Film Reviews

The Dreamers

• Rating:
• Director:
• Starring: Eva Green
• Details: Fra / 115 mins / (18).

Paris, 1968. As unrest grows in the streets, a 20-year-old San Diego native, Matthew (Michael Pitt) has travelled to the eternal city and finds himself getting caught up in the student demonstrations. It's at one of these demos that he encounters the absurdly attractive brother and sister, Theo (Louis Garrel) and Isabelle (Green). Although separated now, the twins were once conjoined and they have enjoy an intense relationship. Taking Matthew under their wing, they invite him to live in their poet father's apartment, where the trio's relationship moves onto an entirely new footing.
Gorgeously made, 'The Dreamers' is essentially a paean to youth, Paris and a golden age of cinema, all of which Bertolucci celebrates with vigour. Of course, the movie has already attracted some controversy for its sexual scenes and as graphic as they occasionally get, they never feel cheap or exploitive since they're so hauntingly shot by Bertolucci. Yet where the problem lies with the film is the sheer distance between the characters and the audience's sympathy. Churlish, arrogant and conceited, the trio rarely manage to scratch the surface of real feeling, and their exquisite beauty exists in a vacuum.

Review by Garreth Murphy