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Catherine E. Coulson, David Lynch

In this plotless 5 minute short, Catherine Coulson plays a legless double-amputee who, throughout the film, is going over a letter she is writing. She makes marks on the letter, and we hear a voice-ov... read more read more...er of her reading through it. The letter is a sort of mini soap opera; she writes about things happening among a group of her acquaintances, about feelings, about who said certain offensive or endearing things. Very quickly, the droning monotony of Coulson's letter becomes a background noise which gets lost in the actions of her nurse, played by David Lynch. Lynch enters after a minute or so in a nurse costume, his hair in a long ponytail flipped over one shoulder. He begins readying his instruments, then unwraps one of Coulson's stumps. He snips away at something in the wound, probably stitches, though it sounds like he's cutting thick wire. He uses a sort of syringe to flush the wound with water and has a rubber ball that works like a turkey baster to suck fluid out of the wound. Coulson continues with her letter, paying no attention to any of this. After a minute or so of absurdist tension, Lynch turns away to empty the rubber ball, and we hear the suddenly very funny, very organic, squish-and-suck sound of the ball expelling the liquid. The stump begins to bleed freely, and Lynch dabs it with a handful of cotton balls. One of the balls sticks to the stump as he turns away, pulls out a towel, then shoves the towel under the stump. Blood pours down, soaking the towel. Lynch works frantically, trying to stop the bleeding. Then blood begins to spurt straight out of the wound, Python-style. Lynch jumps up and disappears, as though he has gone for help. And Coulson continues with her letter, intent on making a very important point about a certain something that someone either did or did not do to her or, perhaps, to someone else entirely.

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622 ratings

Unrated, 5 min.

Directed by: David Lynch

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Flixster Reviews (37)

  • SirPant
    October 14, 2009
    SirPant
    Filmed twice, Lynch takes advantage of his friends tasks of trying out two sets of new film by taking on responsibility (and saving a bit of money no doubt). It?s beautifully surreal and totally nonsensical and is the beginning of Lynch?s iconic style still present today. In many... read more ways this is the first film of a new genres and should be highly regarded.
  • flixsterman
    May 14, 2009
    flixsterman
    Freaky little bit of test footage made for the AFI to demonstrate the quality of different brands of videotape.

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The Amputee Trivia

  • In which of the following movies does Spencer Tracy play an amputee  Answer »
  • The scene from John Carpenter's The Thing in which Clark's arms are bitten off was actually a double amputee body double.   Answer »
  • Charlize Theron's Movies- 2000 movie with Cuba Gooding Jr. and Robert De Niro, about the first African-American amputee United States Navy diver:   Answer »
  • This movie tells the true story of Carl Brashear, who endured racial prejudice and unfairness to become the U.S. Navy's first African-American diver and later the first amputee Master Diver. "Why do you want this so badly?" "Because they said I couldn't have it."   Answer »
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