Lynch’s 1992 prequel to his cult television series Twin Peaks takes us through the nightmarish final days of Laura Palmer, the homecoming queen whose murder sets the show’s events in motion. Sheryl Lee gives a devastating performance as Laura, capturing both the outwardly wholesome teenager and the tormented young woman struggling to escape a world of abuse, addiction and supernatural evil. Lynch plunges us headlong into its most disturbing undercurrents here.
Initially rejected by critics and audiences, Fire Walk With Me has since been recognised as one of Lynch’s most uncompromising and textured works. Its disorienting shifts between suburban normality and feverish surrealism create an atmosphere of almost unbearable dread, and Angelo Badalamenti’s mournful score adds unexpected tenderness. Brutal, strange and deeply compassionate.