David Lynch's cinema: a representation of violence against women
- David Moreno
- 4 days ago
- 5 min read
Updated: 2 days ago
Women occupy a central place in David Lynch's films: often splendid, enigmatic and tormented, they are subject to the madness of men.
In 2017, in a documentary about him, David Lynch: The Art Life , the director shared a disturbing memory: as a child, while walking home from school with his brother, they saw a woman wandering naked in the street, dazed and lost. Frightened, they froze as if paralyzed and began to cry. The image of this woman in distress, wandering aimlessly through a peaceful neighborhood, would become one of the foundational motifs of Lynch's cinema. This traumatic figure first appeared in 1986 in Blue Velvet , the American filmmaker's masterpiece: that of Dorothy Vallens (Isabella Rossellini), naked, dazed, her body covered in blood.
David Lynch chooses small towns as his settings, towns that seem harmless at first glance: Lumberton, North Carolina, in Blue Velvet , or Twin Peaks (the fictional town) from the eponymous series. Of course, this is only an illusion. Despite the impeccably manicured lawns and flower gardens, the viewer quickly understands that this postcard image is merely a veneer. Because, in reality, the truth is quite different: violent and criminal.
In Lynch's films, as in real life, some individuals commit monstrous acts that they try to keep secret. One example: the Mazan case, in a quiet little town 30 km from Avignon, which shook France in the autumn of 2024.
Dorothy Vallens, victim and resistance fighter
The tranquil suburban setting of Lumberton, which opens Blue Velvet , contrasts sharply with a troubled and violent world. The dissonance begins with the encounter between Jeffrey Beaumont (Kyle MacLachlan) and the sensual nightclub singer Dorothy Vallens, whose husband has mysteriously disappeared…
Jeffrey breaks into Dorothy's house one evening for his investigation. Surprised, he retreats to her bedroom closet. He sees her undress, which initially evokes a classic voyeuristic fantasy: he is drawn to this beautiful and elusive woman, whom he opportunistically desires to observe in her private moments. But the scene takes a completely different turn when her lover, the psychopathic gangster Frank Booth (Dennis Hopper), enters the house. Trapped, Jeffrey becomes a powerless witness to a waking nightmare: Frank immediately imposes his sadistic dominance… And the viewer, like Jeffrey, is thus transformed into a fascinated and petrified voyeur.
Frank humiliates Dorothy, takes out a piece of blue velvet fabric, and forces her to put it in her mouth like a gag, reinforcing his power over her. He puts on a respirator to inhale a drug—a strange mask that intensifies the viewer's discomfort. He alternates between violent commands and childish behavior. Then, off-screen, Frank physically and sexually abuses Dorothy. Lynch shows nothing directly, but the violence is suggested by the sound, the framing, and the terror in Dorothy's eyes .
There is an underlying distress in the character of Booth, a suffering that we sense but never truly explain… Frank personifies a destructive and archaic masculinity, where sex is merely a cruel act of domination. Some film buffs speculate that the drug he inhales is poppers, a vasodilator used to facilitate erections and intensify sexual sensations. One wonders if Frank Booth's brutality isn't a way of compensating for sexual impotence, caused by deep-seated traumas that we suspect are incestuous and linked to his mother.
An ambivalence also prevails in the leading figure of Blue Velvet : Lynch films a Dorothy who is less passive than she initially appears. Plunged against her will into a terrifying relationship, the heroine does not merely survive: she learns to control the danger.
Sailor, a rebel in a sick world
Sailor (Nicolas Cage) stands as a counter-example to the male figures who populate Lynch's universe. He embodies a different path: that of a pure and complete love, devoted to his fiancée Lula (Laura Dern), sincere and devoid of any manipulation. The sadomasochistic dynamic between Dorothy Vallens and Frank Booth is intrinsic to the couple: violence is inscribed at the heart of their relationship. The violence that befalls Sailor and Lula in Wild at Heart ( Sailor & Lula in the French version) is inflicted by Marietta, Lula's mother. Pathologically jealous of her daughter, the stepmother hires a gang of killers to eliminate the demonstrative lover.
Sailor and Lula are passionately in love. To convey this incandescent intensity, Lynch films the sex scenes using a technique of color saturation, coupled with superimposition and exuberant lighting. Nothing seems able to break Sailor and Lula: neither the ghosts of the past that haunt them, nor the assassins on their trail. Together, they crisscross America: from North Carolina to Texas, by way of New Orleans. This ultra-violent road trip, driven by the edgy rock of Powermad and the gentle ballads of Elvis, dazzles the viewer as much as it unsettles them.
David Lynch's cinema is a representation of violence against women: in Sailor & Lula , the instigator of the violence is Lula's mother. Marietta represents a perverse and destructive maternal figure: she manipulates her own daughter and seeks to control her destiny. Her toxic power is exerted first through threats and betrayal, then through a ferocious desire to kill… The violence suffered by women does not only come from men, but sometimes also from their own mother-daughter lineage.
However, it is total and systemic violence that Lynch denounces. A significant scene illustrates this… When Lula, at the wheel, and Sailor, lying on the back seat, turns on the radio to listen to music. But only macabre news bulletins blare from the unit: atrocious crimes, senseless murders, wars, and a series of disasters. The young woman grimaces, bangs on the dashboard, and accelerates, as if speed could somehow escape this spiral of violence… in vain! They end up falling into each other's arms by the side of the road, to the swirling music of Powermad, soon replaced by the more melancholic sound of Badalamenti.
Sailor and Lula will have to cross thick darkness before reaching their destination.
This text is the result of an automated translation. The first version of this text (in French) is available at the following address:
Sources :
David Lynch et ses personnages féminins : représenter la face cachée de l’hétérosexualité – Les Inrockuptibles
Blue Velvet : les visions cauchemardesques et transgressives de David Lynch –
Le Monde
Les femmes fatales de Blue Velvet – Culturellement vôtre
Blue Velvet – Wikipédia
Il était une fois… Sailor & Lula – Arte
David Lynch – Wikipédia
