Blue Velvet is a 1986 American neo-noir mystery film, written and directed by David Lynch, in which the discovery of a severed human ear found in a field leads a young man on an investigation related to a beautiful, mysterious nightclub singer and a group of psychopathic criminals who have kidnapped her child.. Blending psychological horror with film noir, the film stars Kyle MacLachlan, Isabella Rossellini, Dennis Hopper and Laura Dern. Despite Blue Velvet‘s initial appearance as a mystery, the film operates on a number of thematic levels. The film owes a large debt to 1950s film noir, containing and exploring such conventions as the femme fatale, a seemingly unstoppable villain (Frank Booth), and the questionable moral outlook of the hero, as well as its unusual use of shadowy, sometimes dark cinematography.The title is taken from Bobby Vinton‘s 1963 song of the same name. Although initially receiving a divided critical response, the film is now widely acclaimed as one of the greatest films of the 1980s, and earned Lynch his second Academy Award nomination for Best Director. As an example of a director casting against the norm, Blue Velvet is also noted for re-launching Hopper’s career and for providing Rossellini with a dramatic outlet beyond her previous work as a fashion model and a cosmetics spokeswoman.
