Inland Empire   Director: David Lynch

Inland Empire is a journey through the psyche. It is about the search for the self and the question of what is real. The characters are often in a state of confusion, which encourages the audience to reflect on their own perceptions. David Lynch

David Lynch’s Inland Empire is a masterpiece of the psychological thriller. He blurs the different levels of perception and explores such themes as identity, trauma and the mechanisms of acting.
Noted director Kingsley Stewart (Jeremy Irons) wants to remake a romantic drama that was never completed because the two protagonists were murdered during filming. To this end, he engages the two actors Devon Berk (Justin Theroux) and Nikki Grace (Laura Dern), who are hoping to make a comeback with their roles. When filming begins, it soon becomes clear that something is not right, and as the film progresses – narrated from the highly subjective perspective of Nikki Grace – reality and fiction, delusion and reality become increasingly blurred. Neither the audience nor the protagonist can make a clear decision about what is really happening and what is unfolding in Nikki’s psyche.
As is so often the case with David Lynch, he plays with the audience’s powers of observation and challenges them to examine the various levels of reality. Shot and edited entirely using digital equipment, the film bears his unmistakable signature, leading into the deep abysses of the subconscious.

Production, direction, script, music, camera and editing: David Lynch
The cast includes Laura Dern, Harry Dean Stanton, Justin Theroux, Jeremy Irons and Naomi Watts

Introduction: Daniel Pöhacker