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| Directed by: Bernardo Bertolucci Written by: Gilbert Adair Starring: Michael Pitt, Eva Green, and Louis Garrel Released: 2004 Run time: 116 minutes It’s a slightly worrying turn of events, I find, when you walk into a cinema to be confronted by a hoard of middle aged men in suits, who are on their way to watch a film on their own. Yes, you heard that right: not being dragged forcefully by their power-suited wives, ON THEIR OWN. It’s also worrying when you are flicking through the men’s lifestyle magazines left in the toilet by your housemate and see a sparkling review for a film you’re about to see. Another frightening thing is when every single bloody review of said film just reiterates about its seductive qualities. Then you realise… hang on! This is a Bernardo Bertolucci film! Yes, indeed, the king of sensuous cinema is back, with a story that is absolutely tailored to fit. Based upon the novel ‘The Holy Innocents’ by Gilbert Adair, this is Bertolucci’s accolade to cinema, and a surrealist portrait innocence, love and dependency. Set against the backdrop of the Paris student riots in the 1960s, ‘The Dreamers’ follows three teenage cinephiles exploring their innocence and sexual boundaries. Matthew (Michael Pitt) is an American student, studying in Paris. He becomes passionately in love with French cinema, and there he befriends two native siblings, Theo (Louis Garret) and Isabelle (Eva Green). When the two French teenager’s parents go away (presumably on business, their Father is an author) they invite their new friend to live with them in the apartment. Over the course of roughly a month, the three young film buffs become more and more obsessed with each other, rarely leaving the apartment. It’s a dreamlike portrait of a bohemian lifestyle, more of a sequence of moments than a single story. Michael Pitt, though verging on slightly one-dimensional at times is overall very well suited to the film, as is Louis Garrell, however, the star of the film is Eva Green, whose performance is one of the best I’ve seen in a very long time. Rather than merely donning the persona, Green becomes Isabelle, with her neurotic clingy love for her brother and her insecurity. Although I haven’t read the book, I have heard it rumoured that this is, as book-film adaptations always are, a very diluted version. The shocking nature of this film has been very over-rated, in this day and age I find it very difficult to get offended over a bit of nudity… OK, a lot of nudity. By about halfway through you cease to notice that the majority of the time, the characters are walking around naked. In a way, this demonstrates the way in which the characters have isolated themselves from the real world, they has estranged themselves from normal society, therefore they have no need to behave the way you would be expected to in normal civilization. The soundtrack is absolutely fantastic. It captures the essence of the period in which it’s set, but without labouring the point. There are inclusions of classics like the Doors ‘The Spy’ to Chansons Francais such as Edith Piaf’s deliciously anthemic ‘Non, Je Ne regrette Rien’ Most of the music has an airiness about it which reflects the surreal atmosphere present all the way through the movie. Film clips are used all the way through the film, to reflect back upon the characters obsession with movies. The characters relive classic scenes, such as the famous Louvre scene in ‘A Bande Apart’. Visually, the entire film is just stunning; there is a crumbling feeling to the apartment in which they live, as if the air has gone stale because of the unhealthy relationship that is going on within it. The colours of the whole film have a kind of antiquated, muted feel, which adds to the dreamlike atmosphere. The film seems overall very fashionable, but also timeless. Initially I thought the whole film was very beautiful but ultimately pointless, however, my mind kept going back to the film, and I realised there are points to be made in the film, but they are very subtle. The bohemian lifestyle of the threesome serves as a complete escapism from the real world; they lock themselves away in their neat little apartment, away from the student riots going on outside, Matthew has locked himself away in Paris away from being drafted into the Vietnamese war, Theo and Isabelle have locked themselves away in their obsessive relationship. The entire film depicts three people who spend their whole lives dreaming, rather than actually doing any of the things they talk about. It’s possibly not going to be remembered in the same iconic way as ‘The Last Emporer’, however, Bertolucci has created a beautiful illusory fairytale. |
| The Dreamers By Rakechan |
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