Blue Velvet

Lynch’s twisted mystery masterpiece is an engrossing study of the contrast between the veneer of American life and its seedy underbelly.

  • Director

    David Lynch

  • With

    Kyle MacLachlan, Isabella Rossellini, Dennis Hopper, Laura Dern

  • USA 1986. 121min

  • 35mm (2 and 12 Jan) / Digital (7 and 8 Jan)

  • Certificate

    18

  • A BFI National Archive print

When a college student discovers a severed ear in an abandoned field and attempts to find out where it came from, he is drawn into the dark world of a beautiful lounge singer and her demented captor. After struggling with studio interference on Dune, Lynch negotiated a deal that gave him complete artistic freedom and final cut. The result, a stylish and erotic suburban nightmare, is a brilliant, singular Lynch vision, born of personal obsessions and autobiographical elements.

Kimberley Sheehan

Contains scenes of domestic violence and sexual violence.

New 35mm print (screening 2 and 12 January) made with funding from the National Lottery.

See an IMAX screening of Blue Velvet.

Film on Film