The discovery of a severed human ear found in a field leads a young man on an investigation related to a beautiful, mysterious nightclub singer and a group of psychopathic criminals who have... Read allThe discovery of a severed human ear found in a field leads a young man on an investigation related to a beautiful, mysterious nightclub singer and a group of psychopathic criminals who have kidnapped her child.The discovery of a severed human ear found in a field leads a young man on an investigation related to a beautiful, mysterious nightclub singer and a group of psychopathic criminals who have kidnapped her child.
- Nominated for 1 Oscar
- 18 wins & 18 nominations total
- Director
- Writer
- All cast & crew
- Production, box office & more at IMDbPro
Storyline
Did you know
- TriviaIsabella Rossellini actually was naked under her velvet robe when she did the "ritualistic rape scene", a fact that her partner Dennis Hopper was not aware of until the cameras started rolling and his co-star opened her legs for him to kneel between. This scene was the very first time the two of them ever worked together.
- GoofsDorothy lives on the seventh floor of Deep River Apartments, a building which has only six floors.
This is done purposely and occurs similarly in many movies to deter sightseers, fans, and psychos from disrupting people who live in the real location. For similar reasons, "555-" is nearly always used on film and TV as the first three digits of phone numbers, to prevent people from trying the number and annoying people.
- Quotes
Frank Booth: Hey you wanna go for a ride?
Jeffrey Beaumont: No thanks.
Frank Booth: No thanks? What does that mean?
Jeffrey Beaumont: I don't wanna go.
Frank Booth: Go where?
Jeffrey Beaumont: For a ride.
Frank Booth: A ride! Now that's a good idea!
- Alternate versionsA German version omits the entire scene where Frank first rapes Dorothy that Jeffrey witnesses from inside her closet, and it is only implied that he raped her.
- ConnectionsEdited into Blue Peanuts (1987)
- SoundtracksBlue Velvet
Written by Lee Morris and Bernie Wayne
Performed by Bobby Vinton
Provided courtesy of CBS Records
Publisher: Vogue Music
For the majority of people, you either like Lynch or you dislike him. Personally I like the majority of his work, I love the sense of normalcy that he can create and slowly change to reveal a darkness that is worryingly close to the surface. That is the case here, beginning with a blue sky, white picket fence vision of small town America the camera drops into the grass to see a torrent of bugs scrambling just under the surface. In the same way the film follows Jeffrey's journey into the underbelly of his home town.
In some ways this is one of the easiest Lynch films to get into here the darkness is not a wide world of demons as in Fire Walk With Me, but is one man and his associates who can be overcome. The darkness is therefore accessible to all but is laced with just enough weirdness to disturb my favourite scene is where Frank takes Jeffrey to see Ben, it is just a little unsettling. In hand with this is the fact that it is easily one of his most optimistic films, the good angel in Jeffrey's life is a strong character and the ending is one of certainty rather than open to interpretation that robin has about a clear a meaning as it can.
MacLachlan is well used as Jeffrey. He is wide eyed and innocent even when being sucked into the underworld. Dern plays `all-American' well but doesn't have the complexity of MacLachlan in the script. Rossellini has a challenging role and carries it off quite well I didn't fully understand her character but I don't know if that was my fault or hers. Of course the film belongs to Hopper who is terrifyingly unstable. Without a doubt he is a monster and you never are left in any doubt as to his state of mind. For an example of his work here watch the scene where Stockwell (in a wonderfully weird cameo) sings and Hopper clearly falls to pieces.
Although I prefer Fire Walk With Me, I do think that this is Lynch's best film. It is weird without going totally overboard and it allows us to sink into the underworld gradually without sudden falls. Hopper controls every scene he is in, but the meeting of wholesome and weird is perfectly delivered and is trademark Lynch.
- bob the moo
- May 17, 2003
- Permalink
Details
- Release date
- Country of origin
- Official site
- Language
- Also known as
- Terciopelo azul
- Filming locations
- Carolina Apartments, Market Street, Wilmington, North Carolina, USA(Dorothy's apartment block)
- Production company
- See more company credits at IMDbPro
Box office
- Budget
- $6,000,000 (estimated)
- Gross US & Canada
- $8,551,228
- Opening weekend US & Canada
- $789,409
- Sep 21, 1986
- Gross worldwide
- $8,638,396
- Runtime2 hours
- Color
- Sound mix
- Aspect ratio
- 2.35 : 1