From Killer BOB to Frank Booth, Lynch knows how to send a chill down your spine — but this villain may just be his worst.
Trigger Warning: The following article contains references to sexual assault.
The Big Picture
- The most horrific antagonist in any David Lynch film is
Wild at Heart
‘s Bobby Peru, played with terrifying menace by Willem Dafoe. - Bobby Peru is Lynch’s most realistic villain, as he represents
the seedy, violent underbelly of America’s criminal underworld. - Peru’s sexual assault of Lula, as well as his cruel manipulation of Sailor, emphasizes his disturbing, animalistic spirit and his total lack of concern for others.
David Lynch is certainly not the first filmmaker to incorporate surrealist imagery and themes into his films, as this style of arthouse cinema was lionized by Alejandro Jodorowsky and Ingmar Bergman in the previous decades. However, Lynch has certainly made surrealism an essential part of his filmography, as he seems to enjoy telling ambiguous stories that are left to the audience to interpret. Lynch’s films may take multiple viewings to fully comprehend, but he certainly has been able to clearly define good and evil in his existential narratives. While there’s been no shortage of memorable antagonists in his work, Willem Dafoe’s performance as Bobby Peru in Wild at Heart is the most horrific antagonist in any of Lynch’s films.
Wild at Heart
Young lovers Sailor and Lula run from the variety of weirdos that Lula’s mom has hired to kill Sailor.
- Release Date
- August 17, 1990
- Director
- David Lynch
- Cast
- Nicolas Cage , Laura Dern , Willem Dafoe , J.E. Freeman , Crispin Glover , Diane Ladd , Calvin Lockhart , Isabella Rossellini
- Runtime
- 125 Minutes
- Writers
- Barry Gifford , David Lynch
What Is ‘Wild at Heart’ About?
While Eraserhead is a body horror classic and Blue Velvet is a sinister new take on the neo-noir genre, Wild at Heart is perhaps the most disturbing film in Lynch’s entire filmography, as it engages with the banality of evil in a way that’s merely hinted at in his other work. Set in the idealized heartland of the United States, the film centers on a Bonnie and Clyde-style road trip love story between the young lovers Sailor (Nicolas Cage) and Lula (Laura Dern). The two lovers have all the sincerity of a “Golden Age” Hollywood romance, but their lives are far from picture-perfect after Lula’s mother, Marietta Fortune (Diane Ladd), hires an assassin to kill Sailor. When Sailor kills him in self-defense, he is sent to prison. After he is released, he and Lula decide to flee to California in hopes of escaping the horrors of their collective past.
The inherent tragedy of Wild at Heart is that the compassion that Lula and Sailor have for each other is constantly thwarted by the evil in the world that surrounds them. Throughout their road trip adventure, they’re constantly met with seedy and unscrupulous figures that attempt to take advantage of their innocence. None of Wild at Heart’s villains are quite as memorable as Peru, a career criminal who preys upon the unsuspecting residents of Big Tuna, Texas. Shortly after meeting the two protagonists at a pool party, Peru viciously assaults Lula in her bedroom. It’s a horrifically depicted sequence in which Dafoe’s malevolent grin somehow makes it more disturbing. He captures an animalistic, demented spirit within Peru that certainly ranks as one of his greatest performances.
This Dreamlike Documentary Is the Closest You’ll Get To Understanding David Lynch
“I had this idea that you drink coffee, you smoke cigarettes, and you paint, and that’s it.”
Despite his egregious actions towards Lula, Peru persists in Sailor’s life by convincing him to join him in a robbery. What’s disturbing about the sequence isn’t Peru’s vindictiveness, but Sailor’s ignorance. It’s evident that Sailor thought that the attempted heist would be a simple one, as he is shocked when Peru turns it into a violent exchange when he mercilessly shoots two clerks. Dafoe perfectly captures Peru’s manipulative qualities, showing how easy it is for criminals like him to get accomplices to act against their better judgments. The sequence is also evident in the role violence plays in Wild at Heart. While Sailor is horrified by the prospect of killing innocent people, the violent reaction was simply second nature for Peru. He’s become so used to killing that he has effectively become desensitized to his own wickedness.
Bobby Peru Thwarts the Love Story in ‘Wild at Heart’
Narratively, Wild at Heart is one of Lynch’s least confusing movies; while there is a predominance of allusions to symbols of American iconography (most notably The Wizard of Oz and the music of Elvis Presley), the film is told heavily in chronological order. However, Lynch does include flashbacks that reveal why Peru’s appearance is so traumatic to Lula. Peru’s attack on Lula reminds her of the abuse she suffered as a child, bringing back memories that she has long since suppressed. His emergence as a prominent figure within her life forces her to reflect upon the horrible way her family treated her assault, and how she’s never been able to speak her truth.
Similarly, Peru is responsible for bringing out a violent side within Sailor. While Sailor is occasionally characterized as being outwardly aggressive, the violence he commits is never malicious in nature; it is generally his intention to protect Lula and defend his honor. However, Peru manages to corrupt Sailor’s behavior and prove to him that violence is necessary to survive within the dangerous world that they inhabit. It’s only after Sailor has joined forces with Peru that he realizes that his new ally has been hired to kill him. Cage’s horrified reaction is one of his greatest moments of acting. While Peru’s efforts are thwarted, he has a lasting impact on Sailor’s life; Sailor is forced into prison for six years, which only solidifies his divide with Lula.
Bobby Peru Is Unique Among David Lynch’s Villains
Lynch’s villains are often highly metaphorical figments of evil that aren’t intended to be “realistic” in the strictest sense. Whether it’s the evil spirit of Frank Silva’s BOB in the Twin Peaks universe or Robert Blake’s enigmatic “Mystery Man” in Lost Highway, Lynch’s most terrifying characters seem to operate within a completely different plane of existence. However, Peru is intended to be a legitimate representation of the seedy underbelly of America’s criminal underworld. There’s nothing sensationalized or superficial about Dafoe’s performance; he feels like a real criminal who is defined by his selfishness.
Wild at Heart may be one of Lynch’s most disturbing movies, but it’s also one of his most emotional. It’s empowering to see Sailor and Lula arise from their unfortunate circumstances to find love within each other, but the central romance in Wild at Heart is only effective because of villains as evil as Peru. It’s certainly not the first time Dafoe has sunk his teeth into playing a villainous figure, but Peru may be the most nauseatingly cruel character he has ever portrayed.
Wild at Heart is available to stream on Apple TV+ in the U.S.
This article was originally published on collider.com