Blue Velvet (1986)
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Blue Velvet Movie Review
Blue Velvet is a 1986 mystery film directed by David Lynch and starring Kyle MacLachlan and Isabella Rossellini among others. It’s a pretty good, highly memorable film.
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“Fuck you, you fucking fuck!“
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The story itself is very strong. The film is engaging throughout, even in the slower and more violent scenes. It kept me intrigued and thus it earned my respect. The first half is suitably slower paced and the second half is faster and more eventful and I liked that structure quite a bit. The thriller elements later on are excellent and the film is quite mysterious in the first act.
However, I personally would not call this film a mystery. It’s more of a crime thriller as those elements are much more present here. And they are much better developed as I honestly found the mystery itself resolved too soon and it turned out to not have been much of a mystery at all. That was quite disappointing as the film started by making that genre promise.
Blue Velvet is an immensely violent film with not only heavily showcased sadomasochism, but also ear mutilation and excessive violence by the hands of the villain. And the fact that I still liked the film even though it’s that violent goes to show how strong the story is and how Lynch managed to create a very interesting movie that definitely hooks you in really fast.
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Let’s talk about the characters and actors playing them. Kyle MacLachlan plays such an unlikable character and he honestly really made me angry in some scenes. Although that was the point, I still would have liked a more likable person to root for and the movie was certainly problematic in that area. Laura Dern is much more likable as pretty much the only normal person in the film. I liked their relationship as it was solid and moving at times.
Dennis Hopper portrays Frank Booth so well. He gave a powerful performance and the character truly is an excellent villain who disappointed in the end as I expected more from him, but he’s still a deeply disturbing, complex creation that really works.
But Dorothy Vallens is just horrible. Isabella Rossellini played her well, but she was reduced to a mere masochist woman who never at all learns from her mistakes and is basically there to make the male characters happy in sexual terms. Weak and simply terrible, the film truly is misogynist by making her be that way.
Blue Velvet has a deep ending, but other than that, I wouldn’t call it that sophisticated and it’s overrated in that regard. The movie is very artistic (more on that in just a bit), but it isn’t really as sophisticated as, let’s say ‘Psycho’, in dealing with the characters’ psychology. The symbols themselves are excellent with the robin and insect symbols working so well, but even though it explores the inner darkness of every suburban, seemingly perfect town, it doesn’t go particularly far in that regard.
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But, as I hinted above, the film is very artistic. Yes, the cinematography is absolutely amazing, the direction from David Lynch is superb and this is certainly one of his best films while the score is simply incredibly beautiful, moving and perfect. So memorable. The film has a great neo-noir atmosphere to it, it’s meticulous in detail and overall an audio-visual achievement and a work of art. A flawed, but still very much a work of art.
Blue Velvet is immensely flawed owing to a very unlikable protagonist, its frustratingly misogynist portrayal of Isabella Rossellini’s character and it’s much more a crime thriller than a true mystery, but nonetheless the storytelling is excellent and quite intricate, its villain is deeply disturbing and the ending is terrific. But above all else, it’s a work of art owing to fantastic cinematography, some greatly employed symbols, an immensely beautiful score and phenomenal direction from David Lynch. It’s one of his best works.
