After a series of unsettling videotapes appear on his doorstep, saxophonist Fred Madison is convicted of the brutal murder of his wife, Renée. While on death row, Fred mysteriously disappears and is replaced by a young mechanic leading a different life. As he becomes entangled with a dangerous gangster and a striking blonde woman, he is drawn into a web of betrayal and shifting identities that defies logic.

David Lynch’s Lost Highway is a haunting foray into the 'noir-horror' genre that comes to define his work of the late 1990s and early 2000s. A masterful deconstruction of the psychogenic fugue, the film strips away the traditional boundaries of narrative and identity to explore the fractured psyche of a man in crisis. With its industrial, shadow-drenched aesthetic and pulsing, discordant soundtrack, Lost Highway stands as a surrealist exploration of guilt and obsession that remains one of the most enigmatic puzzles in American cinema.

This screening is part of Violet Hour’s City of Angels season, where we peel back the silver screen and gaze into the sordid underworld of Los Angeles. A city of duality, this season is an ode to the ultimate American nightmare masquerading as a dream.

About Violet Hour

Violet Hour showcases the dark, transgressive and enigmatic side of the screen. Exploring the darker aspects of life through cinema, we screen and discuss works that unsettle, undo us and challenge our perceptions ~