Bernardo Bertolucci’s The Dreamers is about three people and one room in 1968 Paris, and it does not bother much with the world outside. Michael Pitt plays Matthew, a shy American exchange student who falls into the lives of twins Theo and Isabelle, played by Eva Green and Louis Garrel. The film is a tale of desire, film, and the 1968 riots that never quite reach the apartment where the story unfolds.
It is also a film about the cost of freedom, and it is not subtle about it. Matthew, Theo, and Isabelle are bound by a love of movies and by the plain fact that they will not keep their arrangement a secret from their parents. The film is based on Gilbert Adair’s 1988 novel The Holy Innocents, and Adair wrote the screenplay. It is a strange, beautiful, and often exhausting piece of work.
Trailer, via HanWay Films.
Matthew in Paris
Matthew arrives in Paris to study French at the Cinémathèque Française, where he protests the firing of Henri Langlois, the man who ran the place. That protest is a hook, a way into the city. But the film’s real engine is his meeting of Theo and Isabelle, a brother and sister who are together, open about it, and a little strange to him. He accepts their invitation to stay with them when their parents leave town for a month. He is their first French friends.
The arrangement is casual at first. The three bond over film. They watch and imitate scenes from Bande à part, and Matthew and Theo race through the Louvre as the film does. They argue about Chaplin and Keaton, Clapton and Hendrix, and Maoism, which Theo believes in fully. Matthew becomes suspicious of Theo and Isabelle’s relationship after seeing them sleeping nude together. He soon discovers that nudity and sexuality are not off-limits here.
Theo and Isabelle’s Parents
The twins’ parents are the poet’s son and his English wife, played by Anna Chancellor and Robin Renucci. Their presence is felt in the apartment, even when they are gone. The film’s setting includes the 1968 riots, but they are never shown. The film is a closed system, and the wider world is only a shadow.
The film makes several references to classical and French New Wave cinema, and it incorporates clips from films that are often imitated by the actors in particular scenes. The references are playful, and they give the film a sense of history.
The Games and the Sex
The film is full of games, and the games are the engine of its story. One game is lost by Theo, and Isabelle sentences him to masturbate to a Marlene Dietrich poster in front of Matthew. Another game is lost by Matthew, and Theo tells him to have sex with Isabelle in front of him. Matthew does it reluctantly, and he realizes afterwards that she was a virgin. Theo is pleased.
That is the heart of the film. The games are a way to test the bonds between them, and the film treats the tests as funny, then as serious. The film is not interested in the consequences of their actions beyond the apartment.
The Songs and the Setting
The film is set in 1968, and it uses music from the period to mark the era. The score is used sparingly, and the film’s sound design is built around the city, the apartment, and the noise of the Cinémathèque. The apartment itself is a character in the film. It is a warm room, full of film posters and books, and it is the place where everything happens. The film is a story of three people inside a room, and the room is a refuge and a trap at the same time. The film is about the pressure of keeping a secret, and the apartment is the place where the secret is kept.
Eva Green’s Breakthrough
The film is Eva Green’s first credited appearance, and it is considered her breakthrough role. She plays Isabelle as strange and beautiful, and the film asks the audience to accept her. The film is about desire, and it asks the audience to accept that desire between Matthew, Theo, and Isabelle. The film is not interested in the moral weight of that desire, only in the feeling of it.
The film is a portrait of a moment in the lives of three people. It is not a story of 1968, and it is not a story of the riots. It is a story of a small, private rebellion. The film is about the cost of freedom, and it is not subtle about it.
The Two Versions
There are two versions of the film. The uncut version is rated NC-17, and the cut version is rated R. The cut version is about three minutes shorter. The difference is in the scenes that show nudity and sex. The film is a tale of desire, and the uncut version does not hold back. The cut version cuts some of the scenes, and it loses some of the film’s intensity.
The Verdict
The Dreamers is a strange and beautiful film. It is a tale of desire, and it is not subtle about the cost of it. The film is a portrait of a moment in the lives of three people, and it is a story of a small, private rebellion. The film is a tale of desire, and it is not subtle about the cost of freedom.
Key Facts
- Title: The Dreamers (2003)
- Director: Bernardo Bertolucci
- Screenplay: Gilbert Adair, from his 1988 novel The Holy Innocents
- Runtime: 115 minutes
- Versions: NC-17 (uncut) and R-rated (cut, about 3 minutes shorter)
- Cast: Michael Pitt, Eva Green, Louis Garrel, Anna Chancellor, Robin Renucci
The Film’s References
- Bande à part (imitated by the actors in a scene)
- Clips from films of classical and French New Wave cinema
- Music from the 1968 period
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