Review of Eraserhead (1977) by Lenina F — 04 Jul 2010

"Eraserhead" is a film of contradictions. The very question that remains most dominate throughout David Lynch's unfathomable creation is the question of illusion versus reality--what is real in this story, and what is hallucination, dream, nightmare? Lynch does not hold your hand through this curiosity, but it goes without saying that the film explores the depths of our spiritual restlessness, mostly in the presence of our nightmares.

And such as nightmares are near impossible to articulate, "Eraserhead" remains equally undecipherable. With this being said, "Eraserhead" is undoubtedly one of the most extraordinarily artistic motion pictures ever conceived.

Every spoken word of dialogue, though incredibly scarce, is perfectly detached and presented in dreamlike fuzziness that is captured quite marvelously. And the images...breathtaking would be an understatement.

The film is not beautiful in a visually pleasing sense, but more of a craft; light is used only to bring character to each character's situation, and darkness surrounds everything else. In this way, the film is a representation of what we don't know.

It would be near impossible for anyone other than the director himself to completely evaluate this film for plot significance (and I do think that there is a specific, yet still undiscovered, one), but the confusion and dreamlike narration of it all doesn't really need an explanation.

This is a haunting film. It is a disturbing film. And yet, it succeeds in representing something that all men and women share on this earth: the fragile paradise that only exists in dreams.