Maybe I should be upset this is a commercial. I've never bought any Dior anything and this won't make me run out and buy an expensive handbag...but it is a great film short. Even with the Dior bag in place, the bag is so much like other Lynch objects...the blue box from Mulholland Dr., the envelope with the videotape in it in Lost Highway...it appears with flashes of electricity and smoke making me think the lead character must have ended up at the Shanghai branch of the Black Lodge. The story and there is one, is that the lead character in true Lynchian style recounts she has been there before but hasn't...that she is afraid of what is in the bag. It's interesting that Lynch choices his lead not to go to the object of the commercial. It's a nice addition to the short that seems to speak secrets.
The short goes on in the lead's flashbacks to another Shanghai where she has a lover and they are trying to run away from something...almost a flashing war like atmosphere, maybe the Battle of Shanghai...and he says he loves her, but he has to leave. He disappears with a Fire Walk With Me blue rose. She is left in the room, in the present, with the bag, which has a blue rose on top of it.
It has a lot of Lynch's mystery, what others call his "Women in Trouble" decade. But really Laura Palmer and Dorothy Vallens were also women in trouble from prior decades. The Blue Lady is just the newest of these creations, stuck in her 15 minutes of fame...was that a set choice, because it seems like one. It's a beautiful shot piece, I love the framing of the scenes and the story, though short and made to sell a product, is again, delightfully anti-commercial and interesting enough to watch a few times and even analyze. It's not perfect because it is a commercial first and art second, which gets a nine from me because of that. I guess Lynch has to make money somehow, since arty directors only get a tiny fraction of what mainstream directors get. But hats off to him, for taking what could be a boring commercial and making it a mysterious romp which has reflections of his past projects. I am not sure why Dior commissioned him for this, but I am glad they did. I only hope other companies hire him to do short films for their websites. It's a pleasure to view them.
The short goes on in the lead's flashbacks to another Shanghai where she has a lover and they are trying to run away from something...almost a flashing war like atmosphere, maybe the Battle of Shanghai...and he says he loves her, but he has to leave. He disappears with a Fire Walk With Me blue rose. She is left in the room, in the present, with the bag, which has a blue rose on top of it.
It has a lot of Lynch's mystery, what others call his "Women in Trouble" decade. But really Laura Palmer and Dorothy Vallens were also women in trouble from prior decades. The Blue Lady is just the newest of these creations, stuck in her 15 minutes of fame...was that a set choice, because it seems like one. It's a beautiful shot piece, I love the framing of the scenes and the story, though short and made to sell a product, is again, delightfully anti-commercial and interesting enough to watch a few times and even analyze. It's not perfect because it is a commercial first and art second, which gets a nine from me because of that. I guess Lynch has to make money somehow, since arty directors only get a tiny fraction of what mainstream directors get. But hats off to him, for taking what could be a boring commercial and making it a mysterious romp which has reflections of his past projects. I am not sure why Dior commissioned him for this, but I am glad they did. I only hope other companies hire him to do short films for their websites. It's a pleasure to view them.