Wild at Heart turns thirty-five
Wild at Heart is undoubtedly a portal to a particular time and place in America, but it is also (like so many of Lynch’s films) a larger story about searching for love and goodness in our fragmented, chaotic modern world.
David Lynch’s Wild at Heart, released in 1990, is a film that’s only really gotten its flowers in recent years. Finished just a day before it premiered at the 1990 Cannes film festival (where it won the Palme d’Or), it fittingly tells the story of a frantic dash across America in the name of love and freedom.
Starring Laura Dern and Nicolas Cage as young couple Lula and Sailor, respectively, the film follows the story first told in Barry Gifford’s novel of the same name. Lynch had been asked only to be a producer of the film, but after reading the book, was inspired to write and direct the adaptation as well. In the film, he managed to craft a story that was both disturbing and uplifting: many were turned off by the violence that was added to the picture, while on the other hand, Lynch made the decision to change the novel’s ending in favour of a happier one. The film, like many of Lynch’s works, is thus an examination of light and dark, violence and love, and good and evil.
After serving prison time for violently killing a man who’d attacked him (as seen in the opening moments of the film), Sailor reunites with his girlfriend Lula, and they take to the road. He wants to head for California, aware of the fact that he would be breaking parole but willing to take the chance together anyway. What follows is in many ways your classic road trip movie—lovers who stop into motels, dance at clubs, and generally get high off the (perceived) freedom of the open road—but of course, this is David Lynch we’re talking about. This means that amidst their sex, drugs, and rock-n-roll lifestyle, Lula and Sailor have to contend with several life-threatening challenges, namely the detective and hitmen that have been sent after them by Lula’s mother. It makes sense then that Lynch described the film as a “love story in hell”; around every corner is a character or circumstance that is ridiculous, terrifying, or both, and yet Lula and Sailor continue to love each other with an incredible fierceness and determination.
In addition to the external threats the couple faces, the film also presents Sailor’s personal battle with violence. He clearly has a great capacity for it, and throughout the story is pulled back into his old ways, even when trying to focus on Lula and the new life they want to build together. When the end of the film sees Sailor once again adjusting to life after prison, he tells Lula that they shouldn’t be together because of all the trouble he keeps getting them into. And it is the following moments that really encapsulate what the film is about. Sailor, already injured from another fight, sees floating above him the figure of Glinda the Good Witch (played wonderfully here by Sheryl Lee). What she says to Sailor is probably the most quoted moment of the film, and for good reason. Inside the glow of that famous bubblegum-pink bubble, she tells him, “If you’re truly wild at heart, you’ll fight for your dreams. Don’t turn away from love, Sailor.” It’s the thesis of the film, and the moment where the tide turns on the fate of the central relationship. With this appearance from a pop-culture figure that, in the moment, feels both unpredictable and completely right, the film points towards love being the bravest choice for anyone. The story’s preceding craziness only makes this feel more radical, and there’s a real joy to be gained from the fact that the film so earnestly embraces the power of love.
Of course, that moment is not the only one that pays homage to The Wizard of Oz. It’s impossible to talk about Wild at Heart without talking about MGM’s 1939 classic—the story of Lula and Sailor is wrapped up in the story of the yellow brick road. There are numerous references throughout the film, from Lula clicking her red heels to the photograph of her mother dissolving like the Wicked Witch of the West. All of it feeds into the idea that these characters are in a fairytale, or are at least wanting, trying to be. Though on the surface, The Wizard of Oz might seem incompatible with the reality this film is portraying, it ultimately feels right. There’s something tying the two together, both presenting escapist worlds of colour amidst the frightening nature of the everyday.
One of the things Lynch always came back to when discussing the film (and something that’s directly stated in the script as well) was the idea that the story felt right, because the world, at that point, seemed crazier than it had ever been. In later interviews, he would say that it’s only gotten worse. And maybe that’s one of the reasons why Wild at Heart has gained greater appreciation in the years since its release. Maybe the exaggerated or absurd elements of the film have begun to seem less implausible as the world itself has gotten wilder. Wild at Heart is undoubtedly a portal to a particular time and place in America, but it is also (like so many of Lynch’s films) a larger story about searching for love and goodness in our fragmented, chaotic modern world.
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