This chapter focuses on the theme of reincarnation prominent in David Lynch’s 2006 film Inland Empire in which an actress, Nikki Grace (Laura Dern) appears to relive a series of past lives after she commences work on a remake of an earlier movie, rumoured to be ‘cursed’.
I demonstrate how Inland Land Empire’s representation of reincarnation demonstrates Lynch’s interest in, and knowledge of, Theosophy, a philosophical religion founded in the United States in the late 19th century. In doing so, I compare Inland Empire to another text in which the theme of reincarnation is also prominent, and which also demonstrates an awareness of the tenets of Theosophy, James Joyce’s classic Modernist novel Ulysses (1922), suggesting that it may also have been an influence on Lynch’s film.
I also provide a comparative analysis of Inland Empire and the Netflix Originals series The OA (2016-19) which too has a prominent theme of reincarnation as well as the representation of other, possible lives its main characters might have lived, which also occurs in both Lynch’s film and Joyce’s novel.