The City of Absurdity: David Lynch's The Amputee


			David Lynch's The Amputee 1974

Written and Directed by David Lynch
Cinematography by Herb Cardwell
Starring Catherine Coulson (Woman), David Lynch (Doctor)
Running Time 5 minutes

About the Film

When Lynch attended the AFI he made a short film entitled The Amputee. It is also listed in his Coffee Table Book IMAGES.

His friend Fred Elmes – with whom he was working on Eraserhead – had to test the quality of some new film material. Lynch persuaded Elmes to let him direct a short film: The Amputee. It showed a woman (Catherine Coulson) without legs on a chair writing a letter and a male nurse (David Lynch) bandaging her stumps.

When the AFI executives saw the short film instead of test pictures, according to an anecdote, one of them said that only "that Lynch" can be responsible for that.

The Amputee was also the name of a project Catherine Coulson (the Log Lady from Twin Peaks) said she and Lynch were working on in May '93:

One upcoming project once again pairs Coulson with Lynch, this time with both of them in front of the camera. "David and I are acting in a project called 'The Amputee.' I can't say anymore, because I want it to be a surprise."
(excerpt from: LOGGING IN: Log Lady Catherine E. Coulson talks about David Lynch's 'Twin Peaks' and San Jose Rep's 'Rumor' San Jose Metro, May 20-26, 1993)

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