camilla in the kitchen — Diane's mind is flashing back to the practice audition scene. When Diane says "Camilla, you've come back," that sounds eerily similar to Rita's first line in that practice audition: "I came back."
• Pool guy and Adam's wife gets the best of Adam / Adam gets the best of his wife and pool guy.
• In the first part when Betty and Rita go to Diane's and knock on her door — there's no answer, so they go in and see the corpse in the bed / At the end there is a knocking at the door right before Diane commits suicide on the very same bed.

Related:
Visual Echoes in MD
Symbols in MD
Theory: Fate & Reincarnation