There is enough youthful energy and sexual tension to float The Dreamers along, although the film’s deeper potential and political context slip away.
The Dreamers (2004)
Tomatometer
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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
This works most effectively as an ode to the way cinema infuses the lives of its fans.
Bertolucci is hardly a klutz with the camera, but to me the movie was always good-but-not-great, it never truly took off.
When the sex and weirdness stops, all we're left with is pseudo-intellectual discussions from this trio that is found in every dorm across America.
Bertolucci pays affectionate homage to cinema, goofy youthful exuberance, romance, innocence and the student revolt of May '68.
Its nostalgia and narcissism are ultimately two versions of the same thing, and neither can reopen cross-cultural channels. Instead they keep this story stuck in the past, frozen and intact and irrelevant.
Perhaps [Bertolucci] was ambivalent about his feelings for the time. Perhaps he was just sloppy.
At its heart, The Dreamers is Bertolucci’s valentine to the movies that nurtured him in his youth. At worst, it’s sort of an NC-17 version of Rugrats in Paris.
A rare movie made by and for adults, haunts its watcher for some time, despite its shortcomings.
There are some wonderful moments of bliss, as in all Bertolucci movies... But for all the flash and sparkle, there's little heat.
The entire film is a charged sensory experience -- a cinematic turn-on.
It is a well-made film in many ways, but I found in the callowness of these youths nothing to admire.
Watching The Dreamers is like receiving a present where the box is nicer than the contents.
A passionate tribute to the cinema's contribution to the great '60s cultural fusion, as well as a melancholy reminder of just how far it's fallen from that heady era of its highest idealism.
Celebrates the feverish vitality of youth with sexually explicit candor.
The oneiric atmosphere takes a turn for the worse as the focus inevitably turns to a bad daydream and the secluded apartment setting stultifies the aura of film worship...
A good choice for film buffs; lends itself to analysis, conversation, or maybe even a term paper
| Tomatometer Percentage | Movie |
|---|---|
| 66% 66% | Public Enemies |
| 83% 83% | Harry Potter and the H… |
| 44% 44% | Night at the Museum: B… |
| 75% 75% | Julie & Julia |
| 32% 32% | Terminator Salvation |
| Tomatometer Percentage | Movie |
|---|---|
| 90% 90% | District 9 |
| 86% 86% | 500 Days of Summer |
| 63% 63% | Extract |
| 06% 06% | All About Steve |
| 78% 78% | It Might Get Loud |
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