This is my general interpretation of David Lynch's enigmatic and mysterious film, "Mulholland Dr."
"Betty" (Naomi Watts) is a winner of a jitterbug contest who comes to Hollywood filled with dreams. She hopes to become an actress and play a coveted role in a film called, "The Sylvia North Story." Betty desperately wants that part. Laura Harring plays the physical manifestation, in an elaborate hallucination, of the part Betty wants. The hallucination is named "Rita." Rita has amnesia (after she is in a car accident as a character in a film) and she does not know her identity. She will not know who she is until she is cast in "The Sylvia North Story." Rita wanders off to the apartment where Betty is staying. Betty tries to make the part her own by having her hallucination, Rita, wear a blonde wig and think she could be named "Diane Selwyn." Diane Selwyn is Betty's name in the second part of the film. And Betty falls deeply in love with the physical manifestation of part, played by Laura Harring. This is all revealed in a flashback after Betty falls asleep at the beginning of the film.
"Betty" auditions for the role and she is terrific. But, another actress, Camilla Rhodes played by Melissa George, gets the part in "The Sylvia North Story." That piece of fate sends Betty into a downward psychotic spiral. We see Diane unravel in part 2 as she continues to see her hallucination and the real Camilla, Melissa George, as Laura Harring. Laura Harring is playing Melissa George, who is Camilla, in a pentimento. We are seeing the film from Diane's perspective and she always sees the role from that script as Laura Harring. Diane plays small roles in Camilla Rhodes's films, but she never achieves great fame and success.
Diane kills herself at the end because she has completely unraveled and she can no longer separate truth from fantasy. She wasn't able to wake-up and face reality. And her dreams are gone. She has no more hope.
Fate came knocking at the door...
It was indeed fate that came knocking on Diane's door and Rita saw Diane's fate when they visited the Sierra Bonita apartments.
The two old people were there when "Betty" was filled with hopes and dreams and they were there in her head when she realized she would never achieve her dreams... and so she ended it all.
The box was fate, the "monster" behind Winkie's was the keeper of fate, and we saw the keys to Diane's fate.
And at the end... we are reminded by the "blue haired lady" that fate is best rendered "Silencio."
