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You're not very bright, are you?

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The standard interpretation is that Dianne is dreaming of herself as Betty, with the supportive old couple present as she wins.

But with this film answering "who" does "what" is dependent on the overall interpretation of the story being told (as it were).

For example, there may be someone dreaming everything we see from the beginning, so Betty/Dianne & Rita/Camilla might not even exist, save in the mind of the dreamer.

I've heard conjecture that Aunt Ruth might be the person in the jitterbug contest who wins (there are dancers that have red hair in that scene, and Aunt Ruth would have been about that age and engaged in that sort of social activity in that time period).

I don't know how Camilla would fit into that jitterbug scene, outside of the idea that Dianne and Camilla are the same person, or that Camilla is the one dreaming the whole thing from the beginning. But with this film different interpretations will take you different places so go with what you think and see where it leads you.

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The SILVIA NORTH story may be a HOLLYWOOD Film and STAGE version about how AUNT RUTH became an actress.

And what may have happened is RITA/CAMILLIA uses the IDENTITY of CAMILLIA (who is the CORPSE). And the reason why she's dead is while Rita was in the shower BETTY probably finds Rita's wallet in her purse (that has her address on her driver's license), and then she goes to Rita's apartment looking for more CASH (that she also finds inside of the purse).

Then she encounters and kills the other girl who sings the EVERY LITTLE STAR song on TAPE at the AUDITION (which is how RITA gets the PART or becomes CAMILLA).

And Betty who also AUDITIONS for that same part, also RUNS AWAY after hearing the MOB MEN saying:

THIS IS THE GIRL

(because she probably also thinks they're COPS -- who think she's killed the other DEAD girl singing the STAR song on TAPE-- which is probably also what's happened).

So Rita puts on the BLOND WIG and becomes her former roommate/lover Camilla (the DEAD GIRL who's name was on the PUBLICITY PHOTO that Adam was shown at the meeting with the MOB MEN) and gets the part.

And BETTY becomes DIANE (the name of the waitress that we see at the DINER). Because she's hiding from the COPS and from the MOB MEN who are looking for RITA.

So BETTY/DIANE hires another HIT MAN to KILL RITA (which is also how the story began with someone else paying HIT MEN to KILL RITA in that LIMO).

But then the JOY RIDERS come along, hit the LIMO, and EVERYONE ELSE DIES but RITA (who was also the one who was suppose to DIE that night).

And that ACCIDENT SCENE also PARALLELS that other SCENE where the HIT MAN JOE kills his friend ED (for his BLACK BOOK of phone numbers), and then ends up needing to turn a FAKE SUICIDE SCENE into a FAKE DOUBLE-HOMICIDE/SUICIDE SCENE.

And Joe and Ed were also discussing the LIMO accident right before Joe kills Ed.

Also NOTE 📌 how the person in the BED (who we never see) at the start of the film also has that same WHITE GLOW above their head as we see at the end of the film when we see RITA/CAMILLA and BETTY/DIANE smiling.

And we also see RITA disappear into the BLUE BOX before AUNT RUTH comes home and doesn't find anyone staying there at her place.

But that BLUE BOX also has a BLUE KEY (which is also what the HIT MAN leaves with BETTY/DIANE to let her know that he's killed RITA/CAMILLA). So the BLUE KEY RITA used may also indicate a HOLLYWOOD version of the other BLUE KEY was being used.

So perhaps what happens in the FILM/STAGE story about SILVIA NORTH (aka: AUNT RUTH) may also have happened in REAL LIFE as well, when one actress has another one killed as a way to try to "GET the PART" in ADAM'S FILM??

The same kind of thing also seems to happen in "INLAND EMPIRE" when the CURSE in the AXXON N STORY also finds a way to get "OUTSIDE" of that story and "INTO" the REAL LIVES of the actors who portray AXXON N ROLES (in the RADIO PLAY/The POLISH GYPSY FOLK TALE Version/The GERMAN FILM VERSION/ and the AMERICAN FILM VERSION of the AXXON N story where the 2 LEADING characters end up DEAD).

So basically you have 2 STORIES (MD and IE) where what happens in the FILM or in the other versions of the story also happens to the actors who play the parts.

In the case with MD, the Betty/Diane character goes mad and kills herself after she hires a HIT MAN (Joe) to kill Rita/Camilla.

But since we also see that "WHITE GLOW" maybe she didn't die but only injured herself???

Because we also see the ROOM filling up with the same SMOKE as we saw in the THEATRE of SILENCE when the MAGICIAN disappears.

And SMOKE filling up a ROOM is also something that doesn't really happen whenever a GUN goes off.

So maybe she also "FAKED her DEATH" the same way as JOE did when he kills his friend ED and then made it look like a DOUBLE HOMINCIDE/SUICIDE situation???


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Read your entire post (good stuff) but the very first thing you said:

"The SILVIA NORTH story may be a HOLLYWOOD Film and STAGE version about how AUNT RUTH became an actress."

Reminds me of a poster on here, well on IMDb back in the day, who suggested that the Sylvia North story was a reference to Twin Peaks, because Sylvan means "wooded." I guess the connection is that "wooded north story" is then supposed to translate to Twin Peaks, which references White Lodge, Black Lodge, etc.

And my memory is even foggier on this one, but I think that was all in reference to a bardo theory interpretation of MD. Which I am quite fond of actually. But yes, above and beyond that, you are correct that the film is about the process of making films.

I might also suggest how the "process" of Hollywood can destroy lives.

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