History Film / LostHighway

* AllJustADream: [[spoiler:One interpretation is that it's the fantasy of a Death Row prisoner who's about to be executed. This may be the intended interpretation as Lynch admits the film was partially inspired by his fascination with O.J. Simpson's psychogenic fugue or self-delusion that he was innocent.]]

* ICanSeeYou: Lynch manages to give this trope a genuinely unsettling new spin.

* AllJustADream: [[spoiler:One interpretation is that it's the fantasy of a Death Row prisoner who's about to be executed. This may be the intended interpretation as Lynch admits the film was partially inspired by his fascination with O.J. Simpson's self-delusion that he was innocent.]]

* RippedFromTheHeadlines: [[spoiler:Based on the O.J. Simpson murder case.]]

* AllJustADream: [[spoiler:One interpretation is that it's the fantasy of a Death Row prisoner who's about to be executed. This may be the intended interpretation as Lynch admits the film was partially inspired by his fascination with OJ Simpson's psychogenic fugue, a disorder that involves the amnesia of personal identity.]]

Released in 1997, ''Lost Highway'' remains not only a key Creator/DavidLynch work, but a surprisingly influential film, despite its rather outre qualities and mixed critical reception. The twisting, neo-noir plot revolving around identity is echoed by films such as ''Film/FightClub'', ''Film/DonnieDarko'', and ''Film/{{Memento}}''. Lynch would further develop the theme in ''Film/MulhollandDrive'' and ''Film/InlandEmpire'', this film's {{SpiritualSuccessor}}s.

* AloofDarkHairedGirl: Renee.

* FemmeFatale: Renee/Alice.
* FilmNoir
* GainaxEnding

* HalfwayPlotSwitch

* SchrodingersButterfly: [[spoiler:The first forty-five minutes of the movie with the videotapes is eventually revealed to be a delusion. Then, things get stranger when Fred transforms into another person called Pete. It is up to the viewer to decide how real most of the movie is.]]

Released in 1997, ''Lost Highway'' remains not only a key Creator/DavidLynch work, but a surprisingly influential film, despite its rather outre qualities and mixed critical reception. The twisting, neo-noir plot revolving around identity is echoed by films such as ''Film/FightClub'', ''Film/DonnieDarko'', and ''Film/{{Memento}}''. Lynch would further develop the theme in ''Film/MulhollandDrive'', this film's SpiritualSuccessor.

* AllJustADream: One interpretation is that it's the fantasy of a Death Row prisoner who's about to be executed.

%%* SchrodingersButterfly

* SplitPersonality: One possible interpretation. Maybe?
* StableTimeLoop: Although technically no time travel is involved...possibly...
** It's not so much a loop as a [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mobius_strip Möbius Strip]].

* SurrealHorror

* UnreliableNarrator: [[spoiler: Fred has a very interesting concept of truth and reality: "I like to remember things my own way. (...) How I remembered them. Not necessarily the way they happened."]]

* ImAHumanitarian: [[spoiler: If the tapes are to be trusted. Fred.]]

* SchrodingersButterfly

** Creator/HenryRollins as a prison guard.

After a terrifying encounter with a Mystery Man (Robert Blake) at a party, Fred receives a final video which shows him killing Renee. Fred is arrested for her murder. After being found guilty and sentenced to death, Fred is locked away in his cell...

Fred Madison (Creator/BillPullman) is a jazz saxophonist married to Renee Madison (Patricia Arquette). Fred wakes up one morning to answer the door intercom, where a mysterious voice gives him the message: "Dick Laurent is dead." After this, Fred and Renee begin to receive a series of videotapes on their doorstep, showing the interior of their house and even images of them asleep. Fred also begins to suspect that Renee may be cheating on him, and begins experiencing nightmares in which he wakes up next to his wife, only to discover she is somebody completely different.

** [[Music/MarilynManson Marilyn Manson and Twiggy Ramirez]] as a pair of porn stars.

** Creator/GiovanniRibisi as Steve "V".** Marilyn Manson and Twiggy Ramirez appear as porn stars in one of the pornos.

* TheCameo: Creator/RichardPryor. In one of his last acting roles, he plays Pete Dayton's boss, a HonestJohnsDealership mechanic.
** Marilyn Manson and Twiggy Ramirez appear as porn stars in one of the pornos.

* MusicalisInterruptis: Done in a really creepy manner. When the Mystery Man approaches Fred at the party, the music fades out the closer he comes, and comes back when he leaves, as if he occupies his own travelling pocket dimension.

* {{Expy}}: Mr. Eddy is remarkably similar to Frank Booth in ''BlueVelvet''. There's even a fairly similar "joy ride" scene. The character was written for actor Robert Loggia after he waited several hours to audition for Frank, only to be told that the role had already gone to Dennis Hopper. Loggia dropped a serious ClusterFBomb that impressed Lynch so much he gave Loggia his own version of Frank to play.

* LotusEaterMachine: Arguably the second half of the movie, [[spoiler: as wife killer Fred re-imagines himself as the more innocent, down to earth Pete while at the same type villainizing both Dick Laurent as a dangerous gangster and his wife as a lying tramp.]]

Made in 1997, ''Lost Highway'' remains not only a key Creator/DavidLynch work, but a surprisingly influential film, despite its rather outre qualities and mixed critical reception. The twisting, neo-noir plot revolving around identity is echoed by films such as ''Film/FightClub'', ''Film/DonnieDarko'', and ''Film/{{Memento}}''. Lynch would further develop the theme in ''Film/MulhollandDrive'', this film's SpiritualSuccessor.

* TheVerse: If WordOfGod is any indication, that may just be [[Music/DavidBowie Agent Jeffries]] singing "I'm Deranged" from [[TwinPeaks inside the Black Lodge]], and Phil the mechanic is probably Pete Martell's twin or something.

Not to be [[NamesTheSame confused]] with Music/BonJovi's [[NewSoundAlbum country album]] of the same name.

The best way to watch this film is with an open mind preferably in a well lit room with the phone unplugged.

[[quoteright:250:http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/lost-highway_9014.jpg]]

Bill Pullman plays Fred Madison, a jazz saxophonist married to Renee Madison played by Patricia Arquette. Fred wakes up one morning to answer the door intercom, where a mysterious voice gives him the message: "Dick Laurent is dead." After this, Fred and Renee begin to receive a series of videotapes on their doorstep, showing the interior of their house and even images of them asleep. Fred also begins to suspect that Renee may be cheating on him, and begins experiencing nightmares in which he wakes up next to his wife, only to discover she is somebody completely different.

After a terrifying encounter with a Mysterious Man at a party, Fred receives a final video which shows him killing Renee. Fred is arrested for her murder. After being found guilty and sentenced to death, Fred is locked away in his cell...

Balthazar Getty plays Pete Dayton, a young mechanic who wakes up in a death row prison cell despite having committed no crime. Pete is released into his parents care, while being trailed by two detectives who want to know how he came to end up in Fred Madison's cell. On returning to work at his garage, Pete crosses paths with the volatile gangster Mr Eddy, and his beautiful mistress Alice Wakefied played by Patricia Arquette. Pete embarks on an affair with Alice, who fears being discovered by Mr Eddy who isn't actually Mr Eddy at all but a porn producer called Dick Laurent who—

[[MindScrew Oh dear.]]

Made in 1997, Lost Highway remains not only a key Creator/DavidLynch work, but a surprisingly influential film, despite its rather outre qualities and mixed critical reception. The twisting, neo-noir plot revolving around identity is echoed by films such as ''Film/FightClub'', ''Film/DonnieDarko'', and ''Film/{{Memento}}''. Lynch would further develop the theme in ''Film/MulhollandDrive'', this film's SpiritualSuccessor.