Twin Peaks: Fire Walk with Me (1992)

Director:

David Lynch

Writers (WGA):

David Lynch (written by) &
Robert Engels (written by) ...

Release Date:

28 August 1992 (USA)

Genre:

Fantasy | Horror | Mystery | Thriller

Tagline:

Meet Laura Palmer... In a town where nothing is as it seems... And everyone has something to hide.

Plot:

A young FBI agent disappears while investigating a murder miles from Twin Peaks that may be related to the future murder of Laura Palmer; the last week of the life of Laura Palmer is chronicled.

Plot Keywords:

Murder | FBI Agent | FBI | Investigation | Prequel

Awards:

3 wins & 6 nominations

Cast

Sheryl Lee	...	Laura Palmer
Ray Wise	...	Leland Palmer
Mädchen Amick	...	Shelly Johnson
Dana Ashbrook	...	Bobby Briggs
Phoebe Augustine	...	Ronette Pulaski
David Bowie	...	Phillip Jeffries
Eric DaRe	...	Leo Johnson
Miguel Ferrer	...	Albert Rosenfeld
Pamela Gidley	...	Teresa Banks
Heather Graham	...	Annie Blackburn
Chris Isaak	...	Special Agent Chester Desmond
Moira Kelly	...	Donna Hayward
Peggy Lipton	...	Norma Jennings
David Lynch	...	Gordon Cole
James Marshall	...	James Hurley

Also Known As:

Twin Peaks - Fire Walk with Me (France) (DVD title)
Twin Peaks - Les 7 derniers jours de Laura Palmer (France)
Twin Peaks: Fire Walk with Me, Teresa Banks and the Last Seven Days of Laura Palmer (USA) (working title)

MPAA:

Rated R for strong violence, sex, and drug content, and for language.

Runtime:

135 min

Country:

France | USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Sound Mix:

Dolby | DTS (DVD version) | Dolby Digital (DVD version)

Certification:

USA:R (No. 31718) | Italy:VM14 | Spain:18 | Iceland:16 | Singapore:PG (cut) | New Zealand:R16 | Australia:R | Canada:16+ (Quebec) | Finland:K-16 (re-rating) | Finland:K-18 (original rating) | France:-12 | Germany:16 | Ireland:18 | Norway:18 | Portugal:M/18 | South Korea:(Banned) (original rating) | South Korea:18 (re-rating) | UK:18 | Canada:R (Manitoba/Nova Scotia/Ontario)

Filming Locations:

Everett, Washington, USA

Company:

New Line Cinema

Trivia:

The strange speech in the "dream sequence" was accomplished by the actor speaking the lines backwards. That audio then being played backwards creating an eerie dialect.

Quotes:

Donna: Where are you going, Laura?
Laura: Nowhere... fast. And you're not coming.

Movie Connections:

Referenced in Mulholland Dr. (2001)

Soundtrack:

Falling

Fantastic..For about 20 minutes

The first twenty minutes of Twin Peaks: Fire walk with me is a cavalcade of surrealistic and dreamlike visions that represent some of the most experimental moments of David Lynch's career. The rest, sadly according to me, loses itself in trying too hard to solve the mystery and ends up giving away way too much to the viewer. Having seen the two seasons of the TV-series though, the outcome of the murder mystery did not come as a big surprise. This lack of consistency might be a question of artistic freedom. I'd hate to blame this on Lynch. It is interesting to see how an artist like Lynch takes a story with known outcome and works to reach the end point, especially considering his most recent method using no script and thus not knowing where it all ends up.

Since it is a movie, and a R-rated one, Lynch still has a lot to work with and you feel as if he did not have to settle and adjust as much here as with Twin Peaks(1990). There, the problem might have been a question of form but I still feel that Lynch, or someone else did not rely fully on Lynch's competence while making this one. The series were great, but as soon an other director made an episode, you could tell the difference for the worse. It is, according to me, a common problem in Lynch's movies, being forced to compromise, and is something that he only recently started to liberate from.

When the series aired, viewers became impatient when the mystery was not explained and ABC pulled the plug on the show. Another explanation to the movie giving away too much could perhaps be that it wants to conciliate and flirt with the viewers. Sadly, TP:FWWM did not become that big success one might have expected. To some extent, I can understand why. Lynch at his best is where he does not have to conform and goes all the way.

I do, however, believe that this movie is under rated, although more could be expected. One should bear in mind that there's a considerable difference between TV and cinema. Considering the tough, if not impossible task, following up the highly acclaimed TV-series it still does a fairly good job. As mentioned, the first twenty or thirty minutes didn't make me, and shouldn't make any Lynch fan disappointed. Measuring TP:FWWM against other of his films, I can't say it's my favorite but it's surely worth watching, especially if you're a fan of Lynch.