David Lynch

by Michel Chion, Trista Selous (Translator), Robert Julian (Translator)

Twin Peaks, Blue Velvet, Wild at Heart and Eraserhead have turned David Lynch into an American cult figure. This lively book is a uniquely comprehensive account of the only director to have a smash hit TV series in the same year as winning the Golden Palm at Cannes.

Genres: Film, Art, Nonfiction

256 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1992

Reviews

[Berna Labourdette · Rating 4 out of 5]

Un gran análisis de toda la obra cinematográfica de Lynch (hasta Mulholland Drive), con especial énfasis en los temas técnicos que han caracterizado su cine desde sus inicios (creación de escenarios y personajes utilizando material descartable, énfasis en el trabajo manual) y los simbolismos, especialmente en los temas que cruzan Twin Peaks (las madres devoradoras, la relación padre-hijo y el sexo como una iniciación a misterios sin respuesta, las apariciones de seres del más allá, el uso del silencio como recurso escénico). Muy bueno y muy útil para entender mejor ciertas películas como Lost Highway o Fire: walk with me. 

[Matt · Rating 5 out of 5]

Fantastic! I've read several books on Lynch and this is definitely the most interesting critical analysis of his work.
Chion is one of the only critics I've read that realizes Lynch shouldn't be situated as a poster boy for PoMo cinema because he is, at heart, a romantic. He also includes a "Lynch kit" (in the spirit of Lynch's dismembered animals: 'cat kits', etc.) which breaks down the "Lynchian" into autonomous reoccurring and interconnected tropes.

My one beef was Chion's reliance on Lacanian psychoanalytic interpretation, although I must admit it often works remarkably well. Also, the updated chapter that covers Lost Highway, Straight Story and Mulholland Drive was a little thin compared to the analysis of his other films.

Now if only I could get an essay by Chion on Inland Empire!

[Fede Boccacci · Rating 4 out of 5]

Un libro completísimo sobre la figura de David Lynch. El detalle del análisis de cada película es realmente muy bueno y se aborda desde distintos puntos de vistas: el histórico, el de la producción, el de la repercusión en el ambiente, y finalmente el más interesante que es el de la puesta en escena y el temático.
Esta segunda edición del libro llega hasta Mullholland Drive (el primero llegaba hasta Lost Highway).
Lo único que le criticaría es que el Lynch-kit (una especie de glosario/destripe de algunos los temas lyncheanos) por momentos me pareció un poco forzado, queriendo hacer entrar algunas interpretaciones en el concepto descripto.
Pero todo lo demás es un libro indispensable para todo fanático de Lynch.

[jamie · Rating 2 out of 5]

the guy who wrote this is at turns really fucking intelligent and stupendously stupid

[Derek Baldwin · Rating 3 out of 5]

Not by any means a bad book, but certainly a patchy one. The first two thirds are the text of the first edition, seemingly unedited. This offers some biographical information but is essentially a detailed filmography of David Lynch's career up to and including Wild At Heart. There are some slightly weird phrases, perhaps badly translated, and some of the interpretations are frankly mystifying.

The book ends with what is described as an "extension" to the original text. This discussed Lynch's later films, up to and including Mulholland Dr., which the author seems not quite to have grasped. His review of The Straight Story is very good though.

In between these two is a perverse and frankly very bad "Lynch Kit", of which the less said the better.

Certainly not the worst book about Lynch and if a properly rewritten (updated) edition were to appear (sans the "kit") I would be very interested to read it.

[Lea · Rating 4 out of 5]

Ho letto la versione italiana edita da Lindau. Vengono passati in rassegna i film di Lynch. Nella copia che ho letto ci si ferma a "Una storia vera". Un saggio interessante, di cui vorrei segnalare l'analisi di "Strade perdute". In particolare le pagine in cui si punta l'attenzione sui dialoghi tra Renée e Fred:

"Molto spesso, nei dialoghi di Strade perdute, siamo colpiti dal carattere aperto, ambiguo, non dimostrabile né confutabile delle parole - che lasciano al regista la possibilità di aggiungerci, attraverso un leggero sfasamento, un'ambiguità supplementare.....[...]....un abisso, che non è il normale sottinteso, ma, propriamente, un niente.".

E poi il dialogo al telefono con l'Uomo del mistero, una delle scene più stranianti della storia del cinema (ma questo è un mio parere).

[George Touros · Rating 2 out of 5]

This book is a product of its time, a pre-internet time, when access to information was scarce. Chion's book back then would have been a real treasure for Lynch fans. Alas this kind of book has no such effect in 2026, with access to trivia, plot synopses, and the films themselves being abundant. He refrains from giving concrete interpretations of the films themselves (even though he attempts to gather up a thesaurus of symbols that traverse Lynch's oeuvre), which disappointed me by the end.

[Juan Manuel · Rating 4 out of 5]

Cualquier intento de escribir con seriedad y profundidad sobre la vida y la obra de David Lynch es un esfuerzo encomiable, tal es el caso de este libro de Michel Chion.

[Jez Latham]

i very much enjoyed this although i was reading the first edition which has a less attractive cover. the author, mr chion, talks very intelligently about the films with some excellent research and succeeds in not getting bogged down in research or in anything overly fanciful. i do like theory and there is some theory here but he maintains clarity and there is nothing here that theory phobes will react alarmingly too. my only negative comment is that it only goes up to [in the first ed.] to the twin peaks walk with me, which is quite some time ago. leaves you wondering what he might have thought of inland empire, lost highway etc.

[Leif · Rating 4 out of 5]

A strong entry in Lynchian commentary. Chion makes trenchant and lyrical criticism look easy.