Inland Empire

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Inland Empire

R

2006

2h 59m

Mystery & Thriller

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Tomatometer

Popcornmeter

72%

Tomatometer

117 Reviews

75%

Popcornmeter

25,000+ Ratings

Nikki (Laura Dern), an actress, takes on a role in a new film, and because her husband (Peter J. Lucas) is very jealous, her co-star Devon (Justin Theroux) gets a warning not to make any romantic overtures -- especially since the characters they play are having an affair. Both actors learn that the project is a remake of an unfinished film in which the stars were murdered.

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Critics Consensus

Typical David Lynch fare: fans of the director will find Inland Empire seductive and deep. All others will consider the heady surrealism impenetrable and pointless.

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Michael Atkinson

Sight & Sound

May 13, 2026

Inland Empire appears to be a film that exists for itself and for its maker, not necessarily for us

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Richard Brody

The New Yorker

Apr 11, 2022

Quickly devolves into self-parody. Dern gives a virtuoso performance, albeit in an overwrought, numbing void.

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Jim Emerson

RogerEbert.com

May 25, 2007

4/4

Inland Empire opens and contracts in your imagination while you watch it -- and you're still watching it well after it's left the screen. It's a long but thoroughly absorbing three hours.

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Noah Berlatsky

Everything is Horrible (Substack)

Jan 23, 2025

The movie's studied, deliberate refusal to develop interesting characters, provide a plot, or to say anything gets old after three hours.

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Joe Lipsett

Anatomy of a Scream Podcast Network

Nov 21, 2024

3/5

Lynch's last feature is confronting, ugly and surreal, but it's also deeply personal and feels like a full circle moment that brings him back to many of the techniques he used on his first film, Eraserhead.

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Hector A. Gonzalez

Loud and Clear Reviews

Mar 24, 2024

4.5/5

A newly remastered version of David Lynch ’s most experimental and hallucinatory work, Inland Empire – a story about a “woman in trouble”.

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Camden F

Apr 28, 2025

I don't know what everyone's talking about, this is the most normal movie ever made

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Katy

Apr 4, 2025

Lynch literally lost the plot. An endurance challenge, for sure.

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Brent

Mar 30, 2025

Incredible film!!! So glad I waited to see this in theater! I mean & so many people think this film doesn’t make a lot of sense! Damn! Were they wrong David Lynch & Luara Dern are incredible! How she Didn’t even get an Oscar Nomination for this back in 2006…. I mean makes absolutely NO sense!

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Claude

May 19, 2022

One of the most abstract things I've ever seen. Some remarks from a person who worked on the film: when interviewed at the Venice Film Festival, Laura Dern who is the star of the film admitted that she did not know what Inland Empire was about or the role she was playing, but hoped that seeing the film's premiere at the festival would help her "learn more". Dern also recounted a conversation she had with one of the movie's new producers, Jeremy Alter. He asked if director David Lynch was joking when he requested a one-legged woman, a monkey and a lumberjack by 3:15. By 4 p.m. they were shooting with the requested individuals.

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Vincent

May 8, 2022

Very confusing but entertaining. A surreal experience

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Wayne K

@WayneKelso Oct 17, 2026

The last film ever directed by celebrated auteur Davd Lynch, Inland Empire is his most divisive film and is so opaque that even it’s leads admitted to not knowing what it’s about. It’s admirable that Lynch threw caution to the wind and went full experimental for his swansong, but that doesn’t immunise it from criticism. It might have been intriguing if it was kept to around 90 or 100 minutes, but nearly 3 hours is far, far too long for a film like this. You really need to have your audience’s attention locked in with material like this, but Lynch allows his propensity for bizarre imagery and inexplicable events to run rampant, and when you have virtually nothing to latch on to it leaves you adrift in the story. There’s some big names in the cast but no one really feels like a character. Everyone is just there to make things weirder and more obscure. David Lynch peaked with Mulholland Drive; Inland Empire feels like a bizarre footnote, a curious oddity we don’t need to talk about.

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David Lynch

Director

Laura Dern

Nikki

Jeremy Irons

Kingsley

Harry Dean Stanton

Freddie

Justin Theroux

Devon

Terryn Westbrook

Chelsi

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Synopsis

Nikki (Laura Dern), an actress, takes on a role in a new film, and because her husband (Peter J. Lucas) is very jealous, her co-star Devon (Justin Theroux) gets a warning not to make any romantic overtures -- especially since the characters they play are having an affair. Both actors learn that the project is a remake of an unfinished film in which the stars were murdered.

Director: David Lynch
Producer: Mary Sweeney, David Lynch
Screenwriter: David Lynch
Distributor: Absurda
Production Co: Asymmetrical Productions, Camerimage 2, Inland Empire Productions
Rating: R (Some Violence|Sexuality/Nudity|Language)
Genre: Mystery & Thriller
Original Language: English
Release Date (Theaters): Dec 6, 2006, Limited
Rerelease Date (Theaters): Apr 8, 2022
Release Date (DVD): Aug 14, 2007
Runtime: 2h 59m
Sound Mix: Dolby Digital

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