other: Rabbit

Rabbits is a 2002 film written and directed by David Lynch. It consists of an 8-episode series of short videos. The series was formerly shown exclusively on DavidLynch.com, but is no longer available there. Both the set and some footage of the rabbits are reused in Lynch's Inland Empire. Rabbits is presented with the tagline: "In a nameless city deluged by a continuous rain... three rabbits live with a fearful mystery". As with most of David Lynch's films, the score was composed by Angelo Badalamenti.

Cast

• Scott Coffey as Jack
• Rebekah Del Rio as Jane (whilst singing)
• Laura Harring as Jane (as Laura Elena Harring)
• Naomi Watts as Suzie

Synopsis

Each episode takes place in a single dark room, with no camera cuts except for one lonely cut in episode six, at a ringing telephone. There's a rain track constantly playing, along with a regular low, moaning sounds that resembles a muted foghorn, and the camera loses focus whenever thunder cracks. The three rabbits - Jack, Jane and Suzie - enter, walk, sit, stand up and exit the room. Whenever one of the rabbits enters the room, an applause track is played. A laugh track is played, seemingly at random, since there are no jokes, although the laugh usually only plays when one of the rabbits refers to time. Action is scant, with the rabbits uttering their lines between pauses in disorder, so that there is no coherent flow of dialogue. There are several allusions to an unspecified "it". At one point, the rabbits take turns in reciting incoherent lines of poetry, starting with Jane and ending with Suzie, interrupted by sudden lapses of awareness that are quickly drowned by a burning match in the background. To a similar effect, a diabolical mouth is shown twice in the show, reciting gibberish. In the very last episode, the steps that have been haunting the rabbits finally come to a stop, the door opens, and a hellish scream is heard. The rabbits cower in fear on the sofa, and Jane says "I wonder who I will be."

Interpretations

Several fans have set up internet websites or posted on discussion forums, attempting to make sense of this surreal series. Explanations that come up the most often claim the three rabbits are in some sort of purgatory, or in hell. Several lines allude to a past life, possibly human ("Were you blonde?") and at times the rabbits seem to be possessed by lapses of awareness ("Something's wrong") that are drowned in nonsensical poem-recitings. There are furthermore many allusions to "a dark place" and a future life (the very last line, "I wonder who I will be"). There are also hints that they are being watched by some sort of audience ("I only wish they would go somewhere"). Aside from these obscure allusions to past and future life, there is also frequent mention of the time of the night ("It had something to do with the telling of time").