Blue Velvet

A cinematic trance like a film by Maya Deren, but with a plot. A detective movie. Probably. Lynch knows how to titillate his viewers’ subconscious. By the end, I was convinced that the world would not be okay without a maniacal Hopper screaming “LET'S FUCK!” 85% (16/11/2011)

Blue Velvet feels like a relatively normal film in David Lynch's filmography. At this point, the director had not yet escaped into hallucinogenic alternative worlds, and he had not yet fully expressed that the plot is actually not important at all - what matters are the exciting moments, the entertaining details, and the fascination with the shocking and strange. However, Lynch was already refining his impressive style based on the contrast of good and evil, normality and perversion. Beneath the facade of an exemplary disciplined and polished small-town society, symbolized by the idealistic friend Sandy, the main character Jeffrey discovers an underworld controlled by psychopathic Frank. In this dark world, rules based on violence and vulgarity apply, social relationships are based on manipulation, and sexuality has a pathological dimension. Among the film's merits, I include the presence of the extraordinary Isabella Rossellini and, above all, the young Laura Dern, whom Lynch actually discovered and helped establish. I also appreciate that the director still holds back and does not get tangled up in eccentric experiments. The visual symbolism he uses here is still simple and easily decipherable. Overall impression: 90%. (23/06/2017)

David Lynch couldn't resist some of his own extravagances, but that’s probably par for the course when it comes to him. Overall, this film felt like a combination of L.A. Confidential, Chinatown, and Wild at Heart. However, formally speaking, Lynch is once again completely unique. (29/05/2005)

Romantic noir with tons of evidence that it's simply necessary to find your own way to Lynch. Sometimes it doesn't work out, other times it becomes an unforgettable experience. MacLachlan's naivety hand in hand with Isabella Rossellini's elusive aura created a spectacle that cannot be told, only experienced. For the highest rating, the crazy Dennis Hopper would have to slightly reduce his rocket-like temperament. (23/08/2006)

Blue Velvet is somewhere between a normal film and a normal work by Lynch. If you are looking for deeper meaning, you won’t find it, because the only big thesis isn’t hidden but clearly shown, and it’s almost surprisingly banal at that. However, this banality doesn’t correspond to the film itself, which wants to look nicely perverted and weird, though, unlike Lost Highway, for instance, it’s not weird at all. A major reason for the four-star rating is Dennis Hopper in the role of a maniacal freak, he plays a non-small part in making the film as interesting as it is. (07/03/2009)