Wild at Heart

Elvis fan Sailor Ripley and his southern bride Lula are on the run from Lula’s mother Marietta, that once already had Sailor thrown in jail. They’re pursued by several of Marietta’s henchmen and lovers, and when they finally arrive in a backwater desert town and meet oily gangster Bobby Peru, the whole world seems to have conspired against them. Straight after his trip up north for TWIN PEAKS, Lynch now explores the Southern US, where Voodoo magic and Cajun dialect go hand in hand. The actors give it all they've got, especially Willem Dafoe as the repulsive freak and Diane Ladd, whose portrayal of the witch-in-law earned her an Oscar nomination; the director once again impresses with brilliant images and artistic handicraft that distorts the seemingly simple plot to the point of absurdity. Lynch's winner of the Palme d'Or is an immensely bloody, kitschy-romantic surge of love and death at the end of civilization, where fables begin, where evil drools drippingly and the good fairy still grant wishes.