The criminal thriller âBlue Velvetâ has received 17 awards at various international film festivals, but even today it provokes the souls of prudish-minded Puritans â outrage and righteous rage.
The reasons for this perception of the film are plot twists and turns. And the narrative of the picture begins with the main character, the young man Jeffrey Beaumont, returning to his native, at first glance, respectable and noble town of Lumberton. The fact is that his father goes to the hospital after an acute attack of an incomprehensible disease, and so far the doctors have not established a definite diagnosis. In a desire to unwind from gloomy thoughts, the protagonist goes for a walk along the deserted outskirts and suddenly finds a real human ear. The young man hurries to inform the local police officer Williams about the terrible find and meets his daughter Sandy, who showed no curiosity about his accidental discovery.
Young people during the conversation find out that perhaps the local beauty, cabaret singer Dorothy, whose crown number, the song âBlue Velvetâ, is driving all the men in the neighborhood crazy, is related to this incident. Jeffrey, led by
youthful maximalism, could not resist the temptation to conduct an independent investigation and reveal the whole life of the fatal temptress. So he will encounter a bastard Frank Booth with sadomasochistic inclinations, experience the corrupting influence of a vicious passion for Dorothy, offend Sandy in love with him.
Reverence towards Maestro Alfred Hitchcock
During the filming of the film âBlue Velvetâ, the creator of the film David Lynch tried to strictly follow certain traditions of the genre of the âblack filmâ, psychological thriller and suspense, and the accurate development of the storyline involuntarily sends the viewer to the works of Alfred Hitchcock. At the same time, Lynch boldly introduces the features of a tough melodrama, forcing the protagonist to make an overwhelming, painful choice between an inexorable attraction to a sexy mystery woman and a relationship with a sweet but ordinary girl. Why it is a sin to concede, any person is unable to overcome the inexplicable craving for a sense of danger, all the mysterious, acute sensations, because this is what allows, albeit for a short time, to add variety to the gray tedious routine.
As a true skilful stylist, Lynch comes close to the vaunted aesthetics of postmodernism, as if turning specific genre canons inside out, ironizing over the mock aesthetics of reality, and this is helped by a curtain of blue velvet.
"Blue Velvet" - the ancestor of "Twin Peaks"
In my humble opinion, âBlue Velvetâ is a film created with some manic inspiration, but, unfortunately, its entire demonic-mystical halo disperses as morning fog. Although there is nothing to be surprised, because faith in the mystical source of evil is not particularly needed, a person himself is quite capable of all kinds of evil. One has only to think about it: the 1986 film âBlue Velvetâ, by the unanimous decision of eminent film critics, became the real progenitor of the cult mystical series âTwin Peaksâ.