Premonition Following an Evil Deed (David Lynch, 1995, USA)

Lumiere and Company is a 1995 film compiling shorts from 41 international directors. Each filmmaker was required to use the original Cinematographe camera made by the Lumiere brothers, and the rules were relatively simple - a time limit of 52 seconds, no synchronized sound, and a limit of 3 takes. Many excellent filmmakers contributed to Lumiere, including Peter Greenaway, Jacques Rivette, Michael Haneke, and numerous others. David Lynch's contribution to the film is titled Premonitions Follow and Evil Deed. He played somewhat loosely with the rules, using one of his takes to close the camera's shutter and move to a different set. This creates a sense of five different places being compiled together. 

The film opens with a group of three police officers approaching a dead body. The film cuts to black and we see a woman on a couch. Again, the film cuts to black and we see two women seemingly in a forest. The film cuts to white and as the smoke clears we see what is the most shocking image in the film - a woman, nude, submerged in a tank and surrounded by men in coats. She seems to be being tortured, as we hear the sounds of electrical shocks. There is a flame that leads into a scene in a living room with the woman from earlier. The police officers enter the room and the man and woman get up. The drone in the background of the film gets progressively louder. 


Despite being less than a minute in length, Premonition Following an Evil Deed is remarkably consistent with the rest of Lynch's filmography. Again we have a disjointed narrative structure, as in films like Lost Highway. Again we have a woman in trouble, as in Blue Velvet. The film's surreal noir vibe is perfectly consistent with Lynch's filmography.


7/10

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