The Dreamers (2003)
"They believe they have the power not
only to provoke the world, but to transform it"
- The twins' father in "The Dreamers"
This film takes place in the early months of 1968,
when 19 year olds across the world were starting to feel that they
were more than merely provocative. On March 31, 1968, the most
powerful man on the planet, Lyndon Johnson, capitulated to the reality
of the times, and announced he would not run for re-election. It was
an astounding victory for grassroots protest.
The story begins with a young Southern Californian
who is studying in France
at that time, ostensibly to do the perfunctory "year abroad" for
language students. Once there he sets academics on the back burner and decides to watch as many great
films as possible. Night after night, he sits in the front row
for the free screenings at the Musée du
Cinéma inside the Palais de Chaillot. He and his
fellow Cinephiles are mesmerized by everything from silent films to
the French New Wave. The world of politics is far from his mind, but
politics and the cinema will soon merge into a single issue when the
De Gaulle government turns its attention to the movie world.
The creator of
that same Musée du Cinéma was the legendary Henri Langlois, who had
also created the Cinémathèque Française in 1936, and in so doing
managed to rescue hundreds, perhaps thousands, of films from oblivion.
He later managed to preserve France's cinematic heritage through the
darkest days of the German occupation. Still later, his dedication to
film is credited with a key role in giving birth to the Nouvelle Vague
movement which transformed film in every developed country in the 60s
and 70s by popularizing the concept of the "auteur" director. For all
of his dedication and contributions to the culture of France and the
world of cinema in general, Langlois was ousted from his own
Cinémathèque in February 1968 by the De Gaulle government. This
provoked the cineastes, who took to the streets in protest during a
time when student protests were starting to shake the globe. The February Cinémathèque protest turned
out to be mere kindling for a later conflagration, but its success,
and the Lyndon Johnson resignation a month later, convinced student
protestors worldwide that their actions were effective, and those
successes emboldened them further, igniting the massive student
protests and general strikes that virtually shut Paris down in May of
1968.
The year of 1968 is more than just the
setting for The Dreamers. It is a character.
In that first tentative demonstration over the
Langlois ouster, the innocent American cinephile,
the first dreamer in our story, is nearly swept away in a battle
between protesting students and riot police, but is rescued by two
French siblings. The American quickly befriends both the brother and
the sister, so when the twins' parents disappear from Paris on
business, the three of them turn the family's Parisian apartment into
kind of mini-commune and fill their time with long, stoned discussions
about movies and politics and, of course, sex. Those three topics are
the real meat of The Dreamers, and it is not by accident that a
noteworthy documentary about the making of this film is called
"Cinema, Sex, Politics." It is not long before the dreamers'
discussions of these three subjects start to transmogrify into
practical experience. The first subject to move from the theoretical
plane to the pragmatic is sex. Once that is out of the way, political
discussions start to turn into reality as the French siblings join the
student protests. At this point, the American turns his back on them,
and that more or less ends the film.
So what about the third subject? Cinema? Did that
never leave the dream-plane and become reality? Is there no
sense of parallelism?
Well, the cinema discussions took a little longer to move to the
practical plane - about 35 years. I assume that Bertolucci's film is
somewhat autobiographical, and in that sense, the characters'
discussions about films did finally leave the world of theory to become
this very film.
It is the most recent in a four decade career which
has merited many high honors. Bertolucci has been nominated for four Oscars,
two for direction and two for writing, encompassing three different
films. He won in both categories for The Last Emperor. His list of
credits is impressive:
- (7.69) -
The Last Emperor
(1987)
- (7.65) -
Conformista, Il
(1970)
- (7.48) -
1900
(1976)
- (7.09) -
The Dreamers
(2003)
- (6.89) -
Ultimo tango a Parigi
(1972)
- (6.86) -
Prima della
rivoluzione (1964)
- (6.81) -
Strategia del ragno,
La (1970)
- (6.68) -
Besieged
(1998)
- (6.53) -
Commare secca, La
(1962)
- (6.40) -
The Sheltering Sky
(1990)
- (6.31) -
Luna, La
(1979)
- (6.26) -
Tragedia di un uomo
ridicolo, La (1981)
- (6.20) -
Stealing Beauty
(1996)
- (6.03) -
Ten Minutes Older: The
Cello (2002)
- (5.66) -
Partner
(1968)
- (5.62) -
Little Buddha
(1993)
Despite Bertolucci's genius, I've often been
ambivalent about his work, and this film illustrates why. In its best
moments, it is marvelous, demonstrating a complete command of camera
movement, composition, and lighting, all of which are used to illustrate some fascinating
ideas, and to bring the viewer deep inside its world. Dude, that's
what film is all about. When it works,
it bathes me in its glow. At its worst, however, it seems tedious, with scenes
that either have no point or drag on long after the point has been
made. In fact, I'm not sure there is a point to the entire film.
And I feel that way despite the fact that I was
there. These are my memories he's stirring. I am exactly the same age
as the film's three characters; I was also caught in the turmoil of student
activism and the cultural revolution; and I was also a film buff. If
this film does not grab me and hold me completely, it may be far less
compelling for you because The Dreamers immerses itself so deeply into
the arcana of 1968 and the mystique of pre-1968 movies that it
virtually excludes anyone who wasn't there and doesn't care a fig for
Godard or the Keaton-Chaplin debate.
I've reacted with a feeling of unfulfilled love to a
Bertolucci film before: Last Tango in Paris. I've watched that film
several times because there are some things in it that I really enjoy
seeing again and again, and I don't just mean the female flesh. It has
some brilliant moments that linger in the memory, that draw me back to
the film. Yet when the film is over, I never feel that great
satisfaction that comes from having watched a great, well-loved movie.
Similarly, I believe that I will probably return to The Dreamers at
least once more. I will watch how Bertolucci uses his cinephile
characters to recreate scenes from older movies made by Godard and
others. I will wonder how he got the camera to move in a certain way,
and admire his lighting effects. I will enjoy Eva Green's flesh and
the freshness that the three kids brought to the lead roles. I will
admire Bertolucci's daring and share his nostalgia for 1968.
And I believe that I will feel unrewarded when it is
over.
The Dreamers is like good sex without a climax.
Mind
you, good sex without a climax is still better than just about any
other human activity, but after all that teasing, all that delicious
foreplay, all that wild yearning, one feels owed a climax, and
Bertolucci couldn't deliver the goods.
Nudity
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DVD INFO
- widescreen anamorphic transfer (16x9)
- original, uncut NC-17 version
- full-length commentary by Bertolucci and
others
- BONUS: 52 minute film documentary called "Cinema
Sex Politics: Bertolucci Makes The Dreamers"
- Newsreel reports of the 1968 student riots.
Other Stuff:
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