IMDb > Blue Velvet (1986)
Blue Velvet
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Blue Velvet (1986) More at IMDbPro »

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Overview

User Rating:
7.8/10   48,713 votes
MOVIEmeter: ?
Up 19% in popularity this week. See why on IMDbPro.
Director:
David Lynch
Writer:
David Lynch (screenplay)
Contact:
View company contact information for Blue Velvet on IMDbPro.
Release Date:
19 September 1986 (USA) more
Genre:
Drama | Mystery | Thriller more
Tagline:
The Most Talked About Film of the Decade (US Laserdisc release) more
Plot:
After finding a severed human ear in a field, a young man soon discovers a sinister underworld lying just beneath his idyllic suburban home town. full summary | full synopsis
Awards:
Nominated for Oscar. Another 17 wins & 10 nominations more
NewsDesk:
(70 articles)
The Colour of Fear is Orange
 (From HeyUGuys. 30 October 2009, 10:13 PM, PDT)

Dennis Hopper Diagnosed With Prostate Cancer
 (From Atomic Popcorn. 30 October 2009, 7:02 AM, PDT)

User Comments:
Only in dreams… more (545 total)

Cast

  (Cast overview, first billed only)

Additional Details

Runtime:
120 min
Country:
USA
Language:
English
Color:
Color
Aspect Ratio:
2.35 : 1 more
Sound Mix:
Dolby
Certification:
New Zealand:R18 | Canada:13+ (Quebec) | Canada:R (Manitoba/Nova Scotia/Ontario) | Finland:K-16 (1999) | Finland:K-18 (1987) | Israel:18 | Brazil:16 | West Germany:18 (original rating) | Finland:K-16 (re-rating) (1999) | Argentina:18 (video premiere) | Mexico:D (cut) | Norway:15 (re-rating) (2007) | Switzerland:14 (canton of Geneva) | Switzerland:18 (canton of Vaud) | Greece:K-17 (tv rating) | Switzerland:18 (canton of the Grisons) | Singapore:M18 (re-rating) | Singapore:R(A) | Argentina:18 | Australia:R | Chile:18 | France:-12 | Hong Kong:III | Ireland:18 | Italy:VM14 | Japan:R-15 | Netherlands:12 | Norway:18 | Portugal:M/16 | South Korea:18 | Spain:18 | Sweden:15 | Switzerland:16 | UK:18 | USA:R | West Germany:16 | Iceland:16

Fun Stuff

Trivia:
Dean Stockwell held a worklight in the "In Dreams" sequence only after director David Lynch saw him holding one during a lighting session. He was originally supposed to hold a microphone. more
Goofs:
Continuity: After Frank and Ben received their glasses there's some froth topping Frank's beer, but not Ben's. However, in the close-up of Ben there's clearly a thin layer of froth. Back to both in frame, and again Ben's beer has no froth. more
Quotes:
[first lines]
Radio announcer: It's a sunny, woodsy day in Lumberton, so get those chainsaws out. This is the mighty W.O.O.D., the musical voice of Lumberton. At the sound of the falling tree, it's 9:30. There's a whole lotta wood waitin' out there, so let's get goin'.
Nurse Cindy: Mr. Beaumont? Your son Jeffrey's here to see you.
more
Movie Connections:
Spoofed in Wrongfully Accused (1998) more
Soundtrack:
Blue Star more

FAQ

Is there a significance to the ear and the bugs?
Are there any good books that explore the film?
What other films are like Blue Velvet (that aren't in the recommendations list)?
more
52 out of 77 people found the following comment useful.
Only in dreams…, 21 April 2002
8/10
Author: AdFin from UK

With Blue Velvet, David Lynch made a film that was so pure to his original vision that it would become the archetype of his work for the next fifteen years. Here, Lynch cast his ever probing, surrealist gaze upon small town middle America, and for the first time in a US film, showed the audience the darker side to what was often depicted as nothing more than the birth place of apple pie. We are drawn into the story almost immediately, with what would seem like a simple depiction of small town life, but the use of slow-motion hints that there is something not quite right with what we are looking at. So by the time Lynch has pushed his camera through the soft green grass of a regular front lawn, only to show us the slithering insects that hide in the darkness, we know that we are about to enter a very dark world.

Blue Velvet is a world filled with not only darkness, but also ambiguity. The characters of this world are constantly hiding behind some kind of façade, be it the wardrobe doors that practicing teenage voyeur Jeffrey peers from behind as he watches Dorothy and Frank interact, or something as simple as the make-up worn by Ben. Everything suggests to us that these characters inhabit a world at night, a world away from the life they live in the day. As the film moves closer and closer to the climax Jeffrey begins to feel more of a connection with Frank, having to go to some very dark places within his psyche. However Lynch's message, that underneath the normal persona of a regular human being is a repressed pervert laying in wait, or whatever point he is making doesn't really translate well. Not least to today's audience.

Blue Velvet is very much a film of its time, that time being the mid-eighties, with aids paranoia everywhere, it's easy to see this metaphor for the dangers of sex and love within the films turgid dreamscapes. But beneath this message hides a strong detective story, a modern day neo-noir that delivers interesting twists and a controversial pay-off with it's almost fairytale climax. This is the film David Lynch got right, proceeding to make great films that where all personal, but completely different in terms of style and substance from one another. Blue Velvet is a great film, with some fine (albeit bizarre) performances, still challenging to this day, If only Lynch hadn't gone on to spend the rest of his career re-making it.

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Message Boards

Discuss this movie with other users on IMDb message board for Blue Velvet (1986)
Recent Posts (updated daily)User
'Don't you *beep* look at me!' rgrinnan
Inappropriate times to quote Blue Velvet fletch37
How is this film not in the top 250? saucy-pigeon
Jeffrey's father... g_bigras
Meryl Streep's take on Blue Velvet an_drea1516
The painting on the wall in Ben's apartment llmollyll
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