Shooting Objects to Distinguish Timelines: MULHOLLAND DRIVE
With this late-in-film scene from Mulholland Drive, there’s no use in spoiler warnings or summaries: you either know what you make of the film, or we can’t possibly sum up to your satisfaction.
Our point here is how shots frame objects — including props, set, and wardrobe — to differentiate two times. When or where or in whose mind you think those timelines are is an argument for the comment section!
Setting Up The ‘Control’
Betty / Diane ‘sees’ Rita / Camille, then begins making coffee. The scene jumps from Betty scooping grounds to the coffee done brewing, a typical movie shorthand ‘time ellipses’ to avoid the boring parts of everyday tasks.
As Betty pours the coffee, the camera is close on the action; so much is the import put on the brown ceramic mug the frame doesn’t show Naomi Watts at all, as her face might (would) distract from said plainer mug.
The ‘control’ element has been established, and our attention drawn to it.
Signalling the Change
When the shots switch, Betty’s janky bathrobe which has been clearly seen in many shots before is gone. Now wearing jean shorts and nothing else, Betty climbs over the couch carrying a glass.
It’s possible Betty could have simply shed the robe, and had the shorts on under, and this is another movie ellipsis — like the coffee going from grounds to brewed a moment earlier.
As though to insist that is clearly not the case, the camera dollies in to show cold brew coffee and/or whiskey and/or coffee liqueur.
The shot centres the coffee again, but everything has changed.
The outfits and beverages; the props and set dressing; the light almost entirely motivated by the window in the kitchen versus spreading through the living room from many directions and lighting up all items and occupants; the overall vibe, are as far away from each other as can be while still being the same thing.
Takeaways
If you want to signal something has seismically shifted, you don’t need to show the Big Picture right away; you can concentrate on a small element like a coffee mug. Show that one thing has undergone a drastic change, and then people can notice the dozen or hundred other changes after.