Inland Empire (2006)

Last updated:
August 31, 2025

David Lynch’s Inland Empire (2006) is not just a film—it’s a three-hour fever dream that challenges every convention of storytelling. Shot entirely on digital video and pieced together over years of fragmented shooting, it is Lynch at his most experimental and unfiltered. This movie is confusing, terrifying, funny, and profoundly unsettling—often all in the same scene. Let’s dive into the chaos.

Table of Contents

Detailed Summary

The Actress and the Role

The story begins with Nikki Grace (played by Laura Dern), a Hollywood actress who is cast in a comeback role for a film titled On High in Blue Tomorrows. She’s excited but soon learns that the movie is actually a remake of a cursed, unfinished Polish film. According to legend, the original actors were murdered, which sets a tone of dread over the entire production.

Fragmented Realities and the Blurring of Identity

As Nikki rehearses and films her role, she begins losing her grip on reality. She slips in and out of her identity as Nikki and her character, Susan Blue. Scenes of her life, the film’s narrative, and dreamlike hallucinations merge into one another, leaving both the audience and Nikki questioning what is real.

The Rabbits

Throughout the movie, we cut to surreal sequences featuring anthropomorphic rabbits living in a sitcom-like setting. They speak in cryptic lines, punctuated by canned laughter. These rabbit sequences operate like a haunting Greek chorus, offering fragmented hints about Nikki’s fate.

The Polish Woman and the Curse

Another thread follows a mysterious Polish woman trapped in a room, crying while watching a television that seems to be showing our movie. This meta-narrative blurs the boundaries even further, suggesting Nikki’s life might itself be a film being watched by someone else—or that Nikki is a fragment of someone else’s dream.

Descent into Horror

Nikki/Susan spirals into increasingly disturbing situations, including scenes of violence, prostitution, and murder. Reality collapses entirely, with Lynch using disorienting cuts, distorted sound, and abrupt changes in format to mirror her fractured psyche.

Movie Ending

In the climax, Nikki (as Susan Blue) is stabbed by a phantom woman, a confrontation that feels like the culmination of all her identities collapsing. Nikki stumbles into a room and dies—or appears to. The film then fractures again: she finds herself wandering a labyrinthine cityscape, encountering strange figures, including the Phantom, a menacing man connected to the curse.

Nikki eventually shoots the Phantom dead, breaking the cycle of violence and seemingly freeing herself from the looping nightmare. This act allows her to “cross over” into a strange dreamlike resolution. She reenters the “rabbit sitcom” house, where her presence causes the previously trapped Polish woman (the one who had been watching TV and crying) to finally smile. It’s as though Nikki’s suffering has broken the curse and released the woman.

The final scenes show Nikki reunited with figures from earlier in the movie in a surreal, joyous atmosphere. It’s celebratory, almost musical, closing with Lynch’s trademark blending of horror and absurd comedy. But like everything in Inland Empire, the ending is ambiguous: did Nikki really survive, or has she been absorbed into the endless cycles of dreams and films?

Are There Post-Credits Scenes?

Yes—there is material during the end credits. Unlike Marvel-style teasers, these are dreamlike vignettes: more rabbits, characters dancing, and surreal fragments that feel like a curtain call. They don’t resolve the story but serve as a final wink from Lynch, reminding the audience that the film is as much about mood and dream logic as it is about narrative.

Type of Movie

Inland Empire is a psychological horror, experimental art film, and surrealist drama. It’s less of a traditional story and more of an immersive nightmare designed to destabilize the viewer.

Cast

Laura Dern as Nikki Grace / Susan Blue
Jeremy Irons as Kingsley Stewart (the director of On High in Blue Tomorrows)
Justin Theroux as Devon Berk / Billy Side (Nikki’s co-star)
Harry Dean Stanton as Freddie Howard
Grace Zabriskie as Visitor #1 (the woman who warns Nikki)
Julia Ormond as Doris Side
Peter J. Lucas as Piotrek Król (Nikki’s husband)

Film Music and Composer

The score is credited to David Lynch himself, with contributions from Krzysztof Penderecki and others. The soundtrack is unsettling—full of ominous drones, industrial hums, distorted noises, and sudden bursts of old pop songs that create jarring tonal shifts. One highlight is Nina Simone’s “Sinnerman,” used in the closing sequence, which gives the finale a haunting energy.

Filming Locations

Primarily shot in Los Angeles, reflecting Hollywood’s decaying glamour.
Parts were filmed in Łódź, Poland, adding to the film’s eerie Eastern European flavor and grounding the cursed backstory.
Many interior shots were done on minimal sets, emphasizing the claustrophobic and dreamlike quality of the narrative.

Awards and Nominations

National Society of Film Critics Award: Best Actress (Laura Dern)
Multiple critics’ groups praised Dern’s performance, though the film was often too avant-garde for mainstream awards.

Behind the Scenes Insights

David Lynch shot the movie without a finished script. He would write scenes on the day of filming and hand them to actors.
Laura Dern has said she often didn’t know which character she was playing in a given scene.
The film was shot on a handheld Sony PD-150 digital camcorder—grainy, rough, and unconventional for a feature film.
Lynch financed the movie independently after Hollywood studios declined to fund it.

Inspirations and References

Based partly on the French novel Axxon N (mentioned in the film) and influenced by Polish cinema and folklore.
The cursed-film motif echoes Hollywood’s own urban legends.
Lynch drew from his fascination with dreams, recursion, and the subconscious mind.

Alternate Endings and Deleted Scenes

No official alternate endings exist, but Lynch filmed a massive amount of footage—over 40 hours. Much of this never made the final cut. Some was repurposed into the experimental online series Rabbits.

Book Adaptations and Differences

Not based on a book, but the screenplay was later published, though it hardly clarifies the story. The text reads more like poetry and stage directions than a conventional script.

Memorable Scenes and Quotes

Key Scenes

The Polish woman crying in her room while watching a TV set.
The “Rabbits” sitcom sequences with laugh tracks.
Nikki’s chilling confrontation with the Phantom.
The closing dance sequence with Nina Simone’s Sinnerman.

Iconic Quotes

“Brutal f—ing murder!” (delivered suddenly by Grace Zabriskie’s character).
“If today were tomorrow, you wouldn’t even remember that you owed on an unpaid bill.”
“Axxon N. This is the longest running radio play in history.”

Easter Eggs and Hidden Details

The “Rabbits” sequences are actually a separate Lynch project, inserted here as puzzle pieces.
Many shots mirror scenes from Lynch’s Mulholland Drive, reinforcing the Hollywood-nightmare theme.
The Polish woman’s TV acts as a reflection of the audience watching Inland Empire.

Trivia

Laura Dern said Lynch once directed her via cryptic notes written on napkins.
Lynch set up a coffee stand called David Lynch Signature Cup Coffee while promoting the film.
The film’s unusual distribution model was handled personally by Lynch, who toured cities with a cow on a leash to promote Dern for an Oscar nomination.

Why Watch?

If you’re interested in cinema that feels like entering a dream—or more accurately, a nightmare—this is essential. It’s one of the boldest experiments in 21st-century film, with a tour-de-force performance from Laura Dern. It’s not easy, but it’s unforgettable.

Inland Empire (2006)