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This has been among my favorite films of all time ever since I first watched it. It's easily my favorite Lynch film and, though I’ve seen most of his filmography since then, its throne has yet to be stolen. A while ago on the Rotten Tomatoes forums, I wrote an analysis on it, and since I saved it on Google Drive all these years, I finally decided to edit and repost it.
Also, major spoiler warning (duh).
The movie starts off with a bizarre sex scene between Henry and Mary. We first see Henry floating through space before it cuts to a barren planet. Eventually, the film focuses on a small house on the planet, where a man can be seen pulling levers. This man comes back a few times in the film and, from what we see in the film, he’s meant to be Henry’s conscience and the planet is a representation of Henry’s mind. The levers he pulls control Henry and tell him what to do. After the man pulls one of the levers, a sperm comes out of Henry’s mouth and lands in a small puddle below, which represents Mary’s egg. This is clearly a sex metaphor. The final shot shows something moving out of a dark hole into light, likely representing Mary giving birth to their child.
The next scene shows Henry walking through what appears to be a post-apocalyptic and somewhat barren landscape of Earth. Personally, I have two different ways to interpret that. The first and more straightforward interpretation is that Henry actually does live in an industrialism-filled post-apocalyptic setting and that the shots of the city are meant to be taken at face value. This would perhaps explain why their child is deformed, as if its appearance is a consequence of their living conditions.
My second interpretation though is that the world actually isn’t in this post-apocalyptic state and this is simply how Henry views the world. If he finds his living conditions and his baby unpleasant, that’s how they appear to him and, in turn, we’re seeing the film from his perspective. Personally, I like this interpretation more, but for the heck of it, I’ll look at several scenes of this film through both these interpretations.
During a shot in this scene, Henry accidentally steps in a puddle and gets his socks and shoes wet on one foot. Seeing this, you can’t help but recall the puddle during the sex scene in the opening. Given that Henry grows to dislike his baby later on in the film, I think this scene is foreshadowing that his relationship with Mary and giving birth to their baby will cause nothing but trouble for him.
Henry then arrives at his apartment. He checks his mailbox but finds nothing there. I’ll elaborate on this interpretation later on, but for now, I’ll state that the mailbox represents Henry’s sexual desires. When he checks it for the first time, he doesn’t find anything there as, since he’s yet to resent Mary and their baby, nothing specific is on his mind.
Henry then enters an elevator where the doors take a considerably long time to close. This is a great shot which represents Henry’s alienation from his environment better than most other shots in the film. While we get shots of industrialization encompassing practically the entire city and virtually no plants surviving in that environment, those shots never signify that the dreamscape Lynch crafts here has anything to do with our own reality. The shot of the elevator though feels relatable since it allows for some feelings of reality to seep into the film. It portrays Henry as helpless and surrounded by various human constructions.
Right before Henry goes into his room, he has a run-in with his neighbor who appears to be sexually attracted to him. Henry doesn’t feel much towards her at the moment, but as the film goes on, he soon will.
When Henry enters his room, the first thing he hears is the sound of his radiator blowing fairly loudly. Like the elevator scene, this also portrays him as helpless and surrounded by various things which interfere with his well being. Some of the film’s sound design and pacing choices should be all too familiar to those who experience loneliness.
There are two things in his hotel room worth noting. The first object is a picture of a nuclear bomb and the second object is a dying plant.
Using the post-apocalyptic interpretation, the picture could be evidence that much of earth as wiped out in a nuclear war of some kind, thus explaining why very few people seem to be around and why Henry’s and Mary’s baby looks as deformed as it does (again, I prefer the Henry’s POV interpretation over the post-apocalyptic one, but I think the picture clearly gives more evidence to the former interpretation rather than the latter one)..
The dying plant in Henry’s room is a fairly straightforward representation of the film’s industrialization themes. From what we see of the few plants visible in the film, it’s clear that virtually all plant life in the area has been replaced by human construction. A couple more dying plants are present throughout the movie, and I'm going to point them out as they appear.
Another noteworthy shot occurs when Henry looks out his apartment window only to see a brick wall. This is another example of industrialization being a detriment to his happiness. This scene shows how industrialization has affected his life so much he can't even have the minor enjoyment of getting to look at a nice view outside his apartment window.
Henry begins walking over to Mary's house to visit her and her family. Along the way, he discovers dead plants outside her house. This is, of course, another example of plant life being replaced by human construction. That a nearby vent can be seen blowing steam on them makes this theme more profound.
When Henry enters Mary’s house and is introduced to her mother, he notices a mother dog feeding her puppies. Since the sound design of the mother dog feeding her puppies is uncomfortably loud (even when the camera isn’t focused on the dog), this sets an uncomfortable tone for the sex and parenthood themes of the film and foreshadows that Henry’s and Mary’s baby will cause nothing but trouble for them.
While talking to each other, Mary's mother and Henry have this following conversation:
Mary's mother: "What do you do?"
Henry: "I'm on vacation."
Mary's mother: "What did you do?"
After she says the last line, Mary starts undergoing some weird convulsions. The phrase "What did you do?" could take a double meaning which could perhaps explain her reaction. The line could also apply to how Henry and Mary had sex. Since they were trying to keep that a secret (as is shown after the dinner scene), it's possible Mary freaked out a bit as she was afraid their secret would be revealed. This interpretation may feel a bit like a stretch, but given that Mary’s mother discovers that they slept with each other later in this scene, I wouldn’t say it’s too farfetched.
Mary's dad comes in, and he begins to introduce himself to Henry. While doing so, a train comes by, slowly drowning out the sound of his voice until all you can hear is the sound of the train. This is another example of industrialization having a negative impact on the people in the film.
Mary’s father says that he built every pipe in town, albeit he injured his knees in the process. To recall a shot in the opening scene, a puddle represented Mary's egg. Later on in the film, you can see a leaking pipe outside of Henry's apartment which leads to a puddle down below. This is basically a complex way of saying that Mary’s father (symbolized by the leaky pipe) made Mary (symbolized by the puddle). Given that he injured his knees while designing the pipes though, it’s also possible he regrets having Mary, just like Henry will regret his baby later on in the film. After Mary’s father says this, Mary’s mother grows a bit agitated and tells him to stop talking, as if she picked up on him indirectly trashing Mary in front of Henry.
The scene cuts to the kitchen where we see someone who looks to be Mary's grandmother. A grandfather figure is not present in this scene. The grandmother is shown sitting still with a blank expression on her face and it looks as if she has given up on life. This could perhaps represent a few generations of parents failing their children (or spouses failing each other). This theme would, of course, apply to Henry and Mary.
Henry and Mary’s family then prepare to eat dinner together. The food they have is some sort of a weird miniature chicken. After Henry cuts into it, blood begins to flow out of it as Mary’s mother begins making some strange moaning noises before running into the kitchen distressed.
There are a few things to note from this scene. Firstly, given the post-apocalyptic interpretation, this could be a consequence to their environment since their food being deformed could be a consequence of their situation.
More importantly though, I think this scene foreshadows the ending. Given the shape of the chicken and the way the blood appears, it’s possible it represents Mary’s womb and that the blood coming out could represent how Henry eventually kills his baby. Another takeaway from this scene is how the two pronged fork Henry uses on the chicken could represent the scissors he uses on his baby in the ending. Also, given the aforementioned similarities the chicken shares with Mary’s womb, this scene further sets up an uncomfortable atmosphere for parenthood and further foreshadows how Henery’s and Mary’s baby will cause nothing but trouble for them.
Also, during the same scene, a lamp brightens up in the living room and then it goes out. Though this scene is less defined as the chicken, given that the same lighting effect is used when Henry kills his baby, this could be further foreshadowing for the ending.
Another big takeaway from the chicken scene, however, is the weird reaction Mary’s mother has to it by making a weird moaning sound over and over again before running away from the dining room in tears. It’s a bit harder to nail down what that’s a reference to, but if we’re sticking to the reading of the chicken representing Mary’s womb and that it foreshadows the ending (coupled with how she tells Henry she’s aware of their baby shortly afterwards), my best reading of her reaction is that she comes to a realization that Mary and Henry slept together and that Mary is pregnant. It’s obviously an over-the-top reaction, but given that bizarre behavior like this is commonplace for the film, I think this kind of reaction would be normal for the kind of film this is. As an aside, I also find this scene very funny.
When Mary’s mother comes back out of the kitchen, she tells Henry she knows about their baby, and she pressures for him to admit to having sex. She eventually kisses him and this clearly makes him feel uncomfortable to the point his nose begins bleeding, likely as a result of stress. This confirms she realized the two of them slept with each other during the chicken scene (she might’ve pressured Mary into admitting to it given she was crying upon exiting the kitchen). As for her kissing him, I don’t have too much of a solid explanation for why she does that so much as different implications for it, like her possibly attempting to seduce him and cheat on her husband. Like the shot of Mary’s grandmother, this further represents the theme of generations of parents failing their children, especially since Mary was right next to her when she kissed Henry. It also bears some similarities to how Henry eventually cheats on Mary.
As Mary’s mother walks back into the kitchen, Bill says "This dinner's getting mighty cold". Given the similarities the chicken has to Henry and Mary which I discussed earlier, that line could foreshadow how their relationship isn't going to last much longer or how Henry and Mary will grow to dislike their baby.
The film then cuts to Henry and Mary living in Henry’s apartment. Mary gave birth to their baby, which is living with them as well. As we see, their baby looks completely normal and is rather adorable to look at. Nah, I’m just kidding. It’s actually horrendously mutated and doesn’t appear to resemble a human in any way.
Using the post-apocalyptic interpretation, it’s possible that there might’ve been a nuclear fallout of some kind and long-term exposure to radiation modified Mary’s reproductive system so that she would give birth to it.
However, to use the interpretation I gave near the start of this analysis when discussing the city Henry lives in, it’s also possible that his baby isn’t actually deformed and looks the way it does because Henry doesn’t like it. If Henry considers his baby to be an abomination, then we’ll be seeing the baby from his perspective, just like how we see the barren city he lives in from his perspective as well.
Henry checks the mailbox (which I said represents his sexual desires) and finds a small box with a weird worm-like figure in it. He puts it in his pocket and when Mary later asks him if there was any mail, he lies and says "No". Henry is clearly having some vague thoughts about cheating on Mary to escape from his situation with her and his mutated baby (these thoughts will grow stronger throughout the film). This also foreshadows how Henry eventually has an affair with his neighbor.
Later when Henry is alone in his apartment, he stares at his radiator when a light suddenly turns on inside it. We then move inside the radiator to see a small stage. This scene ends rather abruptly though as he’s pulled back into reality as the sounds of his radiator are overtaken by the sounds of his baby crying, the first of several indications that his baby will impede his happiness and freedom.
That night, while Henry and Mary are sleeping together, their baby cries nonstop, resulting in Mary growing frustrated and storming out of Henry’s apartment. Their baby is already having a negative impact on both their lives and is also creating conflict amongst the two of them.
Now alone, Henry stashes away the worm-like creature he received in the mail. His baby soon becomes sick, requiring him to remain around it. He attempts to leave his apartment, but his baby’s constant crying prevents him from doing so. This is another indication that his baby is impeding his happiness and freedom.
Henry later lies down on his bed, where he stares at his radiator again. We then move inside the radiator again to see the stage again. We then see a woman standing on the stage who represents Henry’s ultimate sexual fantasy. She’s visibly happy and she’s beautiful (to him). She can also be seen destroying sperm, perhaps indicating she doesn’t like the idea of being a parent. Given Henry’s current situation with Mary and his baby, she’s exactly the kind of person he desires.
We return back to reality where Henry and Mary are sleeping together. She’s tossing and turning quite a bit and doing other various annoying things which prevent Henry from getting any sleep. It’s clear he’s growing less fond of her. He tries to get her to move over, but when he does so, he finds sperm in his bed sheets, indicating the theater scene was a wet dream, thus confirming it as representing his sexual fantasies.
We see the worm-like creature Henry got in the mail come alive and crawl onto the planet (which, as I said at the start of this analysis, represents Henry's mind). It keeps on growing bigger and bigger until it opens up and the camera moves inside it. Since its purpose is to represent Henry’s sexual desires, this is foreshadowing Henry's affair with his neighbor. While he may have been able to control his sexual desires prior to this scene, they’re now too strong for him to handle.
The depiction of the affair is rather bizarre. When Henry’s neighbor first enters his room and they begin talking, Henry’s baby briefly begins crying before Henry holds its mouth shut. When they make love, they can be seen kissing in a puddle. It’s easy to notice parallels between the puddle in this scene with the one in the opening, especially since both occur during lovemaking scenes. She briefly looks away and sees Henry’s mutant child in the background. Though her reaction to it can be interpreted in different ways, I think she looks slightly disturbed by seeing it. They slowly start to sink into the puddle until you can only see Henry's neighbor's hair. Before her hair can sink into the puddle as well though, the shot cuts away, as if they almost had sex but that she chose to back out at the last second (perhaps after noticing his baby). This reading is further backed up by the shot of two pools of white liquid separating from each other that occurs directly afterwards.
Another brief scene which occurs right afterwards shows a shot of Henry’s neighbor surrounded in darkness. The scene briefly cuts to the planet (which, again, represents Henry’s mind) before cutting back to her. This time, however, she looks slightly disturbed before disappearing into the darkness. It’s clear that Henry’s attempt to start an affair with her didn’t work out since she lost interest in him while they made love, partly due to the presence of Henry’s child.
The film then cuts to my favorite scene in the film, which is the lady in the radiator singing. Here are the two lyrics to the song she sings:
In heaven, everything is fine.
You got your good things, and I got mine.
I don’t think the lyrics literally refer to heaven, but I do think they show that Henry feels at heaven with her. She gives him a strong feeling of euphoria that he hasn’t been able to get at any other point in the film, neither with Mary nor his neighbor.
Henry joins her on stage, but his time with her is short-lived. The radiator lady gets replaced by the man with the levers we saw in the opening scene who represents Henry’s conscience. Since he still has control over him, he’s there to indicate to him that indulging in these sexual fantasies isn’t okay.
A tree comes out of the shadows, and Henry retreats into the corner as a long, phallic-like object decapitates him. His head lands in the middle of the room. Blood flows out of the tree and surrounds his head. His baby's head comes out of his body, and it cries louder and louder until its voice echoes and grows more and more distorted. His sexual fantasy has now turned into a nightmare. This scene represents how all hopes of him ever finding true happiness have been erased. Both his baby and his conscience have control over him and will shut down any attempts of his to escape from his situation.
Henry's head sinks into the blood, and we return to the "real" world where his head falls down to the streets below. However, I use the word "real" very loosely. A young boy picks his head up and takes it into a shop where a few men drill into his head, and use it to create erasers for pencils by putting it into some sort of a contraption. One of the men takes one of the pencils, scribbles on a piece of paper, erases it, and wipes the eraser shavings away as they ominously float away in the darkness and fade into Henry’s head.
This is the most confusing scene in the film for a few reasons. For instance, it’s unclear what this scene is supposed to represent. It doesn’t appear to be part of his sexual fantasy, nor does it appear to be a dream, nightmare, hallucination, etc. Rather, it’s a very strange and indescribable scene. Admittedly, it took me a while before I was able to think of an interpretation to this scene I was satisfied with. In fact, according to David Lynch himself, nobody has ever told him an interpretation for this scene which is correct.
My reading for this scene is pretty straightforward, and I also think it reveals the meaning of the film’s title. The significance of the title “Eraserhead” is that Henry wishes to remove his child from his life (or erase it entirely). At this point, however, he’s unable to do it anymore since his conscience stopped him from doing so and has fully worn him down (in terms of eraser metaphors, you could say his eraser is fully worn down at this point). Now, he’s unable to erase his child from his life and is stuck with it. However, the people at the pencil machine seem to be recycling his head in order to make new pencils. In other words, they’re restoring his ability to get rid of his son, or from what we see at the end of the film, making him emotionally able to kill his son. The eraser shavings fading into his head at the end of this sequence confirm that he can now get rid of his son once and for all, should he decide to do it.
We finally return back to the real-world where Henry knocks on his neighbor's door to see if she's home. When she doesn’t answer, his child laughs at him, almost as if it’s mocking him. Tensions between the two of them are beginning to grow at this point.
Henry briefly lies down on his bed, but he then hears movement out in the hallway. He opens the door to see that his neighbor is with another man. It's obvious she's about to have sex with the man and that she has lost interest in Henry. When she looks at Henry, his head is briefly replaced with his son's head for a couple seconds. This shot could indicate that she’s unable to look at him anymore without thinking of his abomination of a child, giving that she caught a glimpse of his child while they were making love.
Saddened, Henry closes his door, and sits down on the floor in defeat. Henry looks at the radiator (where the radiator lady lives) and then at his baby (the one who’s been causing most of his problems). He’s clearly angry.
From what I’ve read, a common reading of the film’s ending is that Henry commits suicide and is reunited with the radiator lady in heaven. Though it seems like this at first, this isn’t my reading of the ending. Here’s my interpretation of the final scene:
In the most disturbing scene in the film, he brutally murders his baby by cutting it up with a pair of scissors. White fluid squirts out of his baby as he stabs it. He then backs off into a corner as the baby mutates into different sizes. Its neck extends and a white substance begins to ooze out of it. In regards to the mutations, I don’t have too much of a solid explanation for why it does that, but if we’re using the reading that Henry’s baby isn’t actually deformed and we’re just seeing it from Henry’s perspective, a similar reading could be applied to this scene since Henry seemed disturbed after he fatally stabbed it. And if he’s disturbed by what he’s done, the baby could be depicted as disturbing as well (again, from his perspective). Right before this scene ends, we see a close-up of a light increase in brightness and go out (this is the shot which the light at the dinner scene foreshadowed which I was talking about earlier). Though it looks as if Henry was horrified by what he did, the next couple minutes suggest otherwise.
The film cuts to a shot of Henry’s conscience (again represented by the planet) as a chunk breaks off of it. Amidst this, the film briefly cuts to a shot of Henry with some eraser shavings in the background, which I think represent the last remnants of his son since he’s about to be removed from his life altogether. The shot switches back to the planet as another piece breaks off of it. The film then cuts back to Henry, but this time, the eraser shavings are absent. His son has now been erased from his mind once and for all. We move inside the hole in the planet to see Henry’s conscience try in vain to pull one of the levers. Henry’s conscience is no longer able to control what Henry does.
The final shot shows Henry hugging the lady in the radiator. With his conscience unable to stop him and with his son dead, there’s nobody left to stop Henry from indulging in his sexual fantasies with her and, in a very bizarre way, he’s finally found way to experience happiness.
As for the reading that Henry kills himself, while Henry was certainly going through a lot of issues in the film, I didn’t ever get the impression that he was contemplating suicide, so I’m not a fan of that reading, personally. I like this one much better.
Now, to briefly summarize everything which happened in the movie: Henry Spencer has sex with his girlfriend, Mary. He also lives in a dull, industrialism filled city which may only look that way because that’s the way he views it. He then goes over to Mary's family's house for dinner. While there, Mary's mother grows suspicious of Henry throughout the evening and realizes he had sex with Mary. After some time, he lives at home with Mary and their baby. After a little while, Henry becomes attracted to a lady in his radiator, who represent his sexual fantasies. As a result, he slowly falls out of love with Mary. He has an unsuccessful affair with his neighbor and then gets to meet the radiator lady. His conscience suddenly appears though to reprimand him and render him powerless against his son. His head then falls down to the streets below where it's made into pencil erasers, thus restoring his ability to erase/kill his son. Upset at discovering his neighbor lost interest in him, he kills his baby, thereby stopping his conscience from being able to control him anymore. Now he gets to indulge in his sexual fantasies with the radiator lady as much as he likes.
Also, major spoiler warning (duh).
The movie starts off with a bizarre sex scene between Henry and Mary. We first see Henry floating through space before it cuts to a barren planet. Eventually, the film focuses on a small house on the planet, where a man can be seen pulling levers. This man comes back a few times in the film and, from what we see in the film, he’s meant to be Henry’s conscience and the planet is a representation of Henry’s mind. The levers he pulls control Henry and tell him what to do. After the man pulls one of the levers, a sperm comes out of Henry’s mouth and lands in a small puddle below, which represents Mary’s egg. This is clearly a sex metaphor. The final shot shows something moving out of a dark hole into light, likely representing Mary giving birth to their child.
The next scene shows Henry walking through what appears to be a post-apocalyptic and somewhat barren landscape of Earth. Personally, I have two different ways to interpret that. The first and more straightforward interpretation is that Henry actually does live in an industrialism-filled post-apocalyptic setting and that the shots of the city are meant to be taken at face value. This would perhaps explain why their child is deformed, as if its appearance is a consequence of their living conditions.
My second interpretation though is that the world actually isn’t in this post-apocalyptic state and this is simply how Henry views the world. If he finds his living conditions and his baby unpleasant, that’s how they appear to him and, in turn, we’re seeing the film from his perspective. Personally, I like this interpretation more, but for the heck of it, I’ll look at several scenes of this film through both these interpretations.
During a shot in this scene, Henry accidentally steps in a puddle and gets his socks and shoes wet on one foot. Seeing this, you can’t help but recall the puddle during the sex scene in the opening. Given that Henry grows to dislike his baby later on in the film, I think this scene is foreshadowing that his relationship with Mary and giving birth to their baby will cause nothing but trouble for him.
Henry then arrives at his apartment. He checks his mailbox but finds nothing there. I’ll elaborate on this interpretation later on, but for now, I’ll state that the mailbox represents Henry’s sexual desires. When he checks it for the first time, he doesn’t find anything there as, since he’s yet to resent Mary and their baby, nothing specific is on his mind.
Henry then enters an elevator where the doors take a considerably long time to close. This is a great shot which represents Henry’s alienation from his environment better than most other shots in the film. While we get shots of industrialization encompassing practically the entire city and virtually no plants surviving in that environment, those shots never signify that the dreamscape Lynch crafts here has anything to do with our own reality. The shot of the elevator though feels relatable since it allows for some feelings of reality to seep into the film. It portrays Henry as helpless and surrounded by various human constructions.
Right before Henry goes into his room, he has a run-in with his neighbor who appears to be sexually attracted to him. Henry doesn’t feel much towards her at the moment, but as the film goes on, he soon will.
When Henry enters his room, the first thing he hears is the sound of his radiator blowing fairly loudly. Like the elevator scene, this also portrays him as helpless and surrounded by various things which interfere with his well being. Some of the film’s sound design and pacing choices should be all too familiar to those who experience loneliness.
There are two things in his hotel room worth noting. The first object is a picture of a nuclear bomb and the second object is a dying plant.
Using the post-apocalyptic interpretation, the picture could be evidence that much of earth as wiped out in a nuclear war of some kind, thus explaining why very few people seem to be around and why Henry’s and Mary’s baby looks as deformed as it does (again, I prefer the Henry’s POV interpretation over the post-apocalyptic one, but I think the picture clearly gives more evidence to the former interpretation rather than the latter one)..
The dying plant in Henry’s room is a fairly straightforward representation of the film’s industrialization themes. From what we see of the few plants visible in the film, it’s clear that virtually all plant life in the area has been replaced by human construction. A couple more dying plants are present throughout the movie, and I'm going to point them out as they appear.
Another noteworthy shot occurs when Henry looks out his apartment window only to see a brick wall. This is another example of industrialization being a detriment to his happiness. This scene shows how industrialization has affected his life so much he can't even have the minor enjoyment of getting to look at a nice view outside his apartment window.
Henry begins walking over to Mary's house to visit her and her family. Along the way, he discovers dead plants outside her house. This is, of course, another example of plant life being replaced by human construction. That a nearby vent can be seen blowing steam on them makes this theme more profound.
When Henry enters Mary’s house and is introduced to her mother, he notices a mother dog feeding her puppies. Since the sound design of the mother dog feeding her puppies is uncomfortably loud (even when the camera isn’t focused on the dog), this sets an uncomfortable tone for the sex and parenthood themes of the film and foreshadows that Henry’s and Mary’s baby will cause nothing but trouble for them.
While talking to each other, Mary's mother and Henry have this following conversation:
Mary's mother: "What do you do?"
Henry: "I'm on vacation."
Mary's mother: "What did you do?"
After she says the last line, Mary starts undergoing some weird convulsions. The phrase "What did you do?" could take a double meaning which could perhaps explain her reaction. The line could also apply to how Henry and Mary had sex. Since they were trying to keep that a secret (as is shown after the dinner scene), it's possible Mary freaked out a bit as she was afraid their secret would be revealed. This interpretation may feel a bit like a stretch, but given that Mary’s mother discovers that they slept with each other later in this scene, I wouldn’t say it’s too farfetched.
Mary's dad comes in, and he begins to introduce himself to Henry. While doing so, a train comes by, slowly drowning out the sound of his voice until all you can hear is the sound of the train. This is another example of industrialization having a negative impact on the people in the film.
Mary’s father says that he built every pipe in town, albeit he injured his knees in the process. To recall a shot in the opening scene, a puddle represented Mary's egg. Later on in the film, you can see a leaking pipe outside of Henry's apartment which leads to a puddle down below. This is basically a complex way of saying that Mary’s father (symbolized by the leaky pipe) made Mary (symbolized by the puddle). Given that he injured his knees while designing the pipes though, it’s also possible he regrets having Mary, just like Henry will regret his baby later on in the film. After Mary’s father says this, Mary’s mother grows a bit agitated and tells him to stop talking, as if she picked up on him indirectly trashing Mary in front of Henry.
The scene cuts to the kitchen where we see someone who looks to be Mary's grandmother. A grandfather figure is not present in this scene. The grandmother is shown sitting still with a blank expression on her face and it looks as if she has given up on life. This could perhaps represent a few generations of parents failing their children (or spouses failing each other). This theme would, of course, apply to Henry and Mary.
Henry and Mary’s family then prepare to eat dinner together. The food they have is some sort of a weird miniature chicken. After Henry cuts into it, blood begins to flow out of it as Mary’s mother begins making some strange moaning noises before running into the kitchen distressed.
There are a few things to note from this scene. Firstly, given the post-apocalyptic interpretation, this could be a consequence to their environment since their food being deformed could be a consequence of their situation.
More importantly though, I think this scene foreshadows the ending. Given the shape of the chicken and the way the blood appears, it’s possible it represents Mary’s womb and that the blood coming out could represent how Henry eventually kills his baby. Another takeaway from this scene is how the two pronged fork Henry uses on the chicken could represent the scissors he uses on his baby in the ending. Also, given the aforementioned similarities the chicken shares with Mary’s womb, this scene further sets up an uncomfortable atmosphere for parenthood and further foreshadows how Henery’s and Mary’s baby will cause nothing but trouble for them.
Also, during the same scene, a lamp brightens up in the living room and then it goes out. Though this scene is less defined as the chicken, given that the same lighting effect is used when Henry kills his baby, this could be further foreshadowing for the ending.
Another big takeaway from the chicken scene, however, is the weird reaction Mary’s mother has to it by making a weird moaning sound over and over again before running away from the dining room in tears. It’s a bit harder to nail down what that’s a reference to, but if we’re sticking to the reading of the chicken representing Mary’s womb and that it foreshadows the ending (coupled with how she tells Henry she’s aware of their baby shortly afterwards), my best reading of her reaction is that she comes to a realization that Mary and Henry slept together and that Mary is pregnant. It’s obviously an over-the-top reaction, but given that bizarre behavior like this is commonplace for the film, I think this kind of reaction would be normal for the kind of film this is. As an aside, I also find this scene very funny.
When Mary’s mother comes back out of the kitchen, she tells Henry she knows about their baby, and she pressures for him to admit to having sex. She eventually kisses him and this clearly makes him feel uncomfortable to the point his nose begins bleeding, likely as a result of stress. This confirms she realized the two of them slept with each other during the chicken scene (she might’ve pressured Mary into admitting to it given she was crying upon exiting the kitchen). As for her kissing him, I don’t have too much of a solid explanation for why she does that so much as different implications for it, like her possibly attempting to seduce him and cheat on her husband. Like the shot of Mary’s grandmother, this further represents the theme of generations of parents failing their children, especially since Mary was right next to her when she kissed Henry. It also bears some similarities to how Henry eventually cheats on Mary.
As Mary’s mother walks back into the kitchen, Bill says "This dinner's getting mighty cold". Given the similarities the chicken has to Henry and Mary which I discussed earlier, that line could foreshadow how their relationship isn't going to last much longer or how Henry and Mary will grow to dislike their baby.
The film then cuts to Henry and Mary living in Henry’s apartment. Mary gave birth to their baby, which is living with them as well. As we see, their baby looks completely normal and is rather adorable to look at. Nah, I’m just kidding. It’s actually horrendously mutated and doesn’t appear to resemble a human in any way.
Using the post-apocalyptic interpretation, it’s possible that there might’ve been a nuclear fallout of some kind and long-term exposure to radiation modified Mary’s reproductive system so that she would give birth to it.
However, to use the interpretation I gave near the start of this analysis when discussing the city Henry lives in, it’s also possible that his baby isn’t actually deformed and looks the way it does because Henry doesn’t like it. If Henry considers his baby to be an abomination, then we’ll be seeing the baby from his perspective, just like how we see the barren city he lives in from his perspective as well.
Henry checks the mailbox (which I said represents his sexual desires) and finds a small box with a weird worm-like figure in it. He puts it in his pocket and when Mary later asks him if there was any mail, he lies and says "No". Henry is clearly having some vague thoughts about cheating on Mary to escape from his situation with her and his mutated baby (these thoughts will grow stronger throughout the film). This also foreshadows how Henry eventually has an affair with his neighbor.
Later when Henry is alone in his apartment, he stares at his radiator when a light suddenly turns on inside it. We then move inside the radiator to see a small stage. This scene ends rather abruptly though as he’s pulled back into reality as the sounds of his radiator are overtaken by the sounds of his baby crying, the first of several indications that his baby will impede his happiness and freedom.
That night, while Henry and Mary are sleeping together, their baby cries nonstop, resulting in Mary growing frustrated and storming out of Henry’s apartment. Their baby is already having a negative impact on both their lives and is also creating conflict amongst the two of them.
Now alone, Henry stashes away the worm-like creature he received in the mail. His baby soon becomes sick, requiring him to remain around it. He attempts to leave his apartment, but his baby’s constant crying prevents him from doing so. This is another indication that his baby is impeding his happiness and freedom.
Henry later lies down on his bed, where he stares at his radiator again. We then move inside the radiator again to see the stage again. We then see a woman standing on the stage who represents Henry’s ultimate sexual fantasy. She’s visibly happy and she’s beautiful (to him). She can also be seen destroying sperm, perhaps indicating she doesn’t like the idea of being a parent. Given Henry’s current situation with Mary and his baby, she’s exactly the kind of person he desires.
We return back to reality where Henry and Mary are sleeping together. She’s tossing and turning quite a bit and doing other various annoying things which prevent Henry from getting any sleep. It’s clear he’s growing less fond of her. He tries to get her to move over, but when he does so, he finds sperm in his bed sheets, indicating the theater scene was a wet dream, thus confirming it as representing his sexual fantasies.
We see the worm-like creature Henry got in the mail come alive and crawl onto the planet (which, as I said at the start of this analysis, represents Henry's mind). It keeps on growing bigger and bigger until it opens up and the camera moves inside it. Since its purpose is to represent Henry’s sexual desires, this is foreshadowing Henry's affair with his neighbor. While he may have been able to control his sexual desires prior to this scene, they’re now too strong for him to handle.
The depiction of the affair is rather bizarre. When Henry’s neighbor first enters his room and they begin talking, Henry’s baby briefly begins crying before Henry holds its mouth shut. When they make love, they can be seen kissing in a puddle. It’s easy to notice parallels between the puddle in this scene with the one in the opening, especially since both occur during lovemaking scenes. She briefly looks away and sees Henry’s mutant child in the background. Though her reaction to it can be interpreted in different ways, I think she looks slightly disturbed by seeing it. They slowly start to sink into the puddle until you can only see Henry's neighbor's hair. Before her hair can sink into the puddle as well though, the shot cuts away, as if they almost had sex but that she chose to back out at the last second (perhaps after noticing his baby). This reading is further backed up by the shot of two pools of white liquid separating from each other that occurs directly afterwards.
Another brief scene which occurs right afterwards shows a shot of Henry’s neighbor surrounded in darkness. The scene briefly cuts to the planet (which, again, represents Henry’s mind) before cutting back to her. This time, however, she looks slightly disturbed before disappearing into the darkness. It’s clear that Henry’s attempt to start an affair with her didn’t work out since she lost interest in him while they made love, partly due to the presence of Henry’s child.
The film then cuts to my favorite scene in the film, which is the lady in the radiator singing. Here are the two lyrics to the song she sings:
In heaven, everything is fine.
You got your good things, and I got mine.
I don’t think the lyrics literally refer to heaven, but I do think they show that Henry feels at heaven with her. She gives him a strong feeling of euphoria that he hasn’t been able to get at any other point in the film, neither with Mary nor his neighbor.
Henry joins her on stage, but his time with her is short-lived. The radiator lady gets replaced by the man with the levers we saw in the opening scene who represents Henry’s conscience. Since he still has control over him, he’s there to indicate to him that indulging in these sexual fantasies isn’t okay.
A tree comes out of the shadows, and Henry retreats into the corner as a long, phallic-like object decapitates him. His head lands in the middle of the room. Blood flows out of the tree and surrounds his head. His baby's head comes out of his body, and it cries louder and louder until its voice echoes and grows more and more distorted. His sexual fantasy has now turned into a nightmare. This scene represents how all hopes of him ever finding true happiness have been erased. Both his baby and his conscience have control over him and will shut down any attempts of his to escape from his situation.
Henry's head sinks into the blood, and we return to the "real" world where his head falls down to the streets below. However, I use the word "real" very loosely. A young boy picks his head up and takes it into a shop where a few men drill into his head, and use it to create erasers for pencils by putting it into some sort of a contraption. One of the men takes one of the pencils, scribbles on a piece of paper, erases it, and wipes the eraser shavings away as they ominously float away in the darkness and fade into Henry’s head.
This is the most confusing scene in the film for a few reasons. For instance, it’s unclear what this scene is supposed to represent. It doesn’t appear to be part of his sexual fantasy, nor does it appear to be a dream, nightmare, hallucination, etc. Rather, it’s a very strange and indescribable scene. Admittedly, it took me a while before I was able to think of an interpretation to this scene I was satisfied with. In fact, according to David Lynch himself, nobody has ever told him an interpretation for this scene which is correct.
My reading for this scene is pretty straightforward, and I also think it reveals the meaning of the film’s title. The significance of the title “Eraserhead” is that Henry wishes to remove his child from his life (or erase it entirely). At this point, however, he’s unable to do it anymore since his conscience stopped him from doing so and has fully worn him down (in terms of eraser metaphors, you could say his eraser is fully worn down at this point). Now, he’s unable to erase his child from his life and is stuck with it. However, the people at the pencil machine seem to be recycling his head in order to make new pencils. In other words, they’re restoring his ability to get rid of his son, or from what we see at the end of the film, making him emotionally able to kill his son. The eraser shavings fading into his head at the end of this sequence confirm that he can now get rid of his son once and for all, should he decide to do it.
We finally return back to the real-world where Henry knocks on his neighbor's door to see if she's home. When she doesn’t answer, his child laughs at him, almost as if it’s mocking him. Tensions between the two of them are beginning to grow at this point.
Henry briefly lies down on his bed, but he then hears movement out in the hallway. He opens the door to see that his neighbor is with another man. It's obvious she's about to have sex with the man and that she has lost interest in Henry. When she looks at Henry, his head is briefly replaced with his son's head for a couple seconds. This shot could indicate that she’s unable to look at him anymore without thinking of his abomination of a child, giving that she caught a glimpse of his child while they were making love.
Saddened, Henry closes his door, and sits down on the floor in defeat. Henry looks at the radiator (where the radiator lady lives) and then at his baby (the one who’s been causing most of his problems). He’s clearly angry.
From what I’ve read, a common reading of the film’s ending is that Henry commits suicide and is reunited with the radiator lady in heaven. Though it seems like this at first, this isn’t my reading of the ending. Here’s my interpretation of the final scene:
In the most disturbing scene in the film, he brutally murders his baby by cutting it up with a pair of scissors. White fluid squirts out of his baby as he stabs it. He then backs off into a corner as the baby mutates into different sizes. Its neck extends and a white substance begins to ooze out of it. In regards to the mutations, I don’t have too much of a solid explanation for why it does that, but if we’re using the reading that Henry’s baby isn’t actually deformed and we’re just seeing it from Henry’s perspective, a similar reading could be applied to this scene since Henry seemed disturbed after he fatally stabbed it. And if he’s disturbed by what he’s done, the baby could be depicted as disturbing as well (again, from his perspective). Right before this scene ends, we see a close-up of a light increase in brightness and go out (this is the shot which the light at the dinner scene foreshadowed which I was talking about earlier). Though it looks as if Henry was horrified by what he did, the next couple minutes suggest otherwise.
The film cuts to a shot of Henry’s conscience (again represented by the planet) as a chunk breaks off of it. Amidst this, the film briefly cuts to a shot of Henry with some eraser shavings in the background, which I think represent the last remnants of his son since he’s about to be removed from his life altogether. The shot switches back to the planet as another piece breaks off of it. The film then cuts back to Henry, but this time, the eraser shavings are absent. His son has now been erased from his mind once and for all. We move inside the hole in the planet to see Henry’s conscience try in vain to pull one of the levers. Henry’s conscience is no longer able to control what Henry does.
The final shot shows Henry hugging the lady in the radiator. With his conscience unable to stop him and with his son dead, there’s nobody left to stop Henry from indulging in his sexual fantasies with her and, in a very bizarre way, he’s finally found way to experience happiness.
As for the reading that Henry kills himself, while Henry was certainly going through a lot of issues in the film, I didn’t ever get the impression that he was contemplating suicide, so I’m not a fan of that reading, personally. I like this one much better.
Now, to briefly summarize everything which happened in the movie: Henry Spencer has sex with his girlfriend, Mary. He also lives in a dull, industrialism filled city which may only look that way because that’s the way he views it. He then goes over to Mary's family's house for dinner. While there, Mary's mother grows suspicious of Henry throughout the evening and realizes he had sex with Mary. After some time, he lives at home with Mary and their baby. After a little while, Henry becomes attracted to a lady in his radiator, who represent his sexual fantasies. As a result, he slowly falls out of love with Mary. He has an unsuccessful affair with his neighbor and then gets to meet the radiator lady. His conscience suddenly appears though to reprimand him and render him powerless against his son. His head then falls down to the streets below where it's made into pencil erasers, thus restoring his ability to erase/kill his son. Upset at discovering his neighbor lost interest in him, he kills his baby, thereby stopping his conscience from being able to control him anymore. Now he gets to indulge in his sexual fantasies with the radiator lady as much as he likes.
