Dresses up its sex with pretensions of high art, but its intellectualism is disposable, and unless brother-sister incest is your cup of tea, the sensuality misses its mark as well.
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
Above all it evokes a time when the movies -- good movies, both classic and newborn -- were at the center of youth culture.
It's funny, affecting, interestingly twisted, and seriously erotic before it heads south in the final stretch.
These kids are so languid and lovely, so immersed in each other as reflected images, that they pose a risk for the naïve American.
A film about youthful passion -- for sex, for politics, for music and, above all, for film itself -- that feels passionless.
While the sexual content in and of itself is hardly transgressive or shocking, the mere presence of it at all in a contemporary film is both a shock and a breath of fresh air.
Cinematic allusions, both verbal and visual, are tossed around as if in the hope that some of their quality might somehow rub off on the ever-less-interesting movie at hand.
Maybe Bernardo Bertolucci should have stuck with his original plan to make a sequel to his epic 1900, because his latest film is a major disappointment.
...these characters just aren't as fascinating as Bertolucci clearly believes them to be...
The Dreamers devolves into a nostalgia trip for 1970s cinema intellectuals; for them, it pays dividends. Others might do better to check out the films--like Bertolucci’s own Last Tango in Paris, The Conformist and 1900.
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.
I wish that this first release to show the artistic potential of the NC-17 rating was an undisputedly great film, not merely a brave and intriguing one.
How much you enjoy The Dreamers will depend on your threshold for flash minus dramatic depth or political subtext.
Knowing that a character prefers Chaplin to Keaton tells us only about his taste, not about his soul.
The casually edgy eroticism and constant allusions to old movies are in many ways a mask for the fact that (these) aren’t especially interesting people, except to each other.
A pretentious and self-absorbed chamber piece that underscores the importance of the 1968 student riots in Paris.
It's a movie so physically beautiful and ardent that it can make you fall in love or lust against better judgment.
An over-ripe orgasm of a film, but also a weary one. After gorging for hours on youthful idealism, Bertolucci finally drops the hammer and confronts its limitations.
| 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 |
|---|---|
| 88% 88% | Inglourious Basterds |
| 78% 78% | The Hangover |
| 49% 49% | Taking Woodstock |
| 26% 26% | The Goods: Live Hard, Sell Hard |
| 47% 47% | The Girl From Monaco |
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