History Film / InlandEmpire

* DroneOfDread: A majority of the movie's score, with the exception of some [[SoundtrackDissonance weird]] choices, and in one case a ScareChord manages to hang around through half of Music/{{Beck}}'s ''Black Tambourine''.

''Inland Empire'' is a experimental thriller film from 2006, written and directed by Creator/DavidLynch (in what is, as of 2022, his most recent feature length film).

In Poland, a prostitute and her customer (their faces blurred) talk in a hotel room. In the same room years later, a woman cries and watches a sitcom starring three rabbits. An actress in LA, Nikki Grace (Creator/LauraDern), gets a visit from her neighbor and the next day gets the part in a movie, ''On High In Blue Tomorrows'', which turns out to be a remake of a Polish film based on a Polish folk tale called ''47'' whose lead actors were murdered. Nine prostitutes lounge around a house. There's a murder, a mystery, and a woman in trouble.

* BilingualDialogue: Some dialogue is in Polish.

* CrazyJealousGuy: The Phantom is the abusive husband of The Lost Girl. He somehow obtained supernatural powers to trap her in a hotel room for eternity, all because she got fed up with him and had an affair with a kinder man.

** The film's theme revolves around Hollywood but borrows its title from Inland Empire, an actual Southern California residential area that is not too far from Hollywood. Furthermore, Hollywood is known as the largest film industry, making it an empire of sorts.

* GainaxEnding: Website/TheOtherWiki's description of the ending: "The concluding scene of the film takes place in Nikki's house, where she sits with many other people, among them Creator/LauraElenaHarring, Creator/NastassjaKinski and Ben Harper. A one-legged woman who was mentioned in Sue's monologue looks around and says, 'Sweet!' Niko, the Japanese girl with a blonde wig and a monkey, is also present. The end credits roll over a group of women dancing and lip-synching to Nina Simone's 'Sinnerman' while a lumberjack saws a log to the beat."

* HorribleHollywood: In the beginning of the film, Nikki and Devon have to deal with a gossipy interviewer trying to create tabloid news. Later, it is revealed that their movie, ''On High in Blue Tomorrows'', is actually a remake, demonstrating Hollywood's unoriginality.
* LostInCharacter: This happens to Nikki on several occasions before she falls completely into Axxon N.'s reality

** The main character is an [[Film/MulhollandDrive actress with multiple identities]].

* SurrealHorror: There are multiple odd characters in the film that nevertheless are off-putting.

In 2022 the film was restored by Janus Films, supervised by Lynch, and released in select theaters that April. It will be released on Blu-ray by [[Creator/TheCriterionCollection the Criterion Collection]] in March 2023.

* CreatorCameo: The lighting technician Kingsley was yelling at is the voice of Creator/DavidLynch.

In Poland, a prostitute and her customer (their faces blurred) talk in a hotel room. In the same room years later, a woman cries and watches a sitcom starring three rabbits. An actress in LA, Nikki Grace (Creator/LauraDern), gets a visit from her neighbor and the next day gets the part in a movie, ''On High In Blue Tomorrows'', which turns out to be a remake of a Polish film based on a Polish folk tale ''47'' where the leads were murdered. Nine prostitutes lounge around a house. There's a murder, a mystery, and a woman in trouble.

* NightmareFace: The Phantom makes a face [[SarcasmMode only a mother could love]] in the climax. ([[spoiler:Immediately followed by another one that looks like a fetus bleeding from the mouth.]]) The rest of the film does this to several characters with lighting tricks.

* PredatoryProstitute: The main character Sue is pursued by some creepy Los Angeles prostitutes (aka the Valley Girls) who appear to her both in the streets and in her own house, often behaving in a mocking or subtly threatening way and asking her "Look at us and tell us if you've known us before". [[AmbiguouslyEvil While they're not outright malevolent]] (a common interpretation [[HookerWithAHeartOfGold is that they actually want to HELP Nicky/Sue]]), there is a definite air of eeriness around them.

''Inland Empire'' is a experimental thriller film from 2006, written and directed by Creator/DavidLynch (in what is, as of 2022, his final feature length film).

In 2022 the film was restored by Janus Films, supervised by Lynch, and released in select theaters that April.

* NightmareFace: The Phantom makes a face [[SarcasmMode only a mother could love]] in the climax, straight from the bowels of the UncannyValley.([[spoiler:Immediately followed by another one that looks like a fetus bleeding from the mouth.]]) The rest of the film does this to several characters with lighting tricks.

* GainaxEnding: Wiki/TheOtherWiki's description of the ending: "The concluding scene of the film takes place in Nikki's house, where she sits with many other people, among them Creator/LauraElenaHarring, Creator/NastassjaKinski and Ben Harper. A one-legged woman who was mentioned in Sue's monologue looks around and says, 'Sweet!' Niko, the Japanese girl with a blonde wig and a monkey, is also present. The end credits roll over a group of women dancing and lip-synching to Nina Simone's 'Sinnerman' while a lumberjack saws a log to the beat."

In Poland, a prostitute and her customer (their faces blurred) talk in a hotel room. In the same room years later, a woman cries and watches a sitcom starring three rabbits. An actress in LA, Nikki Grace, gets a visit from her neighbor and the next day gets the part in a movie, ''On High In Blue Tomorrows'', which turns out to be a remake of a Polish film based on a Polish folk tale ''47'' where the leads were murdered. Nine prostitutes lounge around a house. There's a murder, a mystery, and a woman in trouble.

* LoadsAndLoadsOfCharacters: A very strange example, considering that it's practically impossible to tell which of those characters are real and which are not, and several actors play visually identical, yet separate characters.

''Inland Empire'' is a experimental thriller film from 2006, written and directed by Creator/DavidLynch (in what is, as of 2021, his final feature length film).

* EarnYourHappyEnding: Strangely, yes. As far as The Lost Girl is concerned, she is freed from torture that may very well have been eternal if not for Nikki's interference, and gets to reunite with her loved ones to boot. It's hard to say how happy ''Nikki'' herself is, considering she may have very well lost her sanity to free The Lost Girl, although the First Visitor smiling at her and Nikki smiling back does seem to imply positivity, and Nikki is at a party in the end credits.

* ManlyTears: The wealthy Polish character played by the same actor as The Phantom has these in one scene. It's implied that [[spoiler:he's just killed his wife's lover (Nikki and Sue's husbands in the American segments).]]

* NoPlotNoProblem: This movie was produced without a script. Very frequently Lynch would just show up on the set and gave people their lines, clearly having written them no more than a few hours before. When people would ask him what the film was supposed to be about, he would respond with a cryptic poem. While this suggests there is no real plot, the recurring motifs and consistent subplots say otherwise.

* PredatoryProstitute: The main character Nicky/Sue is pursued by some creepy Los Angeles prostitutes (aka the Valley Girls) who appear to her both in the streets and in her own house, often behaving in a mocking or subtly threatening way and asking her "Look at us and tell us if you've known us before". [[AmbiguouslyEvil While they're not outright malevolent]] (a common interpretation [[HookerWithAHeartOfGold is that they actually want to HELP Nicky/Sue]]), there is a definite air of eeriness around them.

* SuddenMusicalEnding: Of all the films to have one.
* SurprisinglyHappyEnding: [[spoiler:While Nikki does resemble previous Lynch protagonists afflicted with SplitPersonalities--such as [[Film/LostHighway Fred Madison]] and [[Film/MulhollandDrive Diane Selwyn]], Nikki is able to achieve a happy ending unlike her predecessors by defeating the Phantom and breaking the film's curse.]]

** The Rabbits are uncannily humanoid rabbits who speak in an alien-like pattern.
** The Phantom has several dreamlike powers including the ability to hypnotize people and [[spoiler:make a NightmareFace]].

** In her first encounter with the Phantom, Nikki/Sue picks up a screwdriver to defend herself. [[spoiler:Later, Doris, who was hypnotized by the Phantom to kill Nikki/Sue with a screwdriver, grabs it from Sue's hand and stabs Sue.]]

* DarkIsNotEvil: Many interpretations of the film indicate that the creepy rabbit people and the strange women that appears at the beginning of the film are actually trying to help the Lost Girl... But being a film of David Lynch, you never know.
* DoubleMeaningTitle: The film takes place at Hollywood but borrows its title from Inland Empire, an actual Southern California residential area, which itself is not too far from Hollywood. Furthermore, Hollywood is known as the largest film industry, making it an empire of sorts.

* HorribleHollywood: Downplayed. In the beginning of the film, Nikki and Devon have to deal with a gossipy interviewer trying to create tabloid news. Later, it is revealed that their film, ''On High in Blue Tomorrows'', is actually a remake, demonstrating Hollywood's unoriginality.

* LostInCharacter: Happens to Nikki on several occasions, it's hard to tell which scenes are real and which are parts of the film within a film.

** The main character is an actress with multiple identities like [[Film/MulhollandDrive Diane Selwyn]].

* NoPlotNoProblem: This movie was produced without a script. Very frequently Lynch would just show up on the set and gave people their lines, clearly having written them no more than a few hours before. When people would ask him what the film was supposed to be about he would respond with a cryptic poem. The general consensus is that [[spoiler:there is no plot]].
** Though there isn't a coherent script, whether there [[spoiler:isn't a plot]] is questionable and not as relevant as one would expect. It's inarguable that there's several recurring motifs and characters, though. See WritingByTheSeatOfYourPants.

** While Nikki bleeds out, the hoboes near her have a SeinfeldianConversation with one hobo talking about her friend Nico, who has a monkey that shits everywhere and also [[TooMuchInformation has a torn vagina]].

* SelfParody: Many have suggested that this film has elements of SelfParody to it. Given that the film is completely [[TrueArtIsIncomprehensible messed up]] it would be hard to separate parodying elements from others, but some moments do seem ''ridiculously'' Lynchian, such as the ''Locomotion'' scene. This of course doesn't diminish the film from being terrifying [[NothingIsScarier beyond]] [[MindScrew all reason.]]
** The Barbecue scene... just... what?
** The Phantom standing around with a lightbulb in his mouth. Nikki walks up to him, gets scared, grabs a screwdriver, and runs away.

* SurrealHorror: Emphasis on the surreal. And the horror.
* SurrealHumor: See SelfParody.

* BilingualDialogue: Some dialogue is in Polish
* CallBack: A handful towards earlier Lynch works.
** The ending has some towards ''Series/TwinPeaks'' and ''Film/MulhollandDrive''. (It supposedly shares a universe with both.)
** The conversation between the homeless black woman and the Asian girl is a reference to Lynch's short film ''Darkened Room''.
** [[spoiler: The second twisted face that shows up in the climax is reminiscent of [[Film/{{Eraserhead}} Henry's baby.]]]]

* GainaxEnding: Wiki/TheOtherWiki's description of the ending: "The concluding scene of the film takes place in Nikki's house, where she sits with many other people, among them Creator/LauraElenaHarring, Creator/NastassjaKinski and Ben Harper. A one-legged woman who was mentioned in Sue's monologue looks around and says, 'Sweet!' Niko, the Japanese girl with a blonde wig and a monkey, is also present. The end credits roll over a group of women dancing and lip-synching to Nina Simone's 'Sinnerman' while a lumberjack saws a log to the beat." So... yeah.
** This trope is debatable though, if only because the rest of the movie is no less strange.

* MindScrew: ''And '''HOW!''''' It's ''[[SerialEscalation above and beyond [=Eraserhead=]]]''.

* ProsceniumReveal: The cry of "That's a wrap!" and the applause after [[spoiler: Creator/LauraDern's "death scene"]].

* ShowWithinAShow: The Lost Girl watches a show called ''Rabbits'', which is about [[ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin three humanoid rabbits]].

[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/inland-empire4.png]]
[[caption-width-right:350:A woman in trouble...]]

* PredatoryProstitute: The main character Nicky/Sue is pursued by some creepy Los Angeles prostitutes (aka the Valley Girls) who appear to her both in the streets and in her own house, often behaving in a mocking or subtly threatening way and asking her "Look at us and tell us if you've known us before". [[AmbiguouslyEvil While they're not outright malevolent]] (a common interpretation [[HookerWithAHeartOfGold is that they actually want to ''help'' Nicky/Sue]]), there is a definite air of eeriness around them.