ventional film. It also proved to be a huge commercial success and earned eight Oscar nominations, including Best Picture, Best Director and Best Adapted Screenplay (which Lynch also worked on). A versatile artist, after The Elephant Man Lynch shot Dune, which to this date has the worst reputation of all his films. It was clear that Lynch wasn’t your typical stu- dio director churning out blockbusters. He attempted to include elements into the story that simply didn’t work on the mainstream scene of the 1980s, which – fortu- nately – prompted him to reject similar projects. Returning to his roots of dreams and complex char- acters led to the creation of virtuoso films, such as the classic Blue Velvet starring Kyle MacLachlan and Isabella Rossellini, which also earned him an Oscar nomination for best director, despite very polarised reactions among both audiences and critics. After many years of evalua- tion, this film is now considered not only a masterpiece of the ‘80s, but also Lynch’s neo-noir classic. Wild at Heart, starring Laura Dern and Nicolas Cage, resulted in Lynch breaking into Europe in a big way, with him winning the Cannes Film Festival’s Palme d'Or for best film. Just two years later, his film Twin Peaks: Fire Walk with Me also found itself vying for a Palme d'Or at this famous festival. And it wasn’t only French critics and audiences that fell in love with Lynch (though they remain his most ardent fans), but also the rest of Europe, who recognised in this talented Ameri- can director a sensibility that’s very rare in Hollywood, and is more akin to various European schools of cine- matography. Lynch also distinguished himself through his knowledge of the history of art, which he utilised as a constant source of new themes that enabled him
to make his own entries in the annals of art history. His next film, Lost Highway, is perhaps the most divisive film of Lynch’s career. Initially misunderstood and described as pretentious and lacking substance, it was only years later that it acquired the status of a clas- sic, thanks largely to the unforgettable roles of Bill Pull- man and Patricia Arquette. All these films, with all their tropes, dreams and apparent complications, led to his penultimate film that came in the form of Mulholland Drive, which launched the career of Naomi Watts, whose role in this film is considered among the best and most complex roles, yet one that wasn’t sufficiently noticed. All the surreal elements of Lynch’s universe came to- gether in Mulholland Drive, with all dreams opening the door to reality, while the film represents the most realis- tic depiction of Los Angeles and the ruthlessness of Hol- lywood, particularly towards young, naïve girls striving to succeed at any cost. Lynch’s last film, Inner Empire, starring his muse Laura Dern, is an experimental psy- chological thriller that runs for three hours and is shot entirely on digital camera. Season three of the series that first made him fa- mous, Twin Peaks: The Return, brought conclusions to everything that that had ever been left unanswered, un- defined and confusing, through fantastic elements of satire and tragedy, but also hilarious comedy. However, apart from enjoying his masterful filmography, we rec- ommend that all fans of David Lynch check out his fa- mous weather forecasts that can be found on YouTube, simply to help overcome the sadness that’s surely being felt by all of us who appreciated him and who, thanks precisely to him, fell in love with film as an art form time and again.
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