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''The Dreamers'' tells the story of an American university student in Paris who, after meeting a peculiar brother and sister who are fellow film enthusiasts, becomes entangled in an erotic conflict. It is set against the backdrop of the 1968 Paris [[May 1968 in France|student riots]]. The film makes several references to various movies of [[classical Hollywood|classical]] and [[French New Wave|New Wave]] cinema, incorporating clips from films that are often imitated by the actors in particular scenes.
''The Dreamers'' tells the story of an American university student in Paris who, after meeting a peculiar brother and sister who are fellow film enthusiasts, becomes entangled in an erotic conflict. It is set against the backdrop of the 1968 Paris [[May 1968 in France|student riots]]. The film makes several references to various movies of [[classical Hollywood|classical]] and [[French New Wave|New Wave]] cinema, incorporating clips from films that are often imitated by the actors in particular scenes.


''The Dreamers'' was [[Controversy|controversial]] in the United States for its depiction of nudity and sexual content, which attracted an [[NC-17]] rating.
''The Dreamers'' was controversial in the United States for its depiction of nudity and sexual content, which attracted an [[NC-17]] rating.


The primary language spoken in the film is English, though French and English are spoken interchangeably throughout.
The primary language spoken in the film is English, though French and English are spoken interchangeably throughout.
Line 52: Line 52:
==Production==
==Production==
===Screenplay===
===Screenplay===
The first draft of the screenplay was an adaptation by Gilbert Adair of his own novel, ''[[The Holy Innocents (novel)|The Holy Innocents]]''. During [[pre-production]], Bertolucci made changes to it: he "peppered the narrative with clips from the films he loves" and dropped [[homosexual]] content &mdash; including scenes from the novel that depict Matthew and Théo having sex &mdash; which he felt was "just too much". After the film was released, he said that it was "faithful to the spirit of the book but not the letter."<ref name="guard">[http://film.guardian.co.uk/interview/interviewpages/0,6737,1141677,00.html Stealing beauty], a February 2004 article from ''[[The Guardian]]''</ref>
The first draft of the screenplay was an adaptation by Gilbert Adair of his own novel, ''[[The Holy Innocents (novel)|The Holy Innocents]]''. During [[pre-production]], Bertolucci made changes to it: he "peppered the narrative with clips from the films he loves" and dropped homosexual content – including scenes from the novel that depict Matthew and Théo having sex – which he felt was "just too much". After the film was released, he said that it was "faithful to the spirit of the book but not the letter."<ref name="guard">[http://film.guardian.co.uk/interview/interviewpages/0,6737,1141677,00.html Stealing beauty], a February 2004 article from ''[[The Guardian]]''</ref>


===Casting===
===Casting===
[[Eva Green]] told ''[[The Guardian]]'' that her agent and her parents begged her not to take the role of Isabelle, concerned that the film &mdash; which features full [[frontal nudity]] and graphic sex scenes &mdash; would cause her career to "have the same destiny as [[Maria Schneider (actor)|Maria Schneider]]".<ref name="guard"/>
[[Eva Green]] told ''[[The Guardian]]'' that her agent and her parents begged her not to take the role of Isabelle, concerned that the film – which features full [[frontal nudity]] and graphic sex scenes – would cause her career to "have the same destiny as [[Maria Schneider (actor)|Maria Schneider]]".<ref name="guard"/>


==Reception==
==Reception==

Revision as of 09:58, 31 May 2011

The Dreamers
Theatrical release poster
Directed byBernardo Bertolucci
Written byGilbert Adair
Produced byJeremy Thomas
Starring
CinematographyFabio Cianchetti
Edited byJacopo Quadri
Music by(see Music and soundtrack)
Production
company
Distributed byFox Searchlight Pictures
Release dates
10 October 2003 (Italy)
10 December 2003 (France)
6 February 2004
Running time
115 minutes (Original)
112 minutes (R-rated cut)
CountriesFrance
United Kingdom
Italy
French
Budget$15 million
Box office$15,121,165

The Dreamers is a 2003 French/British/Italian drama film directed by Bernardo Bertolucci. The screenplay is by Gilbert Adair, based on his own novel The Holy Innocents. The film was an international co-production by companies from France, Italy, and the United Kingdom.

The Dreamers tells the story of an American university student in Paris who, after meeting a peculiar brother and sister who are fellow film enthusiasts, becomes entangled in an erotic conflict. It is set against the backdrop of the 1968 Paris student riots. The film makes several references to various movies of classical and New Wave cinema, incorporating clips from films that are often imitated by the actors in particular scenes.

The Dreamers was controversial in the United States for its depiction of nudity and sexual content, which attracted an NC-17 rating.

The primary language spoken in the film is English, though French and English are spoken interchangeably throughout.

Plot

A young American exchange student, Matthew (Michael Pitt), has come to Paris in order to study French. Though he has lived there for several months and will stay in Paris for a year, he has made no friends. As a huge fan of film, he spends most of his time in the Cinémathèque Française. Eventually he forms a close friendship with a Frenchwoman, Isabelle (Eva Green), and her brother, Théo (Louis Garrel). All three are avid film lovers, especially fond of "the classics". As their friendship grows, Matthew learns of the extreme intimacy shared by the siblings (what one reviewer described as "incestuous in all but the most technical sense"[1]) and gets pulled into their world. Over time he falls in love with both of them, and the three seclude themselves from the world, falling further and further from the reality of the 1968 student rebellions. Eventually, however, their idyll is shattered and they are forced to face reality.

Cast

Production

Screenplay

The first draft of the screenplay was an adaptation by Gilbert Adair of his own novel, The Holy Innocents. During pre-production, Bertolucci made changes to it: he "peppered the narrative with clips from the films he loves" and dropped homosexual content – including scenes from the novel that depict Matthew and Théo having sex – which he felt was "just too much". After the film was released, he said that it was "faithful to the spirit of the book but not the letter."[2]

Casting

Eva Green told The Guardian that her agent and her parents begged her not to take the role of Isabelle, concerned that the film – which features full frontal nudity and graphic sex scenes – would cause her career to "have the same destiny as Maria Schneider".[2]

Reception

When Eva Green saw a rough cut of the film, she said she was "quite shocked" and had to look away during the sex scenes; she later told an interviewer that for her, "it was as though I was wearing a costume while we were making the film. It was as if I had another story in my mind. So I was left speechless."[2]

Fox Searchlight gave the uncut version a limited theatrical release in the United States in 2004; it played in 116 theaters at its peak.[3] In the United States, the film was released theatrically with an NC-17 rating[3] whereas in Italy the same film was rated VM14. Even with its NC-17 rating, this film grossed $2.5 million in its United States theatrical release – a respectable result for a specialized film with a targeted audience.[3]

Among the reviews gathered by review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes, 61% gave it a "fresh rating".[4] The 40 reviews gathered by Metacritic on average gave it scores that placed the film in the website's "generally favorable" category.[5] A.O. Scott of The New York Times said the film was "disarmingly sweet and completely enchanting" and described it as "fus[ing] sexual discovery with political tumult by means of a heady, heedless romanticism that nearly obscures the film's patient, skeptical intelligence."[1] The Times called it a "heady blend of Last Tango and Stealing Beauty, but one that combines the grubbily voyeuristic elements of each film rather than their relative strengths."[6]

Music and soundtrack

The soundtrack was released in February 2004; Allmusic gave it three out of five, noting that "while its juxtapositions of French tradition and counterculture are jarring at times, Dreamers still does a worthy job of capturing the film's personal and political revolutions through music."[8]

  1. "Third Stone from the Sun" – Jimi Hendrix
  2. "Hey Joe" (cover version) – Michael Pitt & The Twins of Evil
  3. "Quatre Cents Coups" (from the score of "Les Quatre Cents Coups") – Jean Constantin
  4. "New York Herald Tribune" (from Breathless) – Martial Solal
  5. "Love Me Please Love Me" – Michel Polnareff
  6. "La Mer" – Charles Trenet
  7. "Song For Our Ancestors" – Steve Miller Band
  8. "The Spy" – The Doors
  9. "Tous Les Garçons et Les Filles" – Françoise Hardy
  10. "Ferdinand" (from Antoine Duhamel's score of "Pierrot Le Fou")
  11. "Dark Star" (special band edit) – The Grateful Dead
  12. "Non, Je Ne Regrette Rien" – Edith Piaf

Though the music of Janis Joplin and Big Brother and the Holding Company was featured prominently in the film, none of the songs were included on the soundtrack. All of the songs used in the film were from the album Live at Winterland '68. Bob Dylan's song "Queen Jane Approximately", from the album Highway 61 Revisited, is also used in the film but is not included on the soundtrack.

DVD release

The Dreamers was released on DVD in 2004. It includes a BBC film directed by David M. Thompson, Bertolucci Makes The Dreamers, narrated by Zoë Wanamaker, and a documentary Outside the Window: Events in France, May 1968 with contributions from Robin Blackburn, Adair, and Bertolucci. Bertolucci says that 1968 was about cinema, politics, music, journalism, sex and philosophy dreaming together.

References

  1. ^ a b When to Be Young Was Very Sexy, a review from The New York Times
  2. ^ a b c Stealing beauty, a February 2004 article from The Guardian
  3. ^ a b c NC-17 comes out from hiding, an April 2004 article from the Los Angeles Times
  4. ^ The Dreamers at Rotten Tomatoes
  5. ^ The Dreamers at Metacritic
  6. ^ The Dreamers, a November 2003 review by The Times of its London Film Festival screening
  7. ^ [1]
  8. ^ The Dreamers (Original Soundtrack) at AllMusic
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