Right now, while I'm trying to get some inspiration, the melody of "Blue Velvet" is playing in my memory and I can't get that "she wore blue velvet" out of my head... you expect movies to fascinate you on a visual, emotional and intellectual level but it's often the music that ends up winning you. But is that really a surprise for a movie whose starting point is the discovery of a severed ear.The film opens with the now iconic shot of the beautiful flowers towered by proud, white picket fences, a jolly fireman waving at the camera, images of a perfect and harmonious suburb in some middle town of America... but it immediately invites us to look closer and what we see are crawling bugs under the land. All it takes is just to be curious enough to make the ugliest discoveries. And Lynch sure knows how to make ugliness hypnotically attractive.And even beauty can have the opposite effect. I know it's a movie that invites for a deep analysis and I'm never stingy on paragraphs when a film arouses my mind and my feelings, but I want to give a personal and sincere approach to "Blue Velvet". And for that, I'll mention the first Lynch work I was familiar with, "Twin Peaks". I was a kid when the TV series aired and there was so much publicity that I started to watch it, I wanted to know who killed Laura Palmer and I really expected a banal detective mystery. After three or four episodes, I gave up as it became too creepy for my taste.But Friday was the 'Twin Peaks' day and even though I was watching another program, I was always tempted to have a peek on the series, as but I felt weirdly drawn to it. And you know what scared me the most about it? The ending credits' sequence, for some reason, the prom picture of Laura Palmer scared the hell out of me, not because of the picture but for all the creepiness it carried, all the secrets lying behind that adorable face. It was the symbolic content. That is how Lynch movies works, nothing is about what it seems to be about, and beauty and ugliness are such intertwining notions that you can only take some perspective by admitting that the world is strange.So "Blue Velvet" starts with a severed ear that leads to one discovery after another : a beautiful singer named Dorothy Vallens (Isabella Rossellini); then another a pervert sadomasochistic man named Frank Booth (Dennis Hopper) and as the investigation progresses, so many new strange protagonists unfold, it just gets out of control. "Twin Peaks" started like routine murder investigation and see how it ended. But I think "Blue Velvet" works better than "Twin Peaks" because the investigators are amateurs.Jeffrey Beaumont (Kyle MacLachlan) discovers the ear and stars his journey into the heart of the city's darkness with the help of Sandy, a perfect pretty blonde girl played by Laura Dern. The most emblematic moment is when Jeffrey hides in a closet and watch Dorothy getting naked and just when you thought you're watching a beautiful woman, she opens the door, threatens to kill Jeffrey... but it's all an act, she's actually aroused. And when Frank comes, she literally gives herself, but it's a rather one-sided sex that ensues, and disturbing."What a strange world we live on" is the comment Jeffrey shares with Sandy, and it's quite neutral. Sandy is shocked. Both youngsters embody our own point of view, we're disturbed but aroused, it doesn't just work on a rational level, that's how it surpasses "Twin Peaks". That the two sleuths fall in love isn't even surprising, it represents the side of our perspective that wished they could just drop the whole case and enjoy their growing attraction. And again, music always finds a way to seal a relationship like "Blue Velvet" is Dorothy's seduction weapon, there's a beautiful romantic dance scene between Jeffrey and Sandy that elevates the film as a tender romance.Yes, tender. Sandy wonders if Jeffrey's a detective or a pervert, but strangely enough, I never questioned his moral outlook, and I knew he cared for Dorothy out of sympathy and decency. The film never plays it like a love triangle and I applaud Lynch for not having swum in the usual waters. The film is noir in its themes and motifs but the characterization is rather straight, we know who the victims, villains and heroes are. The film is considered one of the greatest mysteries, but I doubt it has to do with the crime but on the thought-provoking questions it raises: , why are we attracted by what can kill us? Why do we take risks? Maybe because that's the most thrilling part of life. Maybe for ethical reasons, to help those who can't be seen? Maybe that's what this ear found on the ground is about people who scream every day but we can't hear them, the film invites you to look and hear closer, for you might confront a Frank once in your life. Fear doesn't avoid danger. "Blue Velvet" is a movie so rich and visionary that it can easily fool you at a first viewing, it even fooled Ebert who got the raw realism of the darker scenes right but took the other ones with "corny" dialogues as artistic licenses meant to distract from the gripping realism. I don't think it did that more than it established the contrast between two worlds that are so close they might represent the own duplicity of our soul, from the secrets and fantasies hidden in our souls' closets.This is a disturbing movie raising disturbing questions. And it's so beautiful; I wouldn't mind asking myself as many disturbing questions as it'll take to admire its beauty.

Where do I begin? For starters, Blue Velvet rocked my world. I'm not sure the exact word to describe this film from David Lynch, but I think I'll start with unnerving. From the start, you are drawn in by the happy suburban lifestyle drenched in light colors and sunshine into an immediate deep zoom on the insects roaming the grass below. It is a direct juxtaposition that throws the viewer off and really made me feel uncomfortable. Was I about to watch a horror movie? Drama? I had no idea and as the film unfolded, I think it was clear that it was drawing a little from every genre...even its own.Without giving anything away, Blue Velvet will change the way you watch movies forever. Some scenes last long, some are cut short, the cheesy dialogue fits the suburban setting (and then is cut short when darkness intervenes) and Frank Booth is absolutely terrifying. It is also extremely ahead of its time. Watching this movie, you can see where Tarantino drew a lot of his influence in his realism, creative camera angles, violence, character development and so much more. This was the second Lynch film I watched as it truly shows the viewer the real art behind making a lasting film and how to really throw your viewer for a loop. I didn't trust a soul throughout the movie, which directly led to its level of terror and unnerving that worked so well. Dennis Hopper is out of this world as villain Frank Booth and I'm telling you it's a performance unlike any I've ever seen. It makes you wonder just how much of it is acting for Hopper, as he truly immerses in this monster and never lets up. Unnerving is an understatement throughout his scenes.On the surface, Blue Velvet is a crime noir, psychological mystery/thriller (I think), but when you press play, you will quickly realize that it is much more. With some amazing music filling the film as well, David Lynch quickly became one of my favorite directors and showed me that if you want to make a movie or film something, just start doing it. There may be rules, but rules are only there to be broken.

Voyeurism, singing, warm beer and not your standard damsel in distress. Weird for the sake of being weird? Possibly. A dark and twisted take on a small town boy who happens upon a mystery that stems from an ear covered with ants in a field that he subsequently brings to the local police's attention. Arguably David Lynch's best film but no disputing that it has Dennis Hopper's greatest performance ever. He might tell you not too look at him but it's impossible not to

To watch Blue Velvet for the first time 31 years after its original release is a treat of unexpected proportions. I'm not going to tell about the story because, I'm sure, each one of us could tell it in very different ways. The blandness of Kyle MacLachland here is a major plus. It's not him that rivet us but his circumstances. And the circumstances are truly riveting, terrifying, unpredictable and gloriously cinematic. Dennis Hopper is superb, disgustingly so and Isabella Rossellini creates a character that was totally new to me. Related to many others but new, disturbingly so. Dean Stockwell has a moment that I know already will stay in my mind for ever. I'm so glad I finally saw it.