The film owes a large debt to 1950s film noir, containing and exploring such conventions as the femme fatale (Dorothy Vallens), a seemingly unstoppable villain (Frank Booth), and the questionable moral outlook of the hero (Jeffrey Beaumont), as well as its unusual use of shadowy, sometimes dark cinematography.
Blending psychological horror with film noir, the film stars Kyle MacLachlan, Isabella Rossellini, Dennis Hopper, and Laura Dern, and is named after the 1951 song of the same name.
The film concerns a young college student who, returning home to visit his ill father, discovers a severed human ear in a field that leads to him uncovering a vast criminal conspiracy and entering a romantic relationship with a troubled lounge singer. The screenplay of Blue Velvet had been passed around multiple times in the late 1970s and early 1980s, with several major studios declining it due to its strong sexual and violent content.
The film concerns a young college student who, returning home to visit his ill father, discovers a severed human ear in a field that leads to him uncovering a vast criminal conspiracy and entering a romantic relationship with a troubled lounge singer. The screenplay of Blue Velvet had been passed around multiple times in the late 1970s and early 1980s, with several major studios declining it due to its strong sexual and violent content.
In the years since, the film has generated significant attention, and it is now widely regarded as one of Lynch's major works and one of the greatest films of the 1980s.
Rossellini had gained some exposure before the film for her Lancôme ads in the early 1980s and for being the daughter of actress Ingrid Bergman and Italian film director Roberto Rossellini.
Peter Travers, film critic for Rolling Stone, named it the best film of the 1980s and referred to it as an "American masterpiece". However, the film was not without its detractors.
In the late 1980s, and early 1990s, after its release on videotape, the film became a widely recognized cult film, for its dark depiction of a suburban America.
Peter Travers of Rolling Stone magazine cited it as one of the most "influential American films", as did Michael Atkinson, who dedicated a book to the film's themes and motifs. Blue Velvet now frequently appears in various critical assessments of all-time great films, also ranked as one of the greatest films of the 1980s, one of the best examples of American surrealism and one of the finest examples of David Lynch's work.
In a special Entertainment Weekly issue, 100 new film classics were chosen from 1983 to 2008: Blue Velvet was ranked at fourth. In addition to Blue Velvet various "all-time greatest films" rankings, the American Film Institute has awarded the film three honors in its lists: 96th on 100 Years ...
After the failure of his 1984 film Dune, Lynch made attempts at developing a more "personal story", somewhat characteristic of the surrealist style displayed in his first film Eraserhead (1977).
I went home and thought of the ear in the field." Production was announced in August 1984.
Harry Dean Stanton and Steven Berkoff both turned down the role of Frank because of the violent content in the film. Laura Dern, then just 19 years old, was cast after various successful actresses at the time turned it down, including Molly Ringwald. ===Shooting=== Principal photography of Blue Velvet began in August 1985 and completed in November.
Blue Velvet is a 1986 neo-noir mystery thriller film written and directed by David Lynch.
Also included in the sound team was long-time Lynch collaborator Alan Splet, a sound editor and designer who had won an Academy Award for his work on The Black Stallion (1979), and been nominated for Never Cry Wolf (1983). ==Reception== ===Box office=== Blue Velvet premiered in competition at the Montréal World Film Festival in August 1986, and at the Toronto Festival of Festivals on September 12, 1986, and a few days later in the United States.
It debuted commercially in both countries on September 19, 1986, in 98 theatres across the United States.
Film critic Gene Siskel included Blue Velvet on his list of the best films of 1986, at the fifth spot.
Isabella Rossellini won an Independent Spirit Award for the Best Female Lead in 1987.
David Lynch and Dennis Hopper won a Los Angeles Film Critics Association award in 1987 for Blue Velvet in categories Best Director (Lynch) and Best Supporting Actor (Hopper).
In 1987, National Society of Film Critics awarded Best Film, Best Director (David Lynch), Best Cinematography (Frederick Elmes), and Best Supporting Actor (Dennis Hopper) awards. ==Home media== Blue Velvet was released on DVD in 1999 and 2002 by MGM Home Entertainment.
And I didn't know she was influenced by me!" "Now It's Dark", a song by American heavy metal band Anthrax on their 1988 album State of Euphoria, was directly inspired by the film, and specifically the character of Frank Booth.
In the late 1980s, and early 1990s, after its release on videotape, the film became a widely recognized cult film, for its dark depiction of a suburban America.
In 1987, National Society of Film Critics awarded Best Film, Best Director (David Lynch), Best Cinematography (Frederick Elmes), and Best Supporting Actor (Dennis Hopper) awards. ==Home media== Blue Velvet was released on DVD in 1999 and 2002 by MGM Home Entertainment.
An Entertainment Weekly book special released in 1999 ranked Blue Velvet 37th of the greatest films of all time.
100 Thrills in 2001, selecting cinema's most thrilling moments and ranked Frank Booth 36th of the 50 greatest villains in 100 Years ...
Hopper—said to be Lynch's third choice (Michael Ironside has stated that Frank was written with him in mind)—accepted the role, reportedly having exclaimed, "I've got to play Frank! I am Frank!" as Hopper confirmed in the Blue Velvet "making-of" documentary The Mysteries of Love, produced for the 2002 special edition.
In 1987, National Society of Film Critics awarded Best Film, Best Director (David Lynch), Best Cinematography (Frederick Elmes), and Best Supporting Actor (Dennis Hopper) awards. ==Home media== Blue Velvet was released on DVD in 1999 and 2002 by MGM Home Entertainment.
In December 2002, a UK film critics' poll in Sight & Sound ranked the film fifth on their list of the 10 Best Films of the Last 25 Years.
100 Heroes and Villains in 2003.
Total Film ranked Blue Velvet as one of the all-time best films in both a critics' list and a public poll, in 2006 and 2007, respectively.
In a 2007 poll of the online film community held by Variety, Blue Velvet came in at the 95th-greatest film of all time.
Total Film ranked Blue Velvet as one of the all-time best films in both a critics' list and a public poll, in 2006 and 2007, respectively.
In 2008, it was chosen by the American Film Institute as one of the greatest mystery films ever made. ==Plot== College student Jeffrey Beaumont returns home to Lumberton, North Carolina after his father Tom suffers a near-fatal stroke.
In a special Entertainment Weekly issue, 100 new film classics were chosen from 1983 to 2008: Blue Velvet was ranked at fourth. In addition to Blue Velvet various "all-time greatest films" rankings, the American Film Institute has awarded the film three honors in its lists: 96th on 100 Years ...
In June 2008, the AFI revealed its "ten Top Ten"—the best ten films in ten "classic" American film genres—after polling over 1,500 people from the creative community.
In 2011, Lynch announced that footage from the deleted scenes, long thought lost, had been discovered.
The film made its Blu-ray debut on November 8, 2011 with a special 25th-anniversary edition featuring never-before-seen deleted scenes.
In 2016, he remarked, "as a film critic, it taught me that when a film really gets under your skin and really provokes a visceral reaction, you have to be very careful about assessing it ...
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