No director in the history of cinema is as synonymous with the word "strange" as David Lynch, and the way he presents sexuality in his films is no less strange than everything else in his entire filmography. His very first film, Eraserhead, may not have any nudity in it, but it's got an insanely warped view of sex and relationships that would form the foundation on which Lynch would build his entire career.
Join me as I take a look at some of the various nude scenes in Lynch's films over the years, and how they're of a piece with his worldview. Sex and violence become inextricably linked, and the dreamlike state in which many of his films exist allow him to both sexualize the nudity and completely divorce it from reality.
Since it's not a film, I won't be covering his return toWashington statefor last year's Twin Peaks: The Return on Showtime, but there is some great nudity to be found in there. There's also brief nudity in Inland Empire, which I'm ashamed to admit I've never seen. Let's start in 1986 with...
Blue Velvet
Wild at Heart
Twin Peaks: Fire Walk With Me
Lost Highway
What struck me about O.J. Simpson was that he was able to smile and laugh. He was able to go golfing with seemingly very few problems about the whole thing. I wondered how, if a person did these deeds, he could go on living. And we found this great psychology term -- "psychogenic fugue" -- describing an event where the mind tricks itself to escape some horror. So, in a way, "Lost Highway" is about that. And the fact that nothing can stay hidden forever.