The film in which the true portraits of Laura Palmer are brought to light; this is the viewers chance, after having seen the series which surround themselves around the murdered Miss Twin Peaks, to finally experience for themselves the essence and character of Laura Palmer through the events which take place in the last seven days prior to her death. The film, like most elements in David Lynch's work, presents a completely opposite painting to that of the series; whilst the latter certainly delves into the bizarre and obscure world of David Lynch's quintessential style, it would seem that Fire Walk With Me is a complete immersion into film noire, with its almost constant juxtapositions and movements between the two Lodges [the Black Lodge Vs The White Lodge], as well as the dark curtain which seems to hand over the eye through which the viewer watchers. As David Lynch put it: "There's less humour in this film, because the story gets heavy after a while. Humour has a place in a picture, but you have to know sort of intuitively where that place is and where it isn't." And perhaps elucidating the pervalent, ambiguous mystique within the film, he adds: "I think humour is like electricity. You work with it but you don't understand how it works. It's an enigma."

The setting in the film begins the day of the discovery of Teresa Banks' body in Washington State, exactly a year prior to the discovery of Laura Palmer's body in the nearby town of Twin Peaks. FBI Special Agent Chester Desmond and his forensics assistant, Sam Stanley are assigned to investigating the case, and visit the local town which poses a direct nemesis to the town of Twin Peaks, both in venues and characters. Following the findings of several key clues, the setting switches to Gordon Cole's office in Bend, Oregon upon which the disappearance of Chester Desmond is confirmed. The strange mystery of Philip Jeffries is introduced in a memorable but satirical scene involving FBI Special Agent Dale Cooper; the latter predicts another murder, at which point the film moves to nearly a year later, introducing the viewer to Laura Palmer, a teenage high school girl in the town of Twin Peaks, inviting a perspective on the last drug-fueled, down-ward spiraling seven last days of her life. The remarkably filmed apocalyptic scene of her death, and consequent heavenly redemption (?) in the Black Lodge mark the end of the film, poignantly drawing the scene to a close inside the curtained confines of the Red Room.

Fire Walk With Me was expected to joyfully explain all the loose ends and mysteries created by the series, most poignantly to the public which seemed to criticize the series whilst all the while remaining hooked, yet as a world-wide release, was received very negatively. If the public criticism was vast in regards to the series, Twin Peaks, then it was unrestrained in regards to Fire Walk With Me. Nevertheless, as with all things unpleasant to the general populous, and ironically, as with the prevalent double twists in David Lynch's work, Fire Walk With Me has been more than embraced by the cult movement born with the arrival of the series. It is an irony that the public which demanded explanations to the several plots dancing in the TV series created the very intense backlash upon the release of Fire Walk With Me, which elucidated many of the mysteries and unknowns yet did so with a flourish of Lynchian style that it ultimately posed too intellectual for the majority of its viewers.

The release of Fire Walk With Me is the crowning of the Queen (pardon the pun) in the artistic kingdom of Twin Peaks, and although those who truly embraced the series, who had read the books, plotted along, and generally formed an accurate portrayal of the events prior to the Twin Peaks pilot episode, did not need a film in the sense that the story line was already known, it was nevertheless much appreciated. There is nothing more satisfying to be able to appreciate a work of art, publicly shunned, with the knowledge that the negative reception allows for a much richer audience to embrace it.