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The Dreamers (2004)
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Reviews Counted:150
Fresh:91
Rotten:59
Average Rating:6.2/10
Consensus: Though lushly atmospheric, The Dreamers doesn't engage or provoke as much as it should.
Runtime: 1 hr 55 mins
Genre: Dramas
Theatrical Release:Feb 6, 2004 Limited
Box Office: $2,299,636
Synopsis: Left alone in Paris whilst their parents are on holiday, Isabelle (Eva Green) and her brother Theo (Louis Garrel) invite Matthew (Michael Pitt), a young American student, to stay at their... Left alone in Paris whilst their parents are on holiday, Isabelle (Eva Green) and her brother Theo (Louis Garrel) invite Matthew (Michael Pitt), a young American student, to stay at their apartment. Here they make their own rules as they experiment with their emotions and sexuality while playing a series of increasingly demanding mind games. Set against the turbulent political backdrop of France in the spring of 1968 when the voice of youth was reverberating around Europe, THE DREAMERS is a story of self-discovery as the three students test each other to see just how far they will go. THE DREAMERS was helmed by Bernardo Bertolucci, whose THE LAST EMPEROR swept the 1987 Academy Awards garnering nine Oscars© including Best Director and Best Picture. It marks his third film shot in Paris, following THE CONFORMIST and the Oscar-nominated LAST TANGO IN PARIS. The screenplay, adapted for the screen from his original novel, is by English author and film critic Gilbert Adair. THE DREAMERS was produced by Jeremy Thomas (BROTHER, SEXY BEAST) who teamed with Bertolucci on THE LAST EMPEROR, THE SHELTERING SKY and LITTLE BUDDHA. THE DREAMERS strikes a personal chord for both Bertolucci and Adair, for although their paths never crossed, they were both living in Paris at the end of the 60s, experiencing the events against which the film is set. Their love of cinema took them to the birthplace of the Nouvelle Vague (New Wave), immersing them in a strong international cinema culture. "There was something magic in the 60s," Bertolucci recalls, "in that we were … well, let's use the word ‘dreaming'. We were fusing cinema, politics, music, jazz, rock ‘n roll, sex, philosophy." The film stars Michael Pitt, recently seen in the award-winning HEDWIG AND THE ANGRY INCH, (and with Sandra Bullock in MURDER BY NUMBERS), Eva Green in her feature film debut, and Louis Garrel, who previously appeared in Yolande Zauberman's LA GUERRE A PARIS. -- © Fox Searchlight [More]
Starring: Michael Pitt, Eva Green, Louis Garrel, Anna Chancellor
Starring: Michael Pitt, Eva Green, Louis Garrel, Anna Chancellor, Robin Renucci
Director: Bernardo Bertolucci
Director: Bernardo Bertolucci
Screenwriter: Gilbert Adair
Producer: Jeremy Thomas
Studio: Fox Searchlight Pictures
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Reviews for The Dreamers
As an erotic valentine to 1960s Paris, it's unlike anything else you are likely to find.
Bernardo Bertolucci's new film is an ardently romantic love song to sex, cinema and the spirit of the 60's.
At a reflective and still romantic 63, Mr. Bertolucci pays heartfelt hommage to Henri Langlois’ famous theater, Cinémathèque Française.
The Dreamers is an important film, if for no other reason than it finally offers a mature alternative for adult cinemagoers.
An ode to the kind of discerning, obsessive movie love that flourished at the time and has never been matched, before or since.
There is enough youthful energy and sexual tension to float The Dreamers along, although the film’s deeper potential and political context slip away.
Legendary director Bernardo Bertolucci ("1900") crafts a return to social revolt in the form of sexual pursuits by a trio of late '60s teenaged students in this engaging yet insufficient movie.
It's wonderful to see a film that takes back sex from the smutty teen comedies, that grapples with political ideas and shouts its love of cinema from the rooftops.
Watching The Dreamers is like receiving a present where the box is nicer than the contents.
The Dreamers is about three people dropping out of the world for a while, even as they imagine themselves an integral part of it.
There's no question about its desire to present a thoughtful exploration of links between political and sexual freedom in the fabled '60s.
Bertolucci pays affectionate homage to cinema, goofy youthful exuberance, romance, innocence and the student revolt of May '68.
Celebrates the feverish vitality of youth with sexually explicit candor.
There are two films at work here: a love-struck but tedious ode to cinephilia and a fascinating exploration of sex as a form of political resistance.
Operating on several levels, the film is at once a celebration of the sexual revolution and a celebration of cinema as the secular equivalent of religion, when movies mattered and going to the Cinematheque Francaise was like going to church.
Bertolucci and cinematographer Fabio Cianchetti construct every shot carefully, often building shapes out of the characters' positions or referencing shots from other films.
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