Inland Empire

2006 Directed by David Lynch

A woman in trouble

An actress's perception of reality becomes increasingly distorted as she finds herself falling for her co-star in a remake of an unfinished Polish production that was supposedly cursed.

Laura Dern Jeremy Irons Justin Theroux Harry Dean Stanton Karolina Gruszka Peter J. Lucas Krzysztof Majchrzak Jan Hencz Grace Zabriskie William H. Macy Ian Abercrombie Amanda Foreman Cameron Daddo Neil Dickson Diane Ladd Stanislaw Kazimierz Cybulski Henryka Cybulski Julia Ormond Jordan Ladd Terryn Westbrook Kristen Kerr Mary Steenburgen Masuimi Max Robert Charles Hunter Terry Crews Nastassja Kinski Laura Harring Scott Coffey Naomi Watts Show All…

Alternative Titles

Inland Empire - Eine Frau in Schwierigkeiten, L'impero della mente, Inland Empire - L'impero della mente, Внутренняя империя, 內陸帝國, INLAND EMPIRE, The Green Room in Lodz

mystery drama horror thriller fantasy

180 mins More details at IMDb TMDb Report this film

Popular reviews

Review by Grooveman ★★★★★ 27

?
Review by maria ★★★★★ 9

i feel like david lynch is directing my life because nothing makes any fucking sense
Review by Ethan Vestby ★★★★★ 5

Lynch on frequent collaborator Dean Hurley in the DVD special features: "I really don't like Dean as a person but he's a fantastic sound man."
Review by Adam Cook ★★★★½ 19

INLAND EMPIRE (Lynch for some reason is insistent on the capitalisation of the title) is an experience to say the least. Whether you view it as one of Lynch's best movies or an elaborate joke on the audience depends on how you view the director’s work as a whole. I am unapologetic in my love of Lynch and whilst I am not quite blind to his faults I am very much a fanboy. For this reason, INLAND EMPIRE is a work of mind-fucking brilliance.
It is one of the most indulgent, mental and disorienting films I have ever had the pleasure of watching. It is a film that demands and contradicts interpretation which means it works best when letting the…
Review by Eli Hayes ★★★★★ 12

BRUTAL FUCKING MURDER.
Review by katie ★★★★ 7

??????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????¿???????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????¿????????????????????????????????????????¿????????????????????????????????????????¿??????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????¿???????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????¿???????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????¿????????????????????????????????????????¿????????????????????????????????????????¿??????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????¿???????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????¿???????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????¿????????????????????????????????????????¿????????????????????????????????????????¿??????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????¿?????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????
Review by DirkH ★★ 19

Visual representation of me watching Inland Empire:
(^-^)
(<_<)
(>.<)
(o_O)
(@_@)
(-_-)

Guess this wasn't for me.....
Review by ScreeningNotes ★★★★★ 16

"I'm trying to tell you so's you'll understand how it went. The thing is, I don't know what was before or after. I don't know what happened first, and it's kinda laid a mindfuck on me."
Inland Empire is the most experimental and nonlinear of David Lynch's already experimental and nonlinear body of work. The fact that the most popular review of it here on LB at the moment is just a question mark says a lot about how accessible it is (i.e. not at all). The easiest way to describe it is as a movie about an actress who takes a role that makes her begin to question and then eventually lose her sense of the difference between performance…
Review by Jake Cole ★★★★★

Lynch's celluloid films have always had a velvety, clear vision at odds with the haziness of their contents. Inland Empire flips that by using low-grade digital to create the smeary, incoherent, oneiric look that his movies always achieved tonally. Rewatching this film after the last few Malick movies, I see some parallels: for all the incomprehensible montage and jump cuts and half-articulated ideas and plots, the core of the movie is nothing but cliché. We have Hollywood as evil, actress/character persona swap, abuse, the many ways in which men prey upon women (including directing them, foregrounding one of the most common early critiques lobbed against Lynch himself).
But what emerges is a bold refraction of these tropes and topics into…
Review by josh lewis ★★★★★ 2

damn my life a digital video stream-of-consciousness nightmare fr 😂
lynch's Dangerous Game (1993).
Review by EnteredTheVoid ★★★★★ 6

The most David Lynch of all of David Lynch's films.
A marauding masterpiece.
A plethora of powerful pictures.
Inland Empire is Incredibly Exhausting.
Review by Nick ★★★★★ 3

In his horror epic Inland Empire, Lynch experimented and orchestrated one of the most mind boggling puzzles in cinema history, while presenting all of his grand visions in the most regressive, almost Dogme 95-ish non-style. It's safe enough to call Inland Empire Lynch's most styleless and at the same time most confounding work to date.
At core, Inland Empire is about, as Lynch himself has stated, "a woman in trouble", which, for what it's worth, puts some perspectives into its fragmented, seemingly indecipherable narrative. We follow a movie star, Nikki's bizarre journey as she takes on a supposedly cursed movie project, which truly puts her already uneventful life on a deadly spin. Laura Dern was such a shining star portraying…

Recent reviews

Review by fffairydust ★★★★½

i love david lynch
Review by Trent Calloway ★★★★

I loooove self reflection good job twin
Review by Nate Muench ★★★★

Okay David Lynch, but what does it mean?
Review by Pedro Silva ★★★★½

Definitely Lynch's most terrifying feature, at least for me. The feelings deep inside of me that the atmosphere in some moments brought up to surface, I don't think I've ever felt that watching any movie, at least not so strongly
Review by Gaia_lck ★★★

Boh.
Review by lucas ★★★★½

am i going to act like i totally "get" this? no but i love the way that lynch interrogates the boundary between reality and fiction. lynch movies are an exercise in metaphor upon symbol upon symbol that you sort of interpret by association but the way that i interpreted this was it was sort of about women cursed to be trapped in their stories and how liberating it is to demand a role in the telling of your own story. anyway this probably requires further thinking for me to even begin to process but i continue to luv lynch
Review by nronning ★★★★

This review may contain spoilers. I can handle the truth.

“Is that... Is that Beck?”
Review by Guy Cumming

he was completely right to put that shit at the END of the movie yeah that was pretty scary i think
Review by barry01

This is one of the most disturbing, and scariest films I have seen, and probably the most disturbing Lynch film I have seen, if not the most disturbing one. I'd be lying if I said this wasn't hard to get through, but most lynch films aren't comfortable in the first place. He doesn't want you to be comfortable.
Review by Cotton Cola ★★★

I can see where M. Night Shaymalan got his inspiration for his insanely uncomfortable and way-too-close close-ups in The Last Airbender.
Review by Esra Nur Işın ★★★★★

lynch's probably the most surreal shit and i love it
Review by BrodGill ★★★★½

This is the most unsettling movie I have ever seen and I am 100% confident nothing else will top it in that. I have no idea how to feel about this movie, I just know it’s good???