10 Movies To Watch If You Like Mulholland Drive

Though the true meaning of David Lynch's acclaimed mystery has been disputed, critics and fans agree that the premise is intriguing. Betty is an aspiring actress who moves into her aunt's apartment in Los Angeles to find a stranger with amnesia hiding out in her bedroom. Rita ends up in the apartment after being in a car accident, and the two women become friends as they try to help each other.

Their relationship teeters towards romance while strange sequences unrelated to these two women start to intercut with the main narrative. Many have agreed that the film is most likely a dream sequence inside Betty/Diane Selwyn's head in which she fulfills her romance with Rita/Camilla Rhodes. Betty is the person Diane wishes she could be, and Rita is the person Betty wishes Camilla was.

Here are ten other films that fans of Mulholland Drive will enjoy. Some tamper with memories, some explore similar themes, some have a similar mood or tone, and others are of completely different genres.

Shutter Island (2010)

Adapted from the novel by Dennis Lehane, Shutter Island is a thriller movie directed by Martin Scorsese. Leonardo DiCaprio stars as Teddy Daniels, a U.S. Marshall sent to a remote island that serves as a mental institution for the criminally insane. Accompanying him is fellow Marshall Chuck Aule (Mark Ruffalo).

They must investigate the disappearance of a patient named Rachel Solando, but Teddy is too preoccupied with memories of his troubled past. His wife and children died under tragic circumstances. He also served in the war, which has left him with memories he wishes he could forget.

Memento (2000)

Christopher Nolan's second directorial effort, Memento, received critical acclaim for its complex plot structure and story themes. Guy Pearce portrays Leonard Shelby, an insurance investigator with anterograde amnesia. His last memory is of a terrible accident in which his wife was killed.

Shelby tries to find the man be belives murdered his wife, using his tattoos as portable, permanent reminders. He is accompanied by a woman named Natalie, portrayed by Carrie-Anne Moss.

I'm Thinking Of Ending Things (2020)

Charlie Kaufman, the screenwriter behind Being John Malkovich, Eternal Sunshine Of The Spotless Mind, and Anomalisa, has recently penned and directed another haunting and cryptic film. I'm Thinking Of Ending Things is based on Iain Reid's eponymous novel and is Kaufman's third directorial project.

At the surface level, the film is about a couple, Jake (Jesse Plemons) and Lucy (Jessie Buckley) on their way to meet the boyfriend's parents. The girlfriend is considering ending the relationship, hence the title. As the story progresses, it becomes clear that the title could be referring to something else, and that these two characters are not who they seem to be at all.

Eternal Sunshine Of The Spotless Mind (2004)

Kate Winslet and Jim Carrey star in this award-winning sci-fi romance written by Charlie Kaufman. Clementine (Winslet) and Joel (Carrey) meet on a train, immediately connect, and begin a relationship soon afterwards. They don’t realise until later that they have already been a relationship before.

After their tumultuous breakup, the couple clinically removed their memories of the heartbreak, and of each other. The film is defined by its fluctuating tones and moods, which become apparent in the hues in each scene (as well as Clementine’s hair).

Atonement (2007)

Set in 1930s England, Atonement is a 2007 film directed by Joe Wright and adapted from Ian McEwan's novel of the same name. It stars Keira Knightley, James McAvoy, Benedict Cumberbatch, and a young Saoirse Ronan.

When young Briony (Ronan) jumps to the wrong conclusion about what Robbie (McAvoy) is doing with her sister, Cecelia (Knightley) the result is a lifetime of atonement for everyone involved - everyone except for the person who is guilty.

Arrival (2016)

Arrival is a 2016 film directed by Denis Villeneuve and starring Amy Adams and Jeremy Renner. Adams portrays Dr. Louise Banks, a linguistics expert tasked with interpreting the strange language of aliens who have arrived on Earth without warning. These aliens do not mean any harm, which makes them all the more confusing to authorities. Like everything else about their existence, their means of communication, doesn't follow rules humans are accustomed to.

On Chesil Beach (2017)

On Chesil Beach is the 2017 adaptation of Ian McEwan’s 2007 novel of the same name. Saoirse Ronan has the leading role of Florence Ponting, a budding violinist. She has just been married to Edward Mayhew (Billy Howle), who is from a family of considerably lower social and financial standing. The story picks up just after their wedding reception as they’re heading to a hotel on Chesil Beach.

Though the pair is truly in love, the pressure of consummating their marriage becomes too much. Florence flees, Edward following close behind. While the couple tries to mend their already ruined marriage, snippets of their past paint a clearer picture of who these people are.

Thelma (2017)

Thelma is a Norwegian supernatural thriller directed by Joachim Trier. In this acclaimed drama, a young woman moves away to college but still finds herself very much under the watchful eyes of her religious parents. She soon falls in love and struggles to stick to her Christian ways, something she feels guilty about whenever she speaks with her parents.

As she tries to fit in with her confident peers, she starts experiencing seizures and unsettling nightmares. Her exploration leads her on a discovery of her buried childhood memories, revealing truths and abilities she isn't sure she wants to know about.

Marriage Story (2019)

Noah Baumbach’s 2019 Netflix film, Marriage Story, was nominated for five Academy Awards, including Best Picture. Laura Dern's performance as a lawyer earned her an Oscar for Best Supporting Actress.

Scarlett Johansson and Adam Driver star as an actress and stage director, respectively. Though the film is titled Marriage Story, this married couple is in the throes of a drawn-out divorce, made all the more painful because of the love they still have for one another. As viewers see snippets of their past, they come to cherish their relationship, knowing there's little hope for it to survive.

La La Land (2016)

The winner of four Academy Awards, La La Land is a musical romance set in Los Angeles, where an aspiring actress (Emma Stone) and a jazz pianist (Ryan Gosling) meet and fall in love. Even in the city of dreams, their love is threatened by their own ambitions and budding careers.

The film takes advantage of its setting, making excellent use of lighting and contrast to paint the city in even brighter colours. The result is a film so visually pleasing that it makes Los Angeles a perfectly incongruous setting for heartbreak.