It's a film that has dated very well, probably because it is so dislocated and other-worldly in its visual style: it seems placeless and timeless. The film was shot entirely at night and in black and white and much of what we see is confined to one interior set - Henry's dingy apartment. The film might remind you of the work of European expressionist filmmakers of the silent era (for some reason, probably to do with the starkly contrasting shadows, it reminds me mostly of Murnau's Nosferatu, 1921). There are shades of early Luis Bunuel too.
From what we can see of Henry's world it is no surprise the poor man seems so freaked out by it all. It's a decaying (possibly post-apocalyptic) industrial landscape in which no trees, no grass and no flowers will grow. Bare sticks in mounds of earth decorate his apartment in what seems to be a vain attempt to humanise what is otherwise entirely alienating. (In his earlier short The Grandmother Lynch depicted an abused and lonely child who grows his own grandmother in a very similar looking mound.) This stark vision is rendered all the more powerful and surreal by an ever-present - almost visceral - industrial humming, clanking, whirring and hissing which forms the aural backdrop. The dialogue is sparse and there's relatively little use of music.
Our first impressions of Henry are formed as he wanders home one day through what appears to be a bomb-cratered wilderness. He looks like your archetypal nerd of a certain era with his black suit (with pocket protector) and white shirt and socks. He seems to wear these even in bed. He has a most magnificently coiffed head of hair however, like a pastiche of a rockabilly quiff with 40000 volts passing through it.
As Henry opens his front door the beautiful girl across the hall (Judith Anna Roberts) relays a message inviting him to the home of Mary, his former girlfriend. Some time later, having inspected Mary's torn photograph and dried his sock on the radiator, Henry sets off for the home of the X family. Mr X (Allen Joseph) is pathologically friendly and tells Henry about his many bodily dysfunctions. Mrs X (Jeanne Bates) is sinister and intimidating though she later tries to seduce Henry. Mary (Charlotte Stewart) is pale and blonde and spends her life one step removed from hysteria or actually in hysterical fits. Meanwhile grandmother (Jean Lange) sits motionless, possibly lifeless, in the kitchen with a cigarette burning between her lips. In one hilariously inexplicable scene Mrs X grabs grandmother's arms from behind and manipulates her limbs to toss a salad.
Invited to carve the dinner Henry is stoicism itself until the processed meat poussins twitch and ooze blood. This motif recurs throughout the film; for instance Henry suffers a nosebleed when he comes to realise that he and Mary are seemingly the parents of a premature baby that is waiting for them at the hospital. Henry protests that this can't be possible and Mary points out that "they're still not sure it is a baby!"
The scenes in the X family's home are perfectly sustained and provide welcome relief from the rather grim and mostly abstract scenes that precede them. As a satire of social set pieces like those 'meet the parents' moments this is easily the most accessible segment of the film.
We next see Mary and Henry, presumably now married, back in Henry's apartment with their offspring. The baby is clearly a mutation of some kind and bears a superficial resemblance to Spielberg's E.T. Only it's not as cuddly, having more in common with the little squeaky thing with all the teeth that bursts out of John Hurt's stomach in Alien (1979). Lynch has always refused to comment on how the baby was made and performed though clearly it is an animatronic device of some kind. Only the neck and head protrude from a lozenge-shaped body, which is swathed entirely in bandages. It may be significant that the baby has no ears and thus is seemingly incapable of perceiving any cues from its putative parents. It will not feed and gags, chokes, splutters and spits if it is not wailing inconsolably. Before long Mary leaves Henry to cope with the creature as best as he can.
Some kind of attachment seems to be forming because the baby settles down a little and only crys when Henry tries to leave its side. While contemplating a radiator on the wall Henry discovers that inside it there is a stage on which a girl (Laurel Near) shuffles in an ungainly dance. Stringy sperm-like creatures fall from the ceiling above. She sings of heaven, where everything is fine. When she tires of side-stepping the sperm she simply pops them with the heels of her shoes, smiling sweetly throughout. Back in what might be the 'real world' Henry is seduced by the mysterious and glamorous neighbour across the hall who he later realises is a prostitute. As they sink onto the bed it is transformed into a large tank of milk and they are submerged entirely. Clearly this is just another level of Henry's fantasy life and by now we are questioning whether any of the images we have seen are intended to be understood as representing anything other than Henry's state of mind.
The baby is by now unwell and Henry's fantasies become all the more intense. He imagines joining the girl who lives in the radiator but has barely set foot on the stage when a tree in a mound of earth, mounted upon wheels, menaces him. He is put on trial (for adultery?) and is decapitated by a large phallic stalk poking up through his neck. The mutant child's head replaces his, then somehow melts through the floor and falls down into the litter in an alley. (The shot in which Henry's head passes top to bottom through the film-frame is a masterpiece in itself.) The head is grabbed by a small boy and taken to a factory where a core drilled from Henry's brain is made into perfect eraser tips for pencils.
It seems that what Henry's head can create it can also erase: at one dream removed from this redemptive fantasy, Henry, back in his apartment, cuts open the bandages which swaddle the baby. A vast gush of matter oozes out of its innards and a surge of energy is released. The man in the planet is overcome and the planet itself cracks. The power supply to Henry's apartment shorts out and in a white flash he is transported to the world of the girl in the radiator where it seems a kind of happiness may await him.
For all the bizarre events that have taken place Jack Nance is always convincing as Henry especially considering the frequent use of extreme close-up. He never loses our sympathy and his air of bewilderment is entirely appropriate to the nightmarish setting. Nance was to work on almost every subsequent Lynch picture up until the time of his death and this is his best possible memorial.
Many of the other performers (Lynch cast mainly friends and friends of friends) seldom, if ever, acted again. In the original (now lost) "premiere" edit of the film his then wife Peggy and daughter Jennifer had small roles. The latter went on to direct that all-time turkey Boxing Helena (1993). Another deleted scene featured camera assistant Catherine Coulson in bondage in the adjacent apartment to Henry's. Lynch decided that knowing what went on in Henry's apartment was quite enough, let alone what might be going on next door. Coulson many years later achieved world-wide fame as Margaret Lanterman, the Log Lady of Twin Peaks. Charlotte Stewart, who gives a strong performance as Mary, enjoyed subsequent success in Little House on the Prairie before she too surfaced in Twin Peaks as Mrs Briggs.
Eraserhead belongs very firmly in the Lynchean "puzzle films" sub genre with his early shorts and the likes of Lost Highway (1996) and Mulholland Drive. But it does even less than those works do to titillate palates dulled by standard Hollywood whizz-bang fare. And more discriminating viewers may find the material off-putting, incoherent or just plain boring. It's a film you feel and experience not just watch and if you see it once you'll never forget it. A dark parable about the responsibilities of family life? A study of the ego's triumph over the id? A satire of the creative process itself? Well… possibly…. Perhaps Lynch's simple description captures it best: "a dream of dark and troubling things".
Reader comments about Eraserhead
Paul Thomas (paulmthomas@tinternet.com) writes:
I found the film deeply disturbing, impossible to understand but its dark, sinister apocalyptic setting made it compulsive viewing. The opening scenes with that man by the window in the darkened room is etched into my memory - very unsettling.
david (Email address withheld) writes:
This is one of sickest movies on the face of the earth - all my friends loved it.
vivsecturist (Email address withheld) writes:
If my nightmares had nightmares, this best sums up this film. brilliantly inaccessible.
Tara (Rattwiler@aol.com) writes:
The very best Noir film of all time. I have tons of theories and love to add new one to my list. Email me if you're interested.
Carl (Email address withheld) writes:
I have watched ths film many times and have come to the conclusion that it is the communication of subliminal fears through visualization. It was wierd in the respect that it was deeply disturbing, funny, and entertaining at the same time. It is, without a doubt, the wierdest movie ever made. Thank you Mr Lynch.
harwood (Email address withheld) writes:
this movie is by the far the most distubing piece of cinema ive ever ecountered. david lynch's uncanny cinmatography is amazing, the special effects are brilliant, the script impossible.......the message it leaves is a frightening look at the sub consioness and the unknown force that controls it
Faria Ibrahim (Email address withheld) writes:
It may be difficult for one to understand what's really going on in the whole movie, but the fact is I have had many peculiar dreams and nightmares that may somehow reflect on the figures especially the weird baby creature. What has really freaked me out was the appearance of the things and the timing and the type of background music for instance, when the neighbour (prostitute) arrives at her doorstep with this other man, as she sees Henry come out of his shelter, except he appears as a grown up version of the creature as the background music changes from a sudden constant buzz. I had a hard time sleeping for the next two weeks!
Scott (Email address withheld) writes:
First thought: Environmentalists cry about all the dinosaurs killed to power SUVs, yet they don't cry out about the electricity and air conditioning used up to see this movie in a theatre?!
Where's justice?
Other first thought: David Lynch bought a bundle of Kodak stock certificates and was helping to boost the price of the stock by shooting this film. It feels as if he just kept pulling and pulling an endless roll of film through a projector, not really caring what, if anything, was happening in front of the camera.
jason (Email address withheld) writes:
tara, before you spew your theories maybe you should go to your local book store and pick up any intro to film studies. "The very best Noir film of all time." Please! Erasurehead and film noir don't even belong in the same sentence.
Gemma (Email address withheld) writes:
Eraserhead is probably the only film that has ever come close to scaring me. It's Creepy, darkly funny in places and disturbing. Everything a good horror movie should be!
Sue (dorot60@aol.com) writes:
Poor Henry--a man cofused by love, but then who isn't. Beware of crazy in-laws--marrying an orphan has its advantages. I do not understand the eraserhead factory sequence.
Marc (Email address withheld) writes:
The soundtrack is amazing, incredibly atmospheric and works brilliantly within this dark and surreal movie. Disturbing, nightmarish, visually stimulating, this film shook me to the core. When I think of Eraserhead my mouth waters! The scenes and strange visuals are both humorous and menacing, the screaming foetus is quite cute too. It's one film that will stay with you, truly haunting! It may not appeal to fans of the more mainstream movie, but if you do see it, view it with an open mind, (a split skull in fact!) A masterpiece of spectacular creativity!
Winklemanus (Email address withheld) writes:
If reality was made of the fabric of dreams, this is what it may look like. The technic adn direction of this film is ground breaking.
Lex (cinematicmadness@yahoo.com) writes:
I don't know what "Eraserhead's" about-I several ideas, but not an entire collection. But, I can say one thing: it is the most audacious film ever made-and not only this, but one of the most absorbing. At times, I don't even study "Eraserhead", I just watch, and see what thoughts pop in. There is an understanding here, however, something, only Lynch can possibly comprehend-though I believe its abstraction is among its qualities.
Dan (Email address withheld) writes:
Eraserhead, whilst very well directed and shot, was not as disturbing as people make out. And Jason, before you write a review, make sure you learn to spell. Its 'Eraserhead' not 'Erasurehead' you critical pratt!
Asif (asifrahman73@hotmail.com) writes:
I saw the film as a kid but didn't remember much from it - but there was this overwhelming curiosity to see it again. Confusion, claustrophobia, muted panic and being somewhat disturbed are the feelings i got from the film. It doesn't seek to explain itself - but the visualizations are dreamlike. Have you ever had a dream that you totally understood?
Bob HxC (Email address withheld) writes:
Lynch got the idea for this movie when he learned he was going to be a father, and this movie looks like a nightmare from someone who is scared of having a baby. The radiator sequence would be a metaphor of his thoughts: at first he regrets what he's done (the girl stepping on the spermatozoid-like things), then he thinks about suicide ("in heaven everything is fine"). He takes her hands and what she has to offer is this bright light - death. The factory sequence is very strange and I can't explain it at all, or maybe it is just an allegory to show Henry becomes crazy?
Elizabeth Homfray (zubub2001@yahoo.co.uk) writes:
I am using eraserhead for a film project, i think the film ia amazing and deeply disturbing the dark imagery is portrayed so well. The film is pure excellence.
John Zoidberg (Email address withheld) writes:
This film has to be the oddest monstrosity one has ever viewed,but at the same time a marvellous farscaped mindboggling viewing experience.Lynch somehow ("for me")created the kind of nightmare on drugs,some kind of cold turkey agonising to break free and get through to another side?Yes your wondering what all this means but then one cant fully descibe what Erasurehead means which gives it some sort of sickening beauty?????
Tammy (Email address withheld) writes:
I would say Ereserhead is more sublime than scary. Lynch has produced a post-modern work of art! A great film in experimental cinema. Pushes thought to its limits where there is no bottom line. There is no sense of compeletion, only a sense of the unpresentable. Fanatastic!
Brian (Email address withheld) writes:
It is now the year 2003. I saw Eraserhead in 1979 while an undergraduate at a university in Washington State. The film still stands as the most difficult 17 days I've ever endured (was it really only 2 hours?). I once manufactured a bumper sticker that said "Honk if you sat through Eraserhead". No one ever honked. The film had no social value. Just because it was tortuous to an audience does not make it good or daring art. It was just crap.
D. (Email address withheld) writes:
Just because a movie isnt a whizz-bang-pop instant gratification hollywood "artistic" movie dosent mean it has no social value. Just because you don't have the patience or intelligence to comprehend something dosen't mean it isn't a good thing. Torturous to YOU perhaps...
Preston (cciranni@adelphia.net) writes:
I took a class in screenwriting last year as an elective in college and was told by my professor that a movie is supposed to have a clear-cut beginning, middle and end. In other words, a clear introduction, conflict and then resolution of the conflict. She said some people see unclear and inconclusive movies as artistic and smart, but that they were really just poorly written movies.
While I agree in the tradional sense, I also totally disagree from a creative sense. Where is a formula for movies written that must be followed? I find Eraserhead a movie, like many of Lynch's, that envokes thought and inteligent discussion. It has withstood the test of time because it allows everyone to view it how they wish to perceive it. Different images envoke different emotions and thoughts from everyone who watches it.
Based on those merits alone, I surely can't call it a poorly written, inconclusive film of random images.
David W. (Email address withheld) writes:
WARNING! If this theory is correct it may be a spoiler!
I think the movie is about sin and religion. The worms are the sins that Henry tries to hide, but they infest him and his girlfriend. God could forgive the sins (the workman offering a tree) and Death could end them (the girl who steps on the worms) but Henry doesn´t seem to think that´s enough. He dreams of his head falling off and being made into erasers, which I think means that he feels he should be erased, that he should never have existed at all.
Ralph (Email address withheld) writes:
I watched this film 4 the first time in my film lecture...i am hooked to david lynch now! great film that is both shocking and experimental.
Kimberley (pessimist_grl@hotmail.com) writes:
Eraserhead is with out a doubt the oddest movie I've seen.I'm not about to say that it was disturbing(although it was) or that it gave me nightmares (although it did) Just being a black and white film makes it seem so morbid and dark, which I'm sure Lynch intended to create. The baby in the film was rumoured to be the fetus of a calf which is looks completely nothing like.
The movie is about sin, lust, suicide and death as was mentioned before. Lust obviously being Mrs X and the prostitute. Suicide being Henry's obscene thoughts and dreams.
All I can say is 'in heaven everything is fine, you've got your good things and I've got mine'...
JoJo Bean (Email address withheld) writes:
I just witnessed Eraserhead for the first time.
I didn’t like or dislike it.
It kind of leaves a bitter taste in your mouth. Heavy on imagery and metaphor as we deal with Henrys subconscious panic attack of parental responsibility, fears of monogamy, and pressures of dealing with even the most minute details of life.
I'm left with an unnatural desire to have my head cored and made into pencil erasers.
Emery (Email address withheld) writes:
I saw Eraserhead for the first time 2 weeks ago. 5 viewings later I still haven't figured out half of what is going on, and while that may not say much for myself, it does say something for Lynch's vision. One cool camera effect that no one has mentioned yet, when Henry learns about his child from Mrs. X a metal pipe completly separates Henry and Mrs. X from Mary X.
yesirrom (Email address withheld) writes:
I thought "Eraserhead" was an astonishing film. So dense in abstract metaphors, imagery and sound it is almost too intense to watch. I regard the film to be about life, death, religion, growth, reproduction and resurrection. A film i personally think only Lynch could ever fully understand. A collaboration of thoughts and feelings that rule all of our lives for us only to wish that they could be simply erased. We find ourselves endeared by Harry as i believe there is a little of him in all of us. Confused and seeking (if but a glimpse of)normality, albeit using objects such as twigs and music to try and soften the harsh environment that surrounds him. Only to realise that this said harshness is infact his world. As cold as metal and as isolating as industry and thus escaping into dreams of light and death. The only difference between him and us is we choose to turn our backs in denial whereas Harry could only confront the abrasive and processed reality of his life and indeed inevitable death head on.
Steve Lyons (Email address withheld) writes:
I think we've all be taken for a ride folks. It's a case of the Emperors New Clothes syndrome again. The film is a collection of loose set pieces drawn together into an unintelligible whole. It does'nt mean anything at all and Mr Lynch was having a laugh at the expense of all us would be pseuds out there.
sling (Email address withheld) writes:
It was strange that the first movie I choose to watch independently from my school collection of films was Eraserhead- I didnt even have an inkling it was famous. Without any perceptions, the movie shocked me with the aggressive, blood-thirsty treatment of the horror of unwanted embryos- the sparse sets, the jumble of songs and sound, the crazy dream sequences- made a bloody fan of me.. Lynch specialises in a different world- the belief that all stories ought to be told narratively front to back or in set sequences will just dilute how much u can get out of his movies.... the rest here who agree can probably tell u how much so.
Daniel (Email address withheld) writes:
Watching this film is like a trip to an amusement park. A chilling journey through the House of Horrors; a ticket to a fantasy ferris wheel and a ride on an emotional rollercoaster. More than each of these, however, Eraserhead is most like a walk through a hall of mirrors- What you see is a distorted, entangled and often horrifying reflection of the self.
Verily (thenouns@hotmail.com) writes:
I read somewhere that a good filmmaker turns a magnifying glass on himself and views his own image in a very dark light.
The fragmented mirror image, a vanity through which an audience can see their own vanities reflected whilst remaining softly critical. Certainly an interesting idea especially when approaching David Lynch's Eraserhead. Personally, I don't go a bundle on torment, Lynch's film is masterful but it lacks humour. However I did enjoy the film's visual textures and sounds and subconscious forms of communication.
Jocelyn (Email address withheld) writes:
I must say I totally agree with Preston (see above).
I think David Lynch is a unique filmaker in history: he's surely the only one who has the possibility to make those ideas into feature films, the only one any studio will greenlight. Much like Kubrick, I think he's in a unique situation. And I think it's important that he is.
Even though a lot of people hate his work, I think it's important that at least one filmmaker is absolutely free to make films the way he wants to make them. Maybe Eraserhead's meaning will never be found, Mr. Lynch himself has said that he has heard many interesting interpretations but never the right one. But then again, this kind of movie doesn't need a unique interpretation. the more interpretation the better.
It's an artist's expression of his own subconscious, of course nobody will know exactly what it means. Much like a painting by Miro or Dali, it's an art form. It resonates differently in each person. It began as a young man's need to express himself, one shot a week, now it's a classic film that will live on forever.
If you hate the film, then probably it's not the kind of cinema you should watch. I applause any filmaker who does things their own way, without compromise. Thank you Kubrick, Gilliam, Lynch, Hezog and Roeg.
Will (bearmanofyemen@hotmail.com) writes:
It's funny you should mention Stanley Kubrick...he once claimed that Eraserhead was his favorite movie. That is certainly significant, seeing that Kubrick is often viewed as one of the greatest directors of all time. Personally, though, Lynch is my favorite.
fabrice (fabricepont@hotmail.com) writes:
the vacations on Earth of an spermatozoidshaped alien, hidden inside a humanshaped's eraserhead, who embraces and witnesses the absurd of human condition before heading back to his planet and ovarieshead'sweetheart
Lucy (Email address withheld) writes:
Did anyone see the zig-zagged floor in the lobby of Henry's appartment? Just like the one in the Twin Peaks waiting room. And of course chipmunk girl being very Julee Cruise. Did anyone else think the spermy looking creatures were actually brain stems? Oh, and thanks to that guy who goofed and called eraserhead erasurehead. Erasurehead is Andy Bell.
david r. (davidareif@hotmail.com) writes:
SIMPLY GENIOUS! this film is the absolute epitamy of deepness! I have seen this film 7 times and have seen different meanings every time. david lynch is my hero!
Tamás (baal_zebub@freemail.hu) writes:
Shocking. One of the best movies that I can not understand. I catch an aspect, you get another. There IS a meaning behind the scenes,and it could not be expressed in any other ways -thatswhy it's a good film, anyway.
dumb mancunian (bubbles@hotmail.com) writes:
Freedom of self expression is a wonderful thing, is it not?
David Lynch?, I have a memory of a film with nuns is this the same guy??
Brilliant Film!! What else can I say.
Maestrojon (maestrojon@yahoo.co.uk) writes:
Eraserhead is certainly a difficult movie but that is what Lynch does! you gotta go with it and him.
Closure and linearity are not always necessary in art-and this is art! Lighten up and try experiencing it for what it is.
nathan (Email address withheld) writes:
If you want to understand the film, I think two things are important to remember. One, as Henry's head comes off, he stands behind a partition with a rail on top. Headless Henry starts spinning the rail in his fingers. Endlessly spinning the rail.
Another thing to know is that the checkered stage on which the girl from the radiator stands was hand-drawn by Lynch.
Martin (editor@skeptomaniac.com) writes:
Eraserhead made me miserably self-conscious as I watched. It had the same effect on me as do certain works of abstract art -you can never decide if you are too stupid to 'get it' or if there is nothing to get because it's all a huge joke or grand ignorance on the artist's part.
In the final examination it cannot be denied that Lynch has crafted masterful cinematic works such as Blue Velvet, Mulholland Drive, and the Twin Peaks TV franchise, and so, I've come to believe that where Eraserhead is concerned there was covert method behind the overt madness, and that I am, in fact, too stupid. Thanks, David!
All kidding aside, it is atmospheric, jarringly disturbing, and tends to defy classification or pigeon-holing. It seems a cinematic Rorschach ink blot, right down to the black and white film, a pareidolic nightmare of a film, and the viewer may impose his or her individual meanings and themes to it. However would another prove them wrong?
jo and jay (Email address withheld) writes:
worst film we have ever seen, was there really a point to it?
Charlie Thompson (cmthomp@pointpark.edu) writes:
I think that there are several key elements to Lynch's message of this piece.
1. Eraserhead: The pencil has two ends, a drawing (creation) end and an eraser (destruction) end. The comment is (in my opinion) that once a being on this planet becomes a human being there is only one final result: You end up as sheer destruction with no productivity. Esentially, our lives can only come of meaningless action and the end result is destruction of things around us.
2. Given the description in 1, Jack Nance goes to heaven because he kills the "child" before it becomes human, and can only the aforementioned final result. He takes away its "free will" as a human, and saves its soul from this fate. Vicariously, he goes to heaven, where everything is fine because the limiting factors of a human vessel are shedded.
yawn (Email address withheld) writes:
What's up with all the morons who think that a film filled with gross sexual subtest (like the mini-chicken bleeding from its groin while thrusting and pumping its legs) is somehow brilliant or deep? It's just perverted and lame.
I'm tired of films like this taking the cheap "oh wow, that's bizarre" way to make an impression on an audience. Just because people don't understand your film doesn't mean it's any good or that it's somehow genius. If I wrote a book and none of the chapters or sentences or words made a coherent story, you wouldn't waste your time with it. The whole point of telling a story is to... well... tell a story. If you're just going to randomly throw crap together and hope that people are desperate enough to appear intellectual and trendy by pretending to comprehend it at some non-obvious fabricated level, just shoot yourself and let someone else have your camera.
Binoche (Email address withheld) writes:
The film is a classic because it allows the viewer to project his own thoughts on to a range of images with the aim of provoking a variety of responses - if the film were not to do this it most likely be boring and not considered art. Just because a film work appears to be random is not to say however that it is.
The plot is as follows, in case you missed it:
Henry Spencer is the personification of all male insecurities, Mary X, is his prefect match, the gal no guy wants to take home to mother, she gives birth to a deformed, ill child who monopolizes his parents' time. Overwhelmed, Mary leaves Henry. He watches as the child slowly degenerates. Eventually, Henry is burdened by guilt and lost to an existance caught between the living and the dead.
You chose to watch it, maybe rent Three Colours Blue by Krzysztof Kieslowski - which I note is not listed here, next time.
Jason (Jasonelbaxter@hotmail.com) writes:
Alot of people have been commenting on how clever this film is and some are saying that the film is just a bunch of crap put together which cannot be interpratted. I honestly dont think this film is just a bunch of crap put together, i enjoyed this film and i know that there is a meaning behind everything there. i dont see how people can say that David Lynch was haveing a laugh. sometimes art is renown for behing interpretted in differnt ways or being very difficult to understand. i agree with all of the above that say this is a piece of art more than a film. i feel compelled to watch this movie a few more times and i think its one of the best movies i've ever seen. god bless you david lynch
withheld (Email address withheld) writes:
I have seen this film approximately 4 times in the last 20 years...It is time for another fix.
Local rental stores don't have it in stock, I fear buying it because I fear I will hate the film this time...or possibly fear the reactions of those I will share it with. In spite of fear, I will watch it again, and probably again, and again....because.
I did run across a young fan, who best described it as a dream. Others compare it to foreign films or drug tainted.
Let down intellectual barriers.
If it intrigues you...it doesn't mean you are insane.
If you hate it, it doesn't make it bad(remember some things intended for good may not be your favorites: wet granny kisses, scratchy wool, spinach to name a few). This took alot of time and money for some....it was a good thing for them...creativity and dedication. A very popular song, to some may seem nonsense, but actually has meaning: Pink Floyd's The Lunatic..yes?
Just be thankful for your life and your environment.
Eraserhead is an experience.
Do it sober, and for emergencies...keep a disney film handy!
Wayne (Email address withheld) writes:
I viewed the film today for the first time...I watched it, jumped on the internet, typed "The meaning of Eraserhead" into Google's search window, and ended up here.
I have not yet an opinion on the movie as I have only watched it one time. The one thing I do know is that it does have meaning, and it took 5 years to complete. It does not take 5 years to throw a bunch of clips together.
My girlfriend watched it with me, she thought it was the worst movie ever, BUT, from witnessing the things that she thinks are good I can pretty much say that she is into "in your face" things like "the fast and the furious" type of movies with quick scenes, and a "Movie for Dummies" plot.
I would have to say that people with a lower intelligence get offended by this movie because people hate what they can't understand. They would rather lie to themselves by saying it's a bad movie than just admit to everyone and themselves that they might not be as bright as they thought they were.
I don't see it as "disturbing" as many of you do. If you really want to see disturbing, watch Maniac! (1980)
Enerej (Email address withheld) writes:
I sure thought the "sperm" and the "baby" looked exactly like spinal cord with some sort of brain attached. For me, this represented the essence of person--soul?
My take-home message immediately perceived at the end of the film: Obviously, one should not have sex!
Abstract art is notorious for reflecting what the observer imposes. And it doesn't even matter what the artist intended or didn't intend for the piece to "mean". I especially appreciate Lynch's comment that no one has come up with the Right Interpretation. If anything, that comment is a goose! --Come on, YOU know the Right Interpretation!
Dave (irlumberjack@comcast.net) writes:
Hmm...I fail to see where everyone gets off calling this a "disturbing" work. Personally, I found it very interesting. As Henry lives with this alien in his home (the mutant represents the foreign idea of society being allowed into the average home) and drives his wife to insanity, he can only sit and endure it with the dream of a girl with giant, round cheeks to take him out of this place. But sadly, she'll step on his heart, and all of the other hearts thrown at her, for she is not real.
Aye, I should stop. I would hate to give the whole metaphorical quality away. I mean, just look at everything closely, and you'll see some things. Question yourself. Don't be afraid if things don't make sense, just confront the idea of the scene first academically, and then analyze it from there in different levels of metaphor. Ask yourself...why is Mary's grandmother unable to move or do anything besides smoke a cigarette?
Okay, I'm done.
Reza (reza_bernardo@yahoo.com) writes:
It is the oddest movie I ever see.
It reminds me the "TOOl" clips (a metal band).
The same sick characters and grey atmosphere.
But i like it.
vinney (vcavallo@gmail.com) writes:
i hate hearing people use the excuse, "it's meant to mean nothing and the director is laughing at you" to avoid having to think for themselves.
read some lacan, zizek or even freud. David Lynch is an artist interested in psychoanalysis, so a psychoanalytic reading of this film is in order. when one considers the film from a background of psychoanalysis, one can fully understand that symbolism at work.
For example: the "man in the planet" with the cranks and levers represents capitalist production and the social order. Henry is forced to accept the social order, and therefor is a lacking/castrated subject. yada yada there's a lot more in the middle, when henry is finally able to break free of the social order (by way of a violent, traumatic act) he is finally able to unite with his fantasy object (the lady in the radiator), without being repelled by the ultimate enjoyment she provides earlier (he touches her fingertips -white flash- he backs away), which he is unable to experience because of his lack as a subject to the order. when he breaks the order, the lever-man is unable to control the means of production anymore and sparks fly out of the cranks. a non-lacking subject is unacceptable to the capitalist production system because one must sacrifice oneself for it to succeed.
that was poorly worded and Very incomplete. do some research and think about it some more and you'll understand this angle very well. i went from seeing eraserhead as complete confusion and puzzlement, then when i did some research on psychoanalysis and really considered it, it all fell into place.
eserveray (ettubrutus@somesuch.com) writes:
Watching this film sober is a horribly disturbing experience. Then watching it with booze is even WORSE... you can't numb yourself to it, regardless of your state of mind.
Eraserhead plays on so many horrible possibilities, it's like all your nightmares put on film and mocking you with how horribly disturbing it is.
Having said that, I understand that a lot of folks expose their dates to this film to gauge their reaction as a measurement of how the date will be in marriage.
I did, so I married her!
whateverabout (Email address withheld) writes:
I don't know. I may have read too much about this film prior to watching it. I bought it yesterday, and was stoked about watching it. It was 12:30, lights were all off, dead silence in my living room, I was by myself. And, I guess, after having the heads up about the baby, and the Lady in the Radiator, and the Woman Across the Hall, the suspense and utter shock everyone talked about didn't "shock" me the way I thought it would. My advice, do Not READ anymore if you plan on watching this film. Stop, go out and get it, watch it. The experience I bet would be better.
Add your comments about Eraserhead [About]
