Twin Peaks: Fire Walk with Me (1992)

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.

Director:

David Lynch

Writers:

David Lynch, Robert Engels,

Stars:

Sheryl Lee, Ray Wise, Mädchen Amick

3 wins & 6 nominations.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
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

Storyline

Essentially a prequel to David Lynch and Mark Frost's earlier TV series "Twin Peaks". The first half-hour or so concerns the investigation by FBI Agent Chet Desmond (Chris Isaak) and his partner Sam Stanley (Kiefer Sutherland) into the murder of night-shift waitress Teresa Banks in the small Washington state town of Deer Meadow. When Desmond finds a mysterious clue to the murder, he inexplicably disappears. The film then cuts to one year later in the nearby town of Twin Peaks and follows the events during the last week in the life of Laura Palmer (Sheryl Lee) a troubled teenage girl with two boyfriends; the hot-tempered rebel Bobby Briggs (Dana Ashbrook) and quiet biker James Hurley (James Marshall), her drug addiction, and her relationship with her difficult (and possible schizophrenic) father Leland (Ray Wise), a story in which her violent murder was later to motivate much of the TV series. Contains a considerable amount of sex, drugs, violence, very loud music and inexplicable ...

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Plot Keywords:

murder | fbi agent | fbi | investigation | sex | 

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Taglines:

These are the last seven days of Laura Palmer

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Genres:

Mystery | Thriller

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Motion Picture Rating (MPAA)

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

Details

Country:

France USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

28 August 1992 (USA)

Also Known As:

Twin Peaks: Fire Walk with Me, Teresa Banks and the Last Seven Days of Laura Palmer

Filming Locations:

534 Lewis Street, Monroe, Washington, USA

Box Office

Budget:

$10,000,000 (estimated)

Gross:

$4,160,851 (USA)

Company Credits

Production Co:

New Line Cinema, CiBy 2000

Technical Specs

Runtime:

135 min

Sound Mix:

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

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

Much of the cast credited as starring in the film actually only make brief appearances on screen. Peggy Lipton and Heather Graham both appear for less than 30 seconds in the 134 minute film.

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Quotes

[first lines]
Gordon: [shouting very loud] GET ME SPECIAL AGENT CHESTER DESMOND OUT IN FARGO, NORTH DAKOTA!

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Connections

Referenced in The Soul Detective (2009)

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Soundtracks

"She Would Die For Love"
Lyric by David Lynch
Music by Angelo Badalamenti
Publishing: Anlon Music Co./ASCAP, Bobkind Music/ASCAP

User Reviews

!kcoR s'teL

There's no doubt about it, Twin Peaks changed the living, breathing face and body of television, the soul and minds of those who watched it, and the attitudes of film and television makers everywhere, who watched what was intended to be a 2 hour Tele-movie become a phenomenon. A phenomenon that dissected the way television was made and shown to its very core, and reassembled it in a fashion that no one had ever witnessed, or dreamed of. A phenomenon that would sweep the world… Not since JR was shot in Dallas had the entire worldwide viewing public stopped to ask itself a question, for one brief, shining, crystallized moment, in 1990… Who Killed Laura Palmer? And so, with David Lynch's Fire Walk With Me, the question is not Who? But rather, Why? This film precedes the TV show, these are the last 7 days of Laura Palmer, and after watching this film, it is pretty apparent why Laura wanted to die, she lived in a world out of her grasp and control, she was desperately fighting what she was becoming, but realized that the forces that were pulling her down, were too strong for her to fight against… I knew someone like that once, and to be quite honest, it has changed the way I look at Laura Palmer. The first time I watched this film was in 1992 when it came out on VHS, I was 16 or 17 and I hated it. It wasn't Twin Peaks. It was horrible and violent and had none of the cuteness and quirkiness and lovable characters of the TV show, and I never watched it again. Watching it almost 15 years on, as an adult, I understand why I hated it so much when I was a kid. As a 16-17 year male, I had absolutely no concept or understanding of what it would be like to be Laura Palmer, completely unable to relate to her, and therefore completely unable to understand or sympathize. Completely unable to understand what it would mean to live in a world where everyone is in love with you, and how that would only make you hate yourself more, when you hate yourself so much already.

This is a really sad movie. It really puts you in to Laura Palmer's world, or what's left of it, briefly. Maybe too brief, but, you know, maybe I read too much in to films, or I get too close too them, but this film has changed Twin Peaks for me forever. And it's quite possible that it will do the same for you. Even though she was dead before the opening credits, I never realized until watching this film again that Laura was never freed, she was always in 'purgatory' if you will, always in the Red Room when we saw her, or seeing a flashback of her murder during the course of the TV show. Fire Walk With Me gives something to Laura Palmer that she had been denied on television.

Release.

For the most part, this film was not made for the fans, nor was it made for the money, Lynch made this film for Laura palmer. His love of her is what inspired him to breathe life into her character on the big screen, after taking it away on the small. This is his dance, first and final, with Laura Palmer. It is not ours to be involved with, it is ours only to watch the romance between character and director evolve and be burnt too soon. It is ours only to witness, not too understand or judge, not to ask or question.

From the opening shot, a television with no reception, which is quickly obliterated by an Axe, it is quite clear that this ain't no TV show, and if the symbolism of the TV being smashed isn't enough to tell you that, then the opening scene will. This is the part of Twin Peaks that simply never would have made it to TV. The real Twin Peaks, if you will, the dark, tortured, seedy underbelly of a town with too few people, and too many secrets, the sort of place that exists almost everywhere in the world (with the exception of Cicely, Alaska).