The Dreamers (2004)
Directed by Bernardo Bertolucci
Written by Glibert Adair
Starring Michael Pitt, Eva Green, Louis Garrel
Release Date February 6th, 2004
Published August 1st, 2004
Bernardo Bertolucci is unquestionably a master behind the camera. He has a painter’s eye for spectacular visuals. Despite that the appeal of his provocative, sex soaked movies has escaped me. As lovely as Last Tango In Paris, and more specifically Maria Schneider were, I fell asleep during that film. There’s something about French politics (For the record I know Bertolucci is from Italy but he made his best known films in France), I find tremendously dull and their sullen attitude toward sex less than exciting.
For his latest film, Bertolucci adapts a novel by Gilbert Adair that takes place in a time and place that Bertolucci is quite familiar with. Paris, 1968. As cinema'de art and the cahiers du cinema were breaking ground, the French government sought to fight back against revolutionary filmmakers and what began as the simple closing of an influential theater turned into a political revolution.
Set against this real life background in The Dreamers is the story of three cinema-loving teenagers who are completely swept up in the art, politics and especially the sex all around them. Michael Pitt is Matthew, an American in Paris for a year of studying, or more often watching movies at the legendary cinematheque where Henry Langlois programmed any and every movie imaginable from Nicholas Ray (Rebel Without A Cause) to Jean Luc Godard (Breathless).
When the cinematheque is shut down and Langlois fired, Matthew meets a pair of fellow cinemaphiles and protestors, non-identical twin brother and sister Theo (Louis Garrel) and Isabelle (Eva Green). The sheer force of their attitudes draws Matthew to them. They share his passion and knowledge of film and they are drawn to his wide-eyed naivete. Before long, Matthew is completely away from his studies and living with his new friends.
While revolution rages outside, the kids, whose parents have taken leave for vacation, stay locked up in their apartment testing each other's limits in film knowledge, musical taste and sexuality. As Matthew quickly learns, the twins have a strange bond. They sleep in the same bed nude and when Theo loses a trivia challenge Isabelle has a punishment that would make even the most maladjusted dysfunctional think twice. It isn't just the twins testing their boundaries, when Matthew loses a trivia challenge Theo has him make love to Isabelle while he watches.
This I suppose is meant to be edgy but it's more uncomfortable than anything else. Michael Pitt is a terrific actor who has greatness in his future but there is an aimlessness to this role. Eva Green is a bold newcomer with a terrific presence but she is unable to sustain the sexual energy her character radiates in her first few scenes. Louis Garrel, who's father is a well known director in French cinema, has that spiky French attitude and his love of film is well conveyed. However, when it comes to politics, sexuality and otherwise, he seems nothing more than a petulant child. Maybe that was the intent.
That is the problem with The Dreamers, we aren't sure what Bertolucci's intent is with these characters. Are we to admire the adventurousness of their experimentation as his camera seems to or are we supposed to feel sorry for these children when they are exposed for the underdeveloped personalities they are? The problem with feeling for them is that there is little depth to their psychology beyond “I blame my parents” pop psychology. Mommy and Daddy are never home, no one loves me, wah wah wah.
I admire this film for its beauty. Bertolucci paints a spectacular canvas of visuals both outside and in the sprawling apartment which is filled to overflow with cinema history. I also admire the film’s love of cinema, a literal worship of filmed art that pours out of the screen, especially when Eva Green's Isabelle imitates her favorite films. Educated filmgoers will get a real thrill recognizing the many cinematic homages throughout the film.
It's just a shame that Bertolucci and writer Gilbert Adair did not put more thought into forming their characters into something more than petulant children, whining and screwing while history unfolds around them.
