Tuesday, June 21, 2005

The Dreamers

Tonight I watched the film The Dreamers. It's a film about three people in Paris in 1968, at the time that the street riots of that era were just beginning. Proving that yes, you do use stuff you learn in high school, I recalled that these riots were basically the start of the student protest movement, and they spread to the US creating the primary cultural image we hold of the 'The 60s,' as a time of protest, of peace and love and cultural revolution. This movie is concerned with all of this, focusing on love, sex and cinema.

The first chunk of the movie is primarily about cinema. Seeing the movie you get a sense of a time when cinema was a really crucial social force, setting the tone for what youth culture was. Today, it's not like that, at least not in the circles I run in. I love cinema and I do see it as something that can change the world, but other people don't. People perceive movies as commercial product and rarely view the most important films and even if they do, there's not really a strong film culture anymore. Even at Wesleyan, a place renowned for its film program, there's a layer of irony applied when assessing anything, and judging from this movie, that just wasn't true in the 60s. These people believed that cinema could change the world, and that's something I'd like to get back to. But, I suppose it's easy to say that things were better back then, I doubt if I was alive in 1968 I'd be on the cutting edge of the art cinema movement.

Anyway, regardless of its veracity, I loved the picture of cinema the beginning of this film paints. Matthew goes to the cinema and it's a transforming experience, he becomes connected to the forefront of French culture, and when the Cinemateque is shut down, he finds himself with two new friends, Theo and Isabelle. During the cinema shut down sequence, it was very cool to see Jean Pierre Leaud in a current cameo, as well as vintage footage of Godard and Truffaut.



The majority of the film is concerned with the boundary pushing sibling relationship of Theo and Isabelle. Matthew finds himself unsure how to deal with the two of them. I love their early interactions, when the three of them recreate classic movie moments, basically trying to live the life they see on screen. They all hold these really idealistic views of life and society and together create an isolated community, apart from the world.

The movie is one of the rare films to actually take the NC-17 rating and in this case, it's clearly earned. The film's sexuality goes far beyond what we'd see in most American movies, and the characters are almost constantly naked for the last third of the film. I think the movie to some extent loses focus during this chunk. On the one hand, I could say that the sex scenes don't really add anything to the plot, but from an aestethic standpoint, it's certainly not a pain to have to watch Eva Green naked in scene after scene. I can see what Bertolucci is trying to do with these scenes, and there is some interesting exploration of the relationship between Theo and Isabelle.



What we realize at the end of it is that the two of them have a relationship that transcends anything they can have with an outsider. In the really striking scene where Matthew is in Isabelle's bedroom and she has a breakdown hearing Theo have sex we understand the fact that they are connected, like siamese twins, and the wall between them is too painful. They need to be together. That scene is also notable for the extremely striking image of her recreating the Venus De Milo by standing with black gloves in a dark doorway.

I really like the end of the film, in which the twins finally leave Matthew when he refuses to go along with their 'revolutionary action.' What the movie is about is the disconnect between their rhetoric and their action. They talk big, about their support for Mao and belief in change, but even when that change is happening right outside, they spend all their time inside, oblivious to the outside world. At the end, Matthew finally disconnects from Theo, and figures that Isabelle will stay with him. However, that is not to be. The two of them go off together, leaving him in a crowd of rioters. Their month long dream together is over and Matthew is the one left out at the end.

This is a film that I thoroughly enjoyed watching, but will have to give another viewing to determine just how good it really is. It's easy to embrace their ideals and believe in this view of a cinema that can recreate society. I love the recreation of moments from New Wave movies, and visually, the film is absolutely beautiful. The score is top notch too, it's only the fact that the movie slightly loses its way during the middle. However, I think everything's basically redeemed by the ending and after it all, we've got a top notch movie, one made with passion and a vision of a world much more alive with potential than ours today.

24 comments:

Anonymous said...

I didn't get to see the end of the film but now i know what happens thanks.
I don't know what it is about this film but it just makes me want to BE french and live in France.
I really wanted Isabel and Matthew to be together because the scene where she loses her virginity... you can see the true passion and love they have for each other.
IT's a shame it didn't work out.
All in all very good acting, the only thing that dissapointed me was that i watched Eva green in Casino royale and thought she must be american or english, so when i saw her acting in this i thought she was a superb actress for looking and being so french! But then i realised she is french so it's only inevitable she would act it.
Overall 10/10... but i haven't seen the end so my rating might change :P

taylor said...

Thank you so much for posting this, makes me appreciate the movie a bit more.

Anonymous said...

i feel the same about what you said.

People perceive movies as commercial product and rarely view the most important films and even if they do, there's not really a strong film culture anymore.

Anonymous said...

I watched the film in the class and cannot find it anywhere online or dvd stores to rent and watch it a agatin. so i'm here to ask if you happen to know...that why is it crucial to the movie that they are "film buffs" as Theo (if my memory doesn't fail me) says this in the film? What exactly did Theo say at that time, do you know?
Thanks so much for helping!

Mkv to avi said...

Thanks for a good review, the movie is incredibly good! I'll definitely watch it again.

Anonymous said...

The ending could of been a lot clearer and better than it was to be fair!
I found this film rather odd and unexplantary in certain parts of the film which seemed to make no apparant sense to me at all, I feel kind of left wondering what was that all about and feel it was abit of mindf*ck! I would not recommend watching this film if your in a happy mood!

Anonymous said...

Your review of the dreamers was horrible... Sorry to say... : / you obviously did not understand this movie at all your a moe-ron!!!! Sorry not trying to be rude :)

Anonymous said...

What was your take on the film?

Anonymous said...

Thanks for confirming the part where Isobel freaks out in her room, I didn't understand that at first. I read the plot summary on the back of the DVD and saw it said that Theo and she were born conjoined.

Unknown said...
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Anonymous said...

I just watched this movie. I disagree in the ending being good. I find it jarring and weird. It's like being thrust back into reality, I guess. I just didn't like that the twins regected Matthew. And it was like they became part of the crowd, and stopped being who they are, if that makes sense? Like extras. They stopped being real, in a way.

Matthew was the one left feeling real as he watched them leave him behind. His pain was real as he turned and walked away.

Also, I still am confused on that moment in the movie when we first see the twin's father. The daughter hugs him and he like touches her weirdly. Almost sensual. It made me think that maybe something awful was happening there, but it never came up in the movie, so maybe It's just an unfounded suspicion.

The movie is beautiful. But that ending... I didn't like it.

Unknown said...

This movie makes me so confuse . The twins are in love with each other? And ,when the parents found out them sleeping together, are they leaving their kids forever? And when isabel wake up , what is she doing with pipes ? To sucide?

Anonymous said...

great review and analysis!

Sahapriyabrata said...

Yes,she attempts suicide. In one scene,she tells Matthew that she'd kill herself if her parents found out.

AlvinSarip said...

The movie left you hanging. There are so many things that need to be clarified. It is also very sad how the twins left Matthew and chose to go along with the riot as Matthew does not really like the idea of violence.

Anonymous said...

Theo means God! Isabella is Isis - the sister and wife of the God!
As a twins, They have entered the world together and they believe they can go through and exit it together. It is all about the desire to become ONE with another soul!
So simple!

Anonymous said...

Was that real pussy of Eva??

devotedmotion said...

This movie got me aroused and emotional- but it left me so confused. So many questions... And no answers to find. I need closure.

t said...

Beautiful movie. What I was most struck by was the way in which Matthew acted as a sort of reminder of reality for Theo and Isabella, while all the while being sucked into their isolated world. When Matthew chastises them in the bathroom and ends up taking Isabella on a real date (as well as in other scenes throughout the movie), it's as though he's attempting to push them out of their stunted, child-like state. This change that Theo and Isabella are undergoing also seems to reflect the change going on in the world around them. I agree with your assessment of the ending. While they've been pushed into the real world and made to act on their ideals, they still cling to each other, and it leaves you wondering how much they've actually changed.

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Anonymous said...

could be they consider themselves one . the same person. so what they were doing wasnt wrong. in their view that is

Anonymous said...

Yes, I noticed how the father touched her as well and was confident that something was wrong.

Anonymous said...

I wonder about when Isabelle put on the gloves of her brothers lover to recreate the Venus De Milo if she was performing for her old room which dignified a time when she was more apart from her brother. She lived in that room when she had no lover, hadn't an intimacy with her brother that kept her from her room because it was a wall too far from him. She came back with a piece of Theo's lovers outfit to embody a goddess of romance.

Anonymous said...

Beutifull movie
Watched it several times during the years
I will be verry straight..yes it has a bit of a sad ending..yes,not everything is clear about it..but it doesn't need to be,guys,think about it..they where students,in France,probably at that time there was other few thousand students doing almost the same things as them,no doubt,obviously they where special as the 2 of them where twins.You may not agree with me,obviously there is a lot to tallk about it,I can go in depth as well..the fact that the parents left the house,the fact that Mathew was really shy,the fact that the mother was flirting with Matt,the fact that Theo was into Matt,and so on and so on,all of this shows how 2 different cultures interact (French and American),by the way Matt and Isabele couldn't be together cause they had different mind setups,ya,it was nice to see them having an adventure,it is wat it is..as I said there is a lot to be said upon the movie..