History Film / MulhollandDrive

* ADateWithRosiePalms: Diane at one point does this while [[spoiler: crying after she hallucinates that Camilla is still alive.]]

In addition to the main plot, there is also a film director (Justin Theroux), who just can't seem to catch a break. He even walks in on his wife in bed with their pool man, played by Music/BillyRayCyrus [[WTHCastingAgency of all people]]. Betty's eccentric landlady is played by Ann Miller in her final role before her death. There is a terribly inept hitman played by the incomparable Creator/MarkPellegrino, a creepy cowboy who [[MaybeMagicMaybeMundane may or may not be part of this world]], a surreal theatre with an even more surreal magician/MC, that mysterious blue box, and some sort of grungy zombie hobo who lives behind an old-fashioned diner and gives a man a heart attack at just the sight of it.

* WorldOfMysteries: [[MysticalHollywood This movie's version of Hollywood is this]]: it has mafia, mysterious MenInBlack on limos, an enigmatic phone call chain involving unspecified people from different parts of LA, weird {{McGuffin}}s like a strangely shaped blue key and a black book with phone numbers, supernatural entities like the AmbiguouslyHuman Cowboy and a creepy bum living in the backyard of a diner, and much more... [[spoiler: Probably subverted, since the ending implies that it was a dream of a failed actress who ordered a hit on her successful friend and lover out of envy and jealousy, and the overall feel of mystery and paranoia is due to her subconscious feelings of guilt and fear of being caught. Then again, maybe not.]]

* DaylightHorror: The "man behind Winkie's" scene is somehow made even more disturbing by the fact that it happens in broad daylight.

It also [[SimilarlyNamedWorks has nothing to do]] with the 1996 film ''Film/MulhollandFalls''.

* SweaterGirl: Laney, the prostitute, is wearing a sweater and she seems to be freezing.

* ADateWithRosiePalms: Near the end, Diane Selwyn has this kind of date. It is extremely unsexy, seeing as how she's weeping as she's getting herself off.

* {{Fanservice}}: Rita and Betty have a softcore sex scene about halfway through. While nothing is shown that would take the film beyond an R-rating, it is very erotic.

* LipstickLesbian: Betty and Rita. Also Camilla and Blond Camilla kissing at the dinner party.

* EmergingFromTheShadows: Mr. Roque, in his first meeting with Adam.

* GratuitousFrench: The magician is abusing this trope.

** The movie borrows its name from an actual California location and takes place at Hollywood. Five years later, Lynch would do the same again but in a [[UpToEleven more incoherent manner]] with ''Film/InlandEmpire''.

* RealityWarper: May or may not be the hobo or the cowboy or the magician [[spoiler:or Diane]].

[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/mulholland_dr.png]]
[[caption-width-right:350:Betty (left) and Rita (right) are also wondering what the hell is going on.]]

* JumpScare: One of the most iconic examples of the modern age - This is how the man behind Winkies [[EstablishingCharacterMoment is introduced]], only to [[MindScrew disappear just as quickly]].

-->''"Silencio."'''

* {{Foreshadowing}}: If there can even be such a trope in the film of such narrative complexity, [[spoiler:Diane Selwyn '''will''' die.]]

* MacGuffin: Diane, including the audience, are not supposed to know what the key is for or why Joe gave it to her, only to know that the mystery behind it is what kickstarts Diane's dream.