Blue Velvet – Review

Take an eerie trip into Lumberton, North Carolina, a scenic small town full of nice people and suburban houses. Hardware store owner Tom Beaumont (Harvey) waters his home lawn, and then the hose gets wrapped around some brush. Suddenly, he collapses. Things do not look good for him.

Tom’s son Jeffrey (MacLachlan) comes home from college and visits him in the hospital. Tom cannot speak, but he is awake despite all the medical equipment clinging to him. After the visit, Jeffrey walks home and stumbles across a decomposing human ear in a field. Yikes.

Time to get the cops involved. Jeffrey takes the ear in a paper bag to the station, and talks to Detective John Williams (Dickerson). The coroner doesn’t remember anyone missing an ear, so the person may still be alive. He will run tests. Jeffrey and the police then visit the field where it was found. A mystery is taking shape…

Detective Williams informs Jeffrey not to talk to anyone about the case of the details, but the young kid can’t help but be curious. He talks to Williams’ daughter Sandy (Dern) that is a year or so younger and he knows from high school, where she still goes. She gives him a clue about a local singer Dorothy Vallens (Rossellini). Her bedroom is above her father’s office, and she kept hearing the name. The singer’s apartment is also very close by.

Things start to get even more interesting as new and wildly dangerous characters are thrown into the mix. Strange relationships start forming, and the plot does not play out as anticipated mostly ever. The mystery is compounded by oddball offshoots and craziness galore.

Blue Velvet has many of director David Lynch’s trademark calling cards. It is unsettling at times, overly sexual at others, it involves multiple abstract themes and weird scenes, all while intelligently unfolding its mature plot. The narrative holds no hands and expects the viewer to pay attention. Even with all of that, this is one of his easier films to follow.

The acting fits the script well and includes some stellar performances, such as Dennis Hopper’s, though no one is a slouch in this one. Lynch’s directing is always a treat and he delivers the goods here per usual. The score and music and effects all emphasize the plot elements, while the enthralling story drives the film along. While it can be a wild ride, Blue Velvet is worth the time.