This is a dreamy and at the same time intensely realistic film about the life of one or two or three women living empty, lonely lives in a small California desert town. If you have not already seen it, and if you like any films by Ingmar Bergman or Robert Altman or David Lynch, then stop reading this or any other review and see the film for yourself.
The fun of a movie like this, that is so realistic that it has no "correct" interpretation and even the movie's director and writer is not entirely sure what it "means," is to come up with your own theories and share with others who saw the film. My theory is that the three women are all separate individuals, who are alike in the sense that we are all one, but who are not alike in the way female characters/actresses are the same person in Persona, That Obscure Object of Desire, or Mulholland Drive. The sweet old couple really are Pinky's parents, and the suicide attempt leaves Pinky with amnesia, which is why she forgets her parents and confuses herself with Millie as she tries to reconstruct her life. Poor old Edgar gets shot by one of the women, or maybe all three, who make it look like an accident. It makes no sense for his body to be hidden in the tires, as that would not be an effective way of hiding him, the stench would attract attention, and the staged accident is consistent with a traditional body disposal. But maybe it is his body, just because stuff that happens in real life often makes no sense.
The real fun of this movie for me was the shock of the familiar, in picking out the tacky details of real life circa 1977. I was 20 when the film came out, and yes I do remember making shrimp cocktails, and cooking pigs-in-a-blanket like it was a new gourmet treat, and sorting out Sociables crackers eating the broken ones and saving the whole ones for company with canned cheese squirted on. I even had one of those silly laugh-toys (not a hag face, just a little box in a felt bag) that made the laughing sound and cracked everyone up. I didn't smoke Trues or drive a Ford Pinto, but I was around others who did.
And the Shelly Duvall character, with the heart of gold who lies constantly to try to make herself more interesting and who tries so hard to make everything perfect she annoys all the people she is trying to befriend? Too real.
The fun of a movie like this, that is so realistic that it has no "correct" interpretation and even the movie's director and writer is not entirely sure what it "means," is to come up with your own theories and share with others who saw the film. My theory is that the three women are all separate individuals, who are alike in the sense that we are all one, but who are not alike in the way female characters/actresses are the same person in Persona, That Obscure Object of Desire, or Mulholland Drive. The sweet old couple really are Pinky's parents, and the suicide attempt leaves Pinky with amnesia, which is why she forgets her parents and confuses herself with Millie as she tries to reconstruct her life. Poor old Edgar gets shot by one of the women, or maybe all three, who make it look like an accident. It makes no sense for his body to be hidden in the tires, as that would not be an effective way of hiding him, the stench would attract attention, and the staged accident is consistent with a traditional body disposal. But maybe it is his body, just because stuff that happens in real life often makes no sense.
The real fun of this movie for me was the shock of the familiar, in picking out the tacky details of real life circa 1977. I was 20 when the film came out, and yes I do remember making shrimp cocktails, and cooking pigs-in-a-blanket like it was a new gourmet treat, and sorting out Sociables crackers eating the broken ones and saving the whole ones for company with canned cheese squirted on. I even had one of those silly laugh-toys (not a hag face, just a little box in a felt bag) that made the laughing sound and cracked everyone up. I didn't smoke Trues or drive a Ford Pinto, but I was around others who did.
And the Shelly Duvall character, with the heart of gold who lies constantly to try to make herself more interesting and who tries so hard to make everything perfect she annoys all the people she is trying to befriend? Too real.