The Black Lodge Within
Twin Peaks: Fire Walk With Me
Announcement: I’ll be returning to documentary content soon as I post reviews from the Toronto International Film Festival. In the meantime, here is the second essay of my three-part series on Twin Peaks.
WARNING: This contains discussion of sexual assault and gives away important plot elements of Twin Peaks: Fire Walk With Me.
When it was released in 1992, many critics and fans hated David Lynch’s Twin Peaks: Fire Walk With Me (FWWM). It has some characters and story elements of Seasons 1 and 2, but lacks the silly humor and sentimentality of the show. When I first saw the film almost ten years ago, I felt a similar disappointment. It was a grotesque and more violent rendering of the beloved show. But years later, when I saw it a second time, I have come to appreciate it as a bold and thought-provoking narrative. Unlike the TV series, it is a unique look into the complex inner life of Laura Palmer.
The film is a prequel to the TV series, and shows the events that led up to the murder of high school student Laura Palmer (Sheryl Lee). The film begins in a similar way to the TV show, but with a different murder victim and different pair of FBI agents. For the first twenty minutes, the film is more of an FBI story, following Agent Chet Desmond, and with a brief appearance by Special Agent Dale Cooper. But after this, most of the film takes place in Twin Peaks and is largely from the perspective of Laura Palmer in the days leading up to her death.
Before the release of FWWM, The Secret Diary of Laura Palmer was published in 1990. It came out in between Seasons 1 and 2 of the TV series. The Secret Diary was written by David Lynch’s daughter, Jennifer Lynch, when she was 22. She was given a few guidelines about what not to reveal and clues to leave about Laura’s murderer, but otherwise was able to write what she wanted.1 The style of writing is authentic and natural and has classic elements of coming of age literature for young women. Laura notices changes in her body and starts to question the world. She also begins experimenting with sex and drugs. But unlike other coming of age narratives, there is the frequent presence of BOB. In the TV series he is known as an evil entity from the dark underworld/alternate dimension known as The Black Lodge. He starts to sexually abuse Laura at age 12 and continues as to do so as Laura gets older.2 The hosts of the Twin Peaks podcast Diane argue that in The Secret Diary it is possible that BOB is not real, because he is only ever seen by Laura. BOB could be a mental manifestation created by Laura to cope with the abuse happening at home.3
A similar argument could be made for Fire Walk with Me. Unlike Seasons 1 and 2 of the show, it is much less clear what is real and what is imagined. Laura Palmer is frequently using drugs, and the figures from The Black Lodge are never seen by anyone but her. An old woman and young boy with a white mask appear in Laura’s dreams, and then in her waking life. As Laura slowly discovers the truth about BOB’s identity, it increasingly unhinges her.
David Lynch claims never to have read The Secret Diary of Laura Palmer, but actress Sheryl Lee did and said it had an important impact on her performance in FWWM.4 Lee deserves significant credit for the success of FWWM. As Laura she is intelligent, strong, and confident in some scenes and completely panicked and horrified in others. Lee convincingly balances the multiple sides to Laura Palmer: a teenager who still believes in guardian angels and tries to be a good friend, but she’s also a cruel girlfriend, an addict, and sex worker. Lee’s performance authentically captures the moral complexities and confusion of Laura in a way that is moving and real even in the sometimes surrealistic setting of the film.
FWWM is much more frightening than the TV series because it feels more real. Soap opera melodrama is replaced by intense psychological turmoil. We frequently see the world through Laura’s eyes – and we are left uncertain as to whether what we are seeing is real or not. There is always a sense of high anxiety – as if something terrible could happen at any moment. A notable scene is when Laura goes to a back room at The Roadhouse Bar. It is darkly lit and bathed in red light. The color scheme is similar to The Red Room in The Black Lodge, where Cooper sees Laura in the TV series. People in this secret back room are participating in a grotesque and hellish scene of drug use and sexual debauchery. This is the real world, but it still feels like something violent and horrific could happen at any moment.
The most shocking scenes are when BOB’s identity seems to be shifting or unclear. After Laura has gone to bed for the night, BOB slowly climbs through her bedroom window and creeps onto her bed as she is sleeping. When he begins to assault her, Laura wakes up and the image of BOB shifts rapidly between the evil spirit and her father Leland’s face. Another impactful scene is when Laura is having dinner with her parents and Leland (Ray Wise) yells at her. He claims she is dirty and demands she wash her hands. Her mother Sarah tries to intervene, but then is silent. There is no switching back to BOB in this moment. Leland is not acting in an over-the-top way as he usually does as BOB. Instead he is cold and aggressive. Overall the scene is much more realistic compared to others in the film. These two scenes present the strongest evidence that BOB is not possessing Leland, but may simply be a figure of imagination created by Laura or Leland himself.
Fire Walk With Me will leave the viewer deeply unsettled and it is difficult to forget. Years after its original release, it is now considered by many critics to be a great film and has a loyal fan base. Fans of FWWM have spoken about how impactful it was to see a complicated character like Laura Palmer struggling with some of the same issues as them.5 When it was released in 1992, very few films had addressed incest. It is a fantastical and nightmarish story that is able to capture the horrifying terror, confusion, and despair of sexual abuse.
“The Secret Diary of Laura Palmer,” March 22, 2017, in Diane, podcast, MP3 audio, 66:00, accessed August 17, 2024,
Jennifer Lynch, The Secret Diary of Laura Palmer. (New York, Simon & Schuster Inc, 1990).
“Fire Walk With Me: Part 1,” April 6, 2017, in Diane, podcast, MP3 audio, 89:00, accessed August 22, 2024,
Courtenay Stallings, Laura’s Ghost: Women Speak about Twin Peaks (Columbus: Fayatteville Mafia Press, 2020), 209 – 210.
Stallings, 251 – 255.