Cons: Less erotic than some viewers will expect; awkwardly stylized performances; relatively little plot
The Bottom Line: Highly recommended for the right audience, which would be art film lovers with tolerance for spicy material. Not recommended for those seeking mainly titillation or a strong narrative.
Plot Details: This opinion reveals everything about the movie's plot.
The most obvious meaning of "dreamers" in the context of Bertolucci's fabulous 2003 film, The Dreamers, is akin to the notion of idealists. This is a film about the late sixties and the hopes and aspirations of the youth of that era. It was a time of revolutionary ideas and dreams of a better, more idealistic world, free from imperialism, exploitation, and arbitrary restraints on personal freedoms. As we gaze back on those times from the present, "dreamers" takes on a second meaning as well, as in "dreamily reminiscing" about a time that evokes feelings of nostalgia. Then, there is perhaps a third, somewhat negative, meaning, as well, in relation to one of the film's specific themes; namely, the conflict between dreaming vs. constructive action. Bertolucci effectively captures all these meanings of his title phrase as well as the pulse, spirit, and courage of an epoch.
Historical Background: Bernardo Bertolucci took a bit of a hiatus from firmmaking during the mid-eighties after a couple of poorly received films, Luna (1979), with Jill Clayburgh, and the slendor film The Tragedy of a Ridiculous Man (1981). When he returned to his craft in 1987, he immediately scored in a big way with the lavish epic The Last Emperor (1987), which won the Academy Award for Best Film and a host of other Oscars. He followed that with two lumbering and bloated big-budget movies, The Sheltering Sky (1990) and Little Buddha (1993), both of which were disappointments, both critically and at the box-office. Later in the nineties, Bertolucci’s work consisted of Stealing Beauty (1996) and Beseiged (1998), neither of which was especially impressive.
Early in his career, Bertolucci had directed one strong film after another, especially during the period of 1970-1976. During that peak period of productivity, Bertolucci's successes included The Spider's Stratagem (1970), The Conformist (1970), Last Tango in Paris, (1971), starring Marlon Brando, and the Italian epic, 1900 (1976). So, by 2003, when he turned to filming The Dreamers, Bertolucci had a little something to prove. He had gone from a steady stream of successes in the early seventies to a couple of decades of sporadic successes interspersed with poorly received offerings. The most obvious comparison for The Dreamers, from Bertolucci's earlier work, is with Last Tango in Paris, not only because both films are set in Paris, but also because both films deal with sexual peccadilloes occurring within the confines of a love nest. One could accuse Bertolucci of trading on the reputation for kinky sex and shock value that he had earned with Last Tango, but the fact of the matter is that the style that he chose for The Dreamers was entirely suited to the story he had chosen to adapt (Gilbert Adair's The Holy Innocents: A Romance).
The Story: It is 1968, in Paris. After the sacking of Henri Langlois as head of the Cinématèque Française, Godard, Léaud, and other notable personages of French cinema helped to instigate a series of impassioned protests by French cinephiles, which later evolved into general nationwide riots and strikes. The Cinématèque Française had served as a significant part of the education of the New Wavers and they came out in force in defense of their benefactor. Now, at one such rally, we see among the participants Matthew (Michael Pitt), an American attending school in France and an avid film lover. During the demonstration, Matthew meets a young activist, Isabelle (Eva Green), who is pretending to be chained to the gates. Isabelle declares that Matthew is distinctly "clean" for a cinephile and introduces him to her twin brother, Theo (Louis Garrell). They spend a bit of time together and Matthew is invited to their home for dinner. Matthew excitedly writes home to his mother, "I have at last met some real Parisians!"
Theo and Isabelle live with their parents in a flat. The mother is English and the father a French poet. There is some friction between Theo and his father, who is something of a condescending intellectual. As Theo later complains to Matthew about his father, "The fact that God doesn't exist doesn't mean he can take his place." Matthew, on the other hand, scores big-time with the father by extemporizing about how the dimensions of Isabelle's tin cigarette lighter recur in the pattern of the tablecloth.
When Theo and Isabelle's liberal parents depart for a month's vacation at the seashore, Matthew is promptly invited to move in with the twins. There's an extra bedroom where he can hole up that is a lot nicer than his dorm room. Matthew is shocked but intrigued to discover that the twins sleep together in the same bed and very nearly in the buff. During the days, the twins enjoy nothing more than playing a kind of film-based charades. One or the other acts out a scene from a film they've seen and the other has to identify it. Isabelle introduces Matthew to the idea of the game by acting out a scene from Queen Christina (1933), starring Greta Garbo. We see her pantomime intercut with footage from the actual film. Her imitation is pretty good! Later, she challenges her twin with a reenactment of Blonde Venus (1932), starring Marlene Dietrich. When Theo fails to identify the movie, he has to pay a "forfeit," like a "consequence" in the old American children's game "Truth, Dare, Consequence, Promise, Repeat, or Over-the-Housetop." From Matthew's point of view, these forfeits have a distinctly kinky nature. Isabelle requires that Theo masturbate in front of his poster of Marlene Dietrich. Later, Theo takes his revenge by acting out a death scene from Scarface (1932), in which his character dies on the shadow of a cross. When Isabelle fails to guess it, her forfeit requires that she make love with Matthew while Theo watches. Matthew "resists," but, as a pacifist, not all that forcefully! These three young movie lovers also partake in a sprint through the Louvre, trying to beat the time of the three friends depicted in Godard's Band of Outsiders (1964).
Gradually, the threesome evolves into a full-fledged ménage a trios. They bathe together and sleep together in the same bed, limbs intertwined. This portion of the relationships is not depicted with much explicitness; we don't know exactly what they do as a threesome. They also engage is discussions ranging from the relative comedic genius of Buster Keaton vs. Charlie Chaplin, Hendrix vs. Clapton as guitarists, the viability of Maoism or lack thereof, violence vs. pacifism, and the morality or immorality of American troops in Vietnam. Matthew is partly won over to the sexual liberality of the twins but also finds it all somewhat mind-boggling. He begins to long for an exclusive dating relationship between himself and Isabelle and fears that her "special relationship" with her twin will hinder his desire for conventional romance. He challenges Theo about the rather idyllic isolation they're enjoying in their little love nest while the world is seemingly falling apart outside.
SKIP TO "THEMES" TO AVOID SPOILERS!
The father and mother of the twins quietly arrive home to find the apartment in total disarray. They also discover the threesome, naked but asleep, tangled up like three pretzels in a bowl. The father writes out another check for his kids and the parents silently beat a hasty retreat – good liberals that they are. As the mother opines, "You don't want to join them, do you?" Isabelle is the first to awaken and, finding the check, realizes that her semi-incestuous relationship with her brother has been exposed to their parents. She casually sets out to gas both herself and her companions by attaching a long hose to the gas port of the stove. It takes a brick lobbed through one of the apartment windows to end her scheme and bring them all back to the reality of the rioting that's going on in the world outside.
The three young lovers join the parade of protestors. Isabelle and Theo get caught up in the excitement of it all and heave a Molotov cocktail at the charging police contingent, despite Matthew's plea that they remain nonviolent. This further difference in perspectives proves the proverbial last straw for Matthew and he wanders off in his own direction.
Themes:The Dreamers is built around four interlocking themes that together aptly characterize the era known as the sixties: heightened interest in cinema, sexual liberation and experimentation, finding oneself and one's place in political activism, and the place of violence in political activism. It was the confluence of these issues that made the sixties a unique period in America's history. This film will appeal to all those with memories of the sixties as well as those interested in learning about that time. It will be of less interest to those young people who subscribe to the notion that the world began in their own birth year.
It is hard for young people today to appreciate the extent to which films of the sixties were a part of the times. The closest parallel from today are films like Fahrenheit 9/11 or Mel Gibson's Passion of the Christ which inherently stir up controversy and accentuate differences in perspectives, but today the films that are politically and socially relevant tend to come from all across the spectrum of beliefs, so that their influences tend to negate one another. During the sixties, films of the French New Wave (as well as Italian films by directors influenced by the New Wave) were a central part of youth culture. Many of the same people who were politically active and who participated in the sexual revolution, both in France and in America, were also ardent cinephiles. On one level, The Dreamers is elegiac of the seminal influence of Jean-Luc Godard and his compatriots. Bertolucci makes this point explicit near the beginning of the film through a voiceover narrative, provided by Michael Pitt, informing us of the importance of the French cinema of that time in the life of artists and young people throughout France. Later in the film, Bertolucci even generalizes the point, a bit, to the other arts when Theo's father, a French poet, declares that every poem is a petition and every petition is a poem. In the sixties the arts were virtually an integral part of leftist political activism. The radical films and music of the sixties were embraced with the same exuberance that then became evident in political demonstrations. The films portrayed the youth of the era and the youth reenacted the films in an ever accelerating cycle.
The sixties were also the time in American history when sex came out of the bedroom and into mainstream consciousness. The sexual revolution was every bit as evident in the more liberal sectors of America as in France. I lived in Boston, at the time, and my circle of friends were involved in pushing the envelop of possibilities every bit as much as what is depicted in The Dreamers, and more so. There were threesomes, foursomes, and more-somes. There were sexual games not unlike the "forfeits" depicted in The Dreamers. Most of America, however, was and is backward in relation to sexual freedom compared to France, Denmark, Italy, Scandinavia, and some other parts of Continental Europe. It is no accident that The Dreamers features an American and two French siblings. The film is expressly contrasting America's uptight Puritan approach to sexuality with the more relaxed attitudes prevalent in Europe. My own views in relation to sexuality were and are far more consistent with the Continental viewpoint than those of the majority of Americans.
In the sixties, we did not interpret "sexual liberation" and "sexual freedom" as licenses for libertinism or hedonism. We did not understand these phrases to justify lying, cheating, exploitation, coercion, or any other exemption from considerate behavior toward one another. Sexual freedom never meant license to rape, seduce, or engage in sex with minors, at least in my circle of acquaintances. Sexual freedom meant freedom from arbitrary conventions and taboos that bore no genuine relationship to happiness, fulfillment, or humanistic morality. We rejected ideas like the double standard (different expectations in relation to chastity for women and men). We rejected exclusivity and possessiveness, to the extent that each couple determined by mutual agreement. We subscribed to the three criteria of sexual morality implied in the manifesto, "What consenting adults do in private is nobody else's business."
But, what about the issue of incest? Surely there can be no question about its immorality! Well, wait a minute. Let’s think about that. What exactly are the moral implications of incest? Set aside, for a moment, your preconceptions and any feelings of disgust you might have for the topic and consider why precisely incest is of moral concern. Why is incest a taboo in nearly every culture? From a purely rational viewpoint, there are two main problems with incest. One is the biological issue of "inbreeding" and the elevated risk of genetic defects that can result from it. That issue is overblown, however. First of all, inbreeding is only a factor if the sex is procreative in nature rather than recreational, with due provision for contraception. Secondly, inbreeding only significantly influences incidence of genetic disorders when it occurs over multiple generations. The second and more important issue is that incest is usually also exploitive in nature. Most cases of incest involve either a father coercing or manipulating a daughter or a brother exploiting a naïve younger sister. Obviously, those aren't the only possibilities, but they are statistically the most prevalent instances of incest. But, each of those examples is already covered by the moral prohibition against exploitation. Such instances of incest are morally reprehensible because they involve exploitation and coercion. Moreover, a father who has sex with a daughter is also violating his responsibility as a parent to provide a nurturing environment. Young girls should not have to fend off the sexual desires of either brothers or fathers as they are growing up. In The Dreamers, however, Isabelle and Theo are young adults and exactly the same age (they are twins). By my reading of the characters, neither one significantly dominates the other. The exact extent of their "sexual" relationship is ambiguous, but it is implied that Isabelle's hymen was intact as she made love with Matthew, so this supposedly incestuous relationship appears to be limited to shared nudity and cuddling together. We also know, whatever the extent of the relationship between the twins, that it is consensual. They are both adults, and they keep their relationship very private – so private, in fact, that the parents are unaware of it. How, then, is it immoral? Most American viewers judge it to be immoral because . . . well, because they've been taught throughout their lives that incest (even without intercourse) is immoral and disgusting. I suppose these reviewers would be wholly overcome to learn that there are families in America who frequent nudist resorts all together!
There's a separate question as to whether the relationship between Isabelle and Theo is psychologically unhealthy for one or both of them. Matthew thinks so, but let's not forget that Matthew is an American who has bought into the American view of sexuality, which, in my opinion, is not all that psychologically healthy to begin with. Matthew's view of things is already blown to bits by the whole idea of a threesome, much less a threesome that is partly quasi-incestuous. Matthew asks Isabelle, "Have you ever just gone out on a date?" The question implies, as one reviewer puts it, that "the codependence [between Isabelle and Theo] will preclude any chance at real, adult relationships." Another reviewer calls their relationship a "twisted psychosis." Another reviewer wonders "how Isabelle and Theo got so messed up to begin with." Not surprisingly, all of these reviewers are Americans. How many of them have stopped to consider that if Theo is "sick" for wanting to watch his sister have sex, so too is every member of the audience in the theater or at home. We, too, are all earnestly watching Isabelle have sex with Matthew. There is nothing remotely psychotic about the relationship between Theo and Isabelle. Their relationship may or may not he psychologically unhealthy – I couldn't say for sure without more information about the two.
The relationship between Theo and Isabelle does not preclude one or both having real adult relationships. Both have a real adult relationship with Matthew – just not a conventional one-on-one pairing of the kind that Americans have been taught to view as not merely the ideal, but the only acceptable way of life. We're all supposed to play the dating and marriage game or to be condemned by relatives as failures. I know some people who are in their forties or fifties who have never married or paired up for any length of time with a significant other. Some of them are perfectly happy. The ones who are happiest as singles often have close ties with their family of origin – their siblings or their parents. Should these people be viewed as freaks? We shouldn't be so narrow in our expectations of how people should lead their lives that we make those who choose an alternate course feel defective. Theo and Isabelle are twins. It is twice stated in the film that they were even once Siamese twins, although I remain uncertain whether this was meant metaphorically or literally. They have a closeness that is certainly unusual, but that doesn't make it inherently pathological. If it transpires that the relationship between the two interferes with the happiness or fulfillment of one or the other, then it will have become problematic. If they are able to go through life and feel fulfilled and happy and their relationship to one another continues to be the most important in each one's life, it will not be pathological. A healthy society judges relationships flexibly, by how well they serve the needs of the participants, rather than by rigid, arbitrary, and irrational standards. Let's also not forget that conventional monogamous marriage relationships preclude the participants from having "real adult relationships" [of a romantic or sexual nature] with others even more than does the relationship between Theo and Isabelle. Are conventional monogamous marriage relationships therefore inherently "psychotic," and "messed up?"
The third theme addressed in The Dreamers is one that I struggled with myself, when I was an adolescent and young adult. It is the internal psychological conflict between self-indulgent pursuits of pleasures and personal development versus productivity, community involvement, and political activism. I ultimately came to the conclusion, for myself, that I could not be happy in life without balancing between the two. I had to have a share of self-indulgent activities as well as a sense of contributing to the common weal. The narrative in The Dreamers is framed by scenes depicting the political events that were rampant in 1968 in Paris – the demonstrations, the firebombs, and the riots. Between those framing segments, the three principals of the story isolate themselves in their own private space to engage in self-indulgent explorations of their feelings, their interests, and their sexuality. Bertolucci brilliantly plays off the inner space, represented by the world within the apartment, against the external political crisis. It takes a stone suddenly passing through a window of the apartment to draw our three hedonists fully back into the turmoil of their larger community. One reviewer states "Dreamers is about young people who would rather dream than act." My personal experience was that the same people who were exploring their inner selves and actively engaging in personal growth were also the ones who participated most intensively in political activism. For one thing, experimenting with interpersonal relationships and sexuality serves as a kind of test ground for revolutionary philosophies. Moreover, if you don't repeatedly retune your personal psychology, you'll sooner or later lose your willpower and energy for being an effective change agent. Matthew criticized Theo for decorating his room with Mao lamps and revolutionary slogans, while ignoring the uprising on the streets outside. Matthew's observation was both hypocritical (since it applied as much to himself as Theo) and unfair (since Theo had been involved in the demonstrations at the beginning of the film and was again involved at the end).
The fourth issue is the role of violence versus non-violent tactics in promoting change. Matthew pays lip service to pacifism and urges Theo and Isabelle not to get involved in violence by throwing a firebomb. On the other hand, he naively defends the presence of America troops in Vietnam. Theo decries the fascist police and American imperialism but tosses a Molotov cocktail for no specific purpose other than the excitement of rioting. Each of these young men is inconsistent and struggling with the pros and cons of violence vs. pacifism. It is on this issue that Matthew ultimately parts company with the twins. Did either the violence or the pacifism of the sixties make any difference or was it all a waste? It would be easy to conclude, cynically, that the ascendancy of the right in America today proves that the sixties were an idle gesture. I think, however, that social progress is a kind of spiral. There are short-term gains and setbacks that tend to mask a slower steady forward momentum, in my opinion. The prevailing sexual mores in America today may be Puritan in relation to the sixties, but still represent a great deal more openness and tolerance than existed in the fifties.
Production Values: One remarkable aspect of the script is the opportunity that it provided to integrate clips from classic films, both American and French. In addition to the reenactments mentioned above in the "Story" section (from Queen Christina (1922), Blonde Venus (1932), and Scarface (1932)), there are allusions to two Godard classics, A Bout de Souffle (1959) and Band of Outsiders (1964). A Bout de Souffle, which is known as Breathless in English, is particularly apt because it was one of the films that launched the New Wave. So, when Isabelle claims that her first words were "New York Herald-Tribune," an allusion to that film, she is indicating that the birth of her social awareness coincided with the advent of the revolution in cinema. Astute viewers will also pick up some allusions that are not spelled out by intercutting clips. Jacopo Quadri provided superlative film editing in smoothly integrating all of the clips. This aspect of The Dreamers is fully the equal of the similar techniques used in the great film Cinema Paradiso. Bertolucci's love of cinema is highly apparent.
The cinematographer for The Dreamers, Fabio Cianchetti, deserves kudos as well. The camerawork is lyrical and fluid. The camera glides about the apartment and along the lush city streets unobtrusively, capturing the beauty and ambiance of the Paris of the late sixties. The composition is attractive, with strong attention to vivid color combinations. There's a plethora of interesting mirror shots and use of shadows, shapes, and linear composition. Watch for the especially creative extended pan that accompanies the opening credits. The soundtrack is an important part of this film, as well, featuring classics of the sixties, by the likes of Janice Joplin, Bob Dylan, the Doors, and Jimi Hendrix.
My principal reservation about this film relates to the performances. It seemed to me that all of the four most important actors in this film (the three young adults and the father) provide performances that are very highly stylized. I was continuously aware that these were actors and actresses playing roles. I typically praise performances that cause me to forget that I'm watching actors and imagine instead that the characters are real. It may be that Bertolucci intended the performances to have a kind of stilted quality to suggest a dreamlike aura, suggestive of nostalgic recollections. Michael Pitt is something of a Leonardo DiCaprio look-alike. He appeared previously in Hedwig and the Angry Inch (2001). Eva Green, who was a newcomer for this film, certainly showed us every thing she has, though, in this film, the nudity was more evenhanded by gender than in the majority of erotic pieces. There's one especially lovely image of Green dressed up to look every bit the part of a Greek goddess. Louis Garrel gave the closest thing to a natural performance and had the unenviable challenge of masturbating on screen, although, mercifully, facing away from the camera. Robin Renucci's performance as the father was very quirky, looking obviously like someone playing the part of an effete, intellectual poet rather than actually being one. Renucci's previous work included a role in Entre Nous (1983). I'll give these performers the benefit of the doubt and assume that their self-conscious performances were all part of a surreal quality intended by Bertolucci.
Bottom-Line: A special controversy surrounding this film is the NC-17 cross that it was required to bear for its release in America. Quite honestly, I think that Bertolucci's reputation had as much to do with that as the actual content of the film. This film is by no means pornographic – not even soft-core porn in my judgment. There is plenty of full frontal male and female nudity, but the scenes involving sex or masturbation are entirely the veiled artsy variety. The American distributor toyed with the idea of cutting the film for an "R" rating, but Bertolucci and his friends launched a very public letter campaign to pressure the distributor (20th Century Fox) to release it unexpurgated That campaign succeeded, though it also meant that the film got very limited release in theaters, which don't like the extra hassle required for showing NC-17 films (roped off access and I.D. checks).
The main problem with the NC-17 rating for the film is that it tends to ensure that the audience that goes to see it and the buyers who purchase the DVD are motivated mainly by an expected shock value and prurient interest, but the film doesn't really deliver either. This film is not nearly as erotic, in my opinion, as, for example, Sex and Lucía. This film is really a thematically driven film. One of the four main themes happens to deal with sexual experimentation and is filmed accordingly. An audience that has come to the film mainly for titillation is not going to settle for a bunch of lofty ideas instead! If you read several reviews of this film that rate it poorly, you'll quickly realize that most of those reviewers were disappointed with the level of eroticism of the film. Eroticism is entirely in the eye of the beholder and related to expectations. I imagine that most French and Italian viewers of this film find it more naturalistic than erotic. The reaction in America might be likened to horny adolescent boys leafing through National Geographic and getting turned on by the pictures of bare-breasted native women of Africa. One imagines that the men who belong to those tribes don't spend all day gawking at the breasts of the women. It's only because of the NC-17 rating and because sexuality is so Puritanically repressed in America that we expect films like The Dreamers to be erotic. Collectively, we Americans are like a bunch of adolescents snickering over words like "penis" and "vagina." What kind of a society are we when we routinely embrace the most graphic and disturbing violence but repress naturalistic portrayals of sexuality? The answer, of course, is that we're a right-leaning imperialistic nation that needs its citizens to tolerate a degree of violent, aggressive, militarism but which also doesn't want to have to spend its budget on supporting the children of unwed mothers or paying the health costs of sexually transmitted diseases. So, sex is dirty in American but killing is cool!
One other category of viewers who will be a bit disappointed with The Dreamers is the group who require that films have a strong narrative, as we've been taught by Hollywood to expect. Plot is of lesser importance in many international films, which are more about images and ideas. Art films buffs will not be surprised by the skimpy plot of The Dreamers, but those who show up expecting eroticism will be doubly disappointed when they also don't get much in the way of a dramatic narrative to sustain their interest.
The DVD for this film includes several features. There's a commentary by Bertolucci himself, with assists from writer Gilbert Adair and Producer Jeremy Thomas. There's a "making-of-the-film" documentary, a brief historical perspective on the events of May, 1968 in France, and a Michael Pitt Music Video. The theatrical trailer is also included.
In my view, The Dreamers is a well-crafted film and among the best that Bertolucci has made over an impressive career. I'd give it 4.5 stars if that were an option, but I'll have to give it 4 instead, because it's a bit below 4.5, rather than a bit above. In short, it's a strong 4 stars. Don't choose this film expecting either titillation or a strong narrative. This is a thematically-driven, serious art film in which one of the themes happens to be sexual experimentation and another the passion of cinephiles. Those are two topics that I personally find of great interest. The Dreamers churns its ideas around in creative ways and then leaves some splendidly penetrating questions hanging in the air for post-film rehashing among friends.
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