Review of "The Dreamers"
THE DREAMERS (2003)
Directed by Bernardo Bertolucci
Written by Gilbert Adair, based on his novel.
Starring Michael Pitt, Eva Green, Louis Garrel, Anna Chancellor and Robin Renucci
This film is set in Paris, France in 1968 and tells the story of a young American student, Matthew (Pitt), who is in Paris for a year to study French, but as a film fan is far more interested in the Cinémathèque Française, a prestigious film archive and cinema, and during the protests surrounding the controversial firing of it's founder, Henri Langlois, Matthew meets beautiful Parisian Isabelle (Green) and her brother Theo (Garrel), with whom he quickly strikes up a friendship based around their shared love of films. Isabelle and Theo live in a palatial Paris apartment with their poet father (Renucci) and mother (Chancellor). When their parents decide to spend a month in the country, leaving Theo and Isabelle alone in the flat, they invite Matthew to come and stay with them. He soon finds himself increasingly drawn into their strange, sexual world. Meanwhile, in the outside world, Paris burns as students riot in the streets.
This is a film that will not be to all tastes. Certainly it is not entirely successful, with the wider political background sometimes jarring with the small, intimate nature of the main story. Presumably the point of the film is about sixties rebellion and radicalism, which doesn't quite ring true de to the fact the characters are so immersed in their own little world, rarely leaving the safe confines of the large apartment. it's well acted, which is good considering that it is essentially a three-hander, although the characters are pretty unsympathetic throughout. The film does feature explicit sexual scenes and nudity, with the beautiful Eva Green (Kingdom of Heaven (2005) and Casino Royale (2006)) being especially singled out for leering close-ups. The film is stuffed with references to old films, and clips of them frequently break up the main action, which is sometimes a welcome break from the claustrophobic nature of the main action. The highlight of the film is a sequence when the main trio decide to break the speed record for travelling around the Louvre as in Jean-Luc Godard's film Bande à part (1964), which is expertly choreographed to match exactly with clips of the older film. The film is well made, and of course this is not new territory for Bertolucci, his Last Tango in Paris (1971) also dealt with the sexual adventures of an American in Paris. However it does run out of steam well before it finishes.
Six out of ten
Directed by Bernardo Bertolucci
Written by Gilbert Adair, based on his novel.
Starring Michael Pitt, Eva Green, Louis Garrel, Anna Chancellor and Robin Renucci
This film is set in Paris, France in 1968 and tells the story of a young American student, Matthew (Pitt), who is in Paris for a year to study French, but as a film fan is far more interested in the Cinémathèque Française, a prestigious film archive and cinema, and during the protests surrounding the controversial firing of it's founder, Henri Langlois, Matthew meets beautiful Parisian Isabelle (Green) and her brother Theo (Garrel), with whom he quickly strikes up a friendship based around their shared love of films. Isabelle and Theo live in a palatial Paris apartment with their poet father (Renucci) and mother (Chancellor). When their parents decide to spend a month in the country, leaving Theo and Isabelle alone in the flat, they invite Matthew to come and stay with them. He soon finds himself increasingly drawn into their strange, sexual world. Meanwhile, in the outside world, Paris burns as students riot in the streets.
This is a film that will not be to all tastes. Certainly it is not entirely successful, with the wider political background sometimes jarring with the small, intimate nature of the main story. Presumably the point of the film is about sixties rebellion and radicalism, which doesn't quite ring true de to the fact the characters are so immersed in their own little world, rarely leaving the safe confines of the large apartment. it's well acted, which is good considering that it is essentially a three-hander, although the characters are pretty unsympathetic throughout. The film does feature explicit sexual scenes and nudity, with the beautiful Eva Green (Kingdom of Heaven (2005) and Casino Royale (2006)) being especially singled out for leering close-ups. The film is stuffed with references to old films, and clips of them frequently break up the main action, which is sometimes a welcome break from the claustrophobic nature of the main action. The highlight of the film is a sequence when the main trio decide to break the speed record for travelling around the Louvre as in Jean-Luc Godard's film Bande à part (1964), which is expertly choreographed to match exactly with clips of the older film. The film is well made, and of course this is not new territory for Bertolucci, his Last Tango in Paris (1971) also dealt with the sexual adventures of an American in Paris. However it does run out of steam well before it finishes.
Six out of ten