All registrants will receive their link to join via ZOOM. Attendees will also receive access to the recording on the Monday after the event, available to watch back for 1 month.
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David Lynch’s women are unforgettable: luminous beings who radiate beauty, vulnerability, danger, and a certain ethereal quality. Their stories unfold as dreams—dazzling, terrifying, and often incomprehensible in their emotional depth. With Lynch’s passing, this talk will celebrate his enduring legacy by focusing on the mysterious female figures who define a unique artistic world.
Through a psychoanalytic framework, we will uncover layers of meaning and interpret Lynch’s perplexing depictions of femininity via concepts including psychogenic fugue, the double, jouissance (a warped, nightmarish pleasure found in pain and excess), the uncanny, and the sublime. Lynch’s use of surrealism and fragmented identities reflects unconscious activity; the Lynchian Woman, through her suffering, shares a secret knowledge about the paradoxes of selfhood, transcending the confines of it in the process. A reliance on dream logic blurs the boundaries of reality and illusion; his female characters embody the riddle of human desire, imbuing the threshold of allure and terror.
This event invites both film fans and psychoanalysis enthusiasts to celebrate David Lynch’s heroines as enduring icons of rich complexity. From the tragic Laura Palmer and enigmatic Audrey Horne in Twin Peaks, to the haunting dualities of Renee Madison (Lost Highway), Diane Selwyn (Mulholland Drive), and Nikki Grace (Inland Empire), Lynch’s women—Lula Pace Fortune (Wild at Heart), Dorothy Vallens (Blue Velvet), the otherworldly Lady in the Radiator (Eraserhead), and the supernaturally wise Log Lady (Twin Peaks)—captivate, unsettle, and transmute narratives in equal measure. Come and revisit these unconventional “solid gold” ladies and pay tribute to an incomparable creative Master’s influence on all who loved him.
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Speaker:
Mary Wild @psycstar is a prominent figure in the field of film studies, and the creator of the Projections lecture series at Freud Museum London, applying psychoanalysis to film interpretation. She posts exclusive content on patreon.com/marywild
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Tickets: £15
Freud Museum Members and Patrons receive 20% off the standard ticket price on all events, courses, conferences and On Demand programming.
A limited number of £10 bursary tickets are available for those under financial hardship. Priority will be given to UK unemployed and PIP/ESA claimants. Please email [email protected] to apply for a bursary.
The purpose of this event is to raise funds for the Freud Museum London, which receives no regular Government income. We are grateful to you for supporting our independent museum as generously as possible.
