9 May 2016 - 23 May 2016
Beloved American director David Lynch captivates and mystifies audiences with luxurious cinematic dreamscapes, creating glorious puzzles for the mind and heart of film fans. Three titles in particular (Lost Highway, Mulholland Drive and Inland Empire) form his unofficially named ‘blurred identity trilogy’ featuring surrealistic representations of characters embarking on perplexing paths in search of lost selves. In her PROJECTIONS course, MARY WILD will deconstruct and interpret the unforgettable Lynchian triptych from a psychoanalytic perspective, the central thesis being that in each instalment a psychogenic fugue follows the unconscious trauma of unrequited love. The framework of study will include Sigmund Freud's hydraulic model of the mind, Jacques Lacan’s linguistic theory, and Carl Jung’s concepts of persona/shadow to illuminate Lynch’s iconic dream-logic, which is disturbing and beguiling in equal measure.
Advance viewing is optional, select scenes and montages will be shown during weekly sessions:
Week 1 – Lost Highway (1997): A jazz saxophonist is framed for the murder of his wife and sent to prison, where he inexplicably morphs into a another man and begins a new life
Week 2 – Mulholland Drive (2001): An amnesiac woman and an aspiring actress search for answers across Los Angeles in a twisting venture beyond dreams and reality
Week 3 – Inland Empire (2006): As an actress begins to adopt the persona of her character in a film, her world starts to become nightmarish and surreal
PROJECTIONS is psychoanalysis for film interpretation. PROJECTIONS empowers film spectators to express subjective associations they consider to be meaningful. Expertise in psychoanalytic theory is not necessary - the only prerequisite is the desire to enter and inhabit the imaginary world of film, which is itself a psychoanalytic act. MARY WILD, a Freudian cinephile from Montreal, is the creator of PROJECTIONS.
More info here.