I think I've watched it (and I'm not joking) more than 200 times analyzing every frame of the motion picture.
Mr. Lynch, cinematography God, Zen Master and trascendental meditation expert talked with me when I was at his seminar behind the "curtains". He gave me his interpretation of Eraserhead but I will never ever tell it to anybody...besides a special woman living in my dreams. A living creature from the heavens. I hope she will exist one day...
Well, I just watched it again tonight. I believe that the "Lady in the Radiator" first appearance is one of the most disturbing scenes ever shot in a movie. And when she sings that infamous song "In heaven everything is fine, you've good your good things and I've got mine" I feel like "Ok this is what I'll hear before going to Hell".
Yet, I won't focus on this particular scene.
I want to talk about the scene when Henry encounters his fiancee's father, Bill.
The scene starts with a simple sound of a rusty door opening. Then we see this funny old man with a texan accent saying:
"Hey! I thought I heard a stranger! We've got chicken tonight. Strangest damn things. They're man made! Little damn things! Smaller than my fist. But they're new!......Hi, I'm Bill!
This entire phrase, in it's total nonsense, does actually make sense if you really think about it. Roasted chickens do look really strange compared to us, somehow gross. I believe that when he says "They're man made!" the meaning is that nowadays, everything nature gives us does end up getting screwed by the "hands" of human mankind and turned into something terryfing, dangerous and disgusting. You follow me?
The scene goes on with a slightly confused Henry, saying: Hello there, I'm Henry.
A few seconds after, Bill's wife (mother of Henry's psychotic fiancee) says: Henry works at LaPelle's Factory.
Bill: Oh...Printing's your business? Plumbing's mine. For 30 years now. I've watched this neighborhood change from pastures to the hell-hole it is now!
While he says this, there's a crescendo of tension and you start to hear the sound of a train while the entire house starts making louder and louder unexplainable noises.
His wife and daughter seem very worried and yell at him:
Wife: Bill!
Daughter: Dad!
But Bill goes on with a phrase that's pure genious in it's crazyness.
Bill: I put every damn pipe in this neighborhood! People think that pipes grow in their homes but they sure as hell DON'T! LOOK AT MY KNEES! LOOK AT MY KNEES" he yells while the train noise now is really loud and the house itself starts to freak out like it was alive. Bill also, when shouting "Look at my knees" gets closer to Henry walking in a strange way and touching his knees like a marionette.
I believe that the phrase "People think that pipes grow in their homes" is referred to the typical and scary lazyness of the human being wanting everything to happen without moving while the "Look at my knees" plus himself walking near Henry touching them is simply a nightmarish nonsense delirium of Henry itself which is actually hallucinating since the entire film should be a "dark dream of troubling things".
Like those typical nonsense irrational happenings we witness during our nightmares...happenings that make no sense whatsoever.
Personally, I think Henry's actually hallucinating everything (as well as the moving chicken that doesn't want to be cut in the dinner scene) from the beginning but Mr. Lynch told me the true meaning of this scene which, he said, is the most disturbing scene of the entire motion picture.
I'd spend hours talking about Eraserhead and one day I'll write down my full interpretation, analyzing every scene of the film.
Though, now I'm a bit tired and I'll go to sleep.
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