Wild at Heart

Wild at Heart is a 1990 American film written and directed by David Lynch, and based on Barry Gifford's 1989 pulp novel Wild at Heart: The Story of Sailor and Lula. Lula's psychopathic mother goes crazy at the thought of Lula being with Sailor, who just got free from jail. Ignoring Sailor's probation, they set out for California. However their mother hires a killer to hunt down Sailor. Unaware of this, the two enjoy their journey and themselves being together... until they witness a young woman dying after a car accident - a bad omen. Young lovers Sailor and Lula take off for New Orleans following Sailor's release from prison, with Lula's hysterical mother, a weary detective and a sinister hitman after them. During their journey, Lula and Sailor relate the events of their lives to date, while encountering a typical gallery of Lynch grotesques. After being stranded in a small town, Sailor agrees to join the loathsome Bobby Peru in a criminal venture. After breaking parole for self defensive manslaughter, Sailor Ripley and his girlfriend Lula Fortune head down the highway for sunny California. Lula's mother sends out a private detective and a hitman after them. Sailor and Lula encounter an assortment of extremely bizarre "people" while discovering hidden secrets about one another. Full of lurid imagery and references to The Wizard of Oz. Sailor and Lula are two rebelious kids. Lula's mother hates Sailor, and pays a man to attack him. Sailor kills the attacker, and ends up in jail. Lula waits for him to be released, teams up with him, and they both cross the country trying to stay one step ahead of the mother. A love story. Sailor and Lula are amalgamations of distanciated American iconography. Their horizons are constituted by little more than TV; they think they're wild at heart; and their romance sets them off on a post industrial Odyssey.