Inland Empire (2006)
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A Hollywood actress begins to lose her grip on reality as she takes on the persona of a character in a potentially cursed film production.
The story
In Los Angeles, actress Nikki Grace awaits the results of her audition for a romantic drama. After learning she won the role, she begins filming with her co-star, Devon. However, the production is revealed to be a remake of a cursed Polish folktale. As filming progresses, Nikki begins to struggle with the boundaries between the script and her actual life. The atmosphere becomes increasingly unsettling as she experiences a series of fragmented, nightmarish events that blur the line between the fiction of the film and the reality of her surroundings.
Full plot (contains spoilers)
The film follows Nikki Grace, an actress who wins a role in a film called 'On High in Blue Tomorrows.' The production is a remake of a cursed Polish folktale. During filming, Nikki begins to experience a blurring of reality and fiction, eventually engaging in an affair with her co-star, Devon. The narrative then fragments into a stream of consciousness, featuring scenes in 1930s Łódź, a woman with a screwdriver, and a man known as the Phantom. Nikki eventually finds herself in a theater where she confronts the Phantom and enters a room called 'Axxon N.' She eventually meets a 'Lost Girl' and the two share a moment before Nikki fades away. The film concludes with a surreal celebration involving various characters from the preceding sequences.
- First release year
- 2006
- Runtime (minutes)
- 180
- Production countries
- United States; France; Poland
- Original languages
- English; Polish
- Directors
- David Lynch
- Writers
- David Lynch · writer
- Cast and characters
- Laura Dern · Nikki Grace; Jeremy Irons; Justin Theroux; Harry Dean Stanton; Karolina Gruszka; Peter J. Lucas; Krzysztof Majchrzak; Julia Ormond
- Genres
- drama; experimental; fantasy; horror; mystery; neo-noir; psychological thriller; surrealist
- Themes
- identity; reality vs. fiction; reincarnation
- Tone and mood
- nightmarish; surreal
- Premise and plot tags
- meta-fiction; psychological thriller; experimental cinema
- Reception
- The film received generally favorable reviews, with critics praising its surrealism and atmosphere, though some found it impenetrable. It was named a best film of 2006 by Cahiers du Cinéma and included in several 'best of' lists for the decade.
- Reported review scores
- Rotten Tomatoes · score: 7.6 · scale: 10 · review count: 118; Metacritic · score: 73 · scale: 100 · review count: 25
- Awards and nominations
- Golden Lion · Lifetime Achievement · win
- Production trivia
- The film was shot without a finished screenplay, developed on a scene-by-scene basis.; The film was remastered by Lynch and Janus Films in 2022.
Film metadata comes from the open sources listed in Credits & Contact. Catalogue details may be incomplete.
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