The Dreamers (film)

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The Dreamers

Theatrical release poster
Directed by Bernardo Bertolucci
Produced by Jeremy Thomas
Written by Gilbert Adair
Starring Michael Pitt
Eva Green
Louis Garrel
Music by (see Soundtrack)
Cinematography Fabio Cianchetti
Editing by Jacopo Quadri
Distributed by Fox Searchlight Pictures
Release date(s) Italy
October 10, 2003
France
December 10, 2003
UK/USA
February 6, 2004
Running time Original cut
115 min.
R-rated cut
112 min.
Country United Kingdom
France
Italy
Language English
French
Budget $15 million
Gross revenue $15,121,165

The Dreamers is a 2003 British/French/Italian drama film directed by Bernardo Bertolucci. The film's screenplay is based on Gilbert Adair's novel The Holy Innocents. Adair also wrote the screenplay for the film.

Contents

[edit] 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 rapid friendship with a Frenchwoman, Isabelle (Eva Green), and her brother, Théo (Louis Garrel). Isabelle and Theo claim to be twins originally conjoined at her right and his left shoulder, although as they are opposite sexes this cannot be possible. However throughout the film, scars on their shoulders can be seen. All three have an avid love for movies, especially "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 them, and the three seclude themselves from the world, falling further and further from the reality of the 1968 student rebellions. An abrupt ending to this relationship comes when that world is shattered and they are compelled to face the reality of 1968 France.

[edit] Cast

[edit] Pre-production

Although the author of The Holy Innocents adapted his own work for the screenplay, Bertolucci insisted on additional changes during pre-production. The director "peppered the narrative with clips from the films he loves" and dropped "gay sex" that was in the first draft of the script, which Bertolucci felt was "just too much"; after it was released, he said he was "faithful to the spirit of the book but not the letter"[2] As such, Bertolucci removed all the scenes from the novel that depict Matthew and Théo having sex.

Jake Gyllenhaal was offered the role that Pitt eventually got, but turned it down in summer 2002 because he "wasn't ready to get naked on film."[3] Eva Green told The Guardian that her agent and her parents begged her not to take the role, concerned that the film would cause her career to "have the same destiny as Maria Schneider".[2]

[edit] Certification

In the United States, the film was the first release in six years (since Crash in 1997) with an NC-17 rating [4] 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. [4]

[edit] 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 considered the The Dreamers a "specialized film with a targeted audience" and gave the uncut version a limited release in the United States; it played in 116 theaters at its peak and grossed $2.5 million.[4] Among Rotten Tomatoes critics, 61% gave it a "fresh rating"[5]; its 40 Metacritic reviewers gave it scores that on average placed the film in the website's "generally favorable" category.[6] 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."[7]

[edit] Film references

 This list of films referenced in The Dreamers may contain original research or unverified claims. Please improve the article by adding references. See the talk page for details. (September 2008)

[edit] Soundtrack

The soundtrack was released in February 2004; Allmusic gave it a 3/5 stars rating, 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."[9]

[9]

  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 Martial Solal 's score of Breathless) - Jean Constantin
  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

[edit] 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.

[edit] 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. ^ In at the deep end, an October 2002 interview with Gyllenhaal from The Guardian
  4. ^ a b c NC-17 comes out from hiding, an April 2004 article from the Los Angeles Times
  5. ^ The Dreamers at Rotten Tomatoes
  6. ^ The Dreamers at Metacritic
  7. ^ The Dreamers, a November 2003 review by The Times of its London Film Festival screening
  8. ^ [1]
  9. ^ a b The Dreamers (Original Soundtrack) at Allmusic

[edit] External links

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Bernardo Bertolucci
1960s
1970s
1980s
1990s
2000s
The Dreamers
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