The Dreamers (2003)

User Rating:

7.1/10   

Director:

Bernardo Bertolucci

Writers:

Gilbert Adair (novel)
Gilbert Adair (screenplay)

Release Date:

10 October 2003 (Italy)

Genre:

Drama | History | Romance

Plot:

A young American studying in Paris in 1968 strikes up a friendship with a French brother and sister. Set against the background of the '68 Paris student riots.

Plot Keywords:

French | 1968 | Riot | Friendship | Louvre Museum

Awards:

8 nominations

Cast

Michael Pitt	...	Matthew
Eva Green	...	Isabelle
Louis Garrel	...	Theo
Anna Chancellor	...	Mother
Robin Renucci	...	Father
Jean-Pierre Kalfon	...	Himself
Jean-Pierre Léaud	...	Himself (as Jean-Paul Leaud)
Florian Cadiou	...	Patrick
Pierre Hancisse	...	First Buff
Valentin Merlet	...	Second Buff
Lola Peploe	...	The Usherette
Ingy Fillion	...	Theo's Girlfriend

Also Known As:

Innocents (France)
Paris '68 (UK) (working title)
The dreamers - I sognatori (Italy)

MPAA:

Rated NC-17 for explicit sexual content.; Rated R for strong sexual content and graphic nudity, language and some drug use. (edited version)

Runtime:

115 min | USA:112 min (R-rated version)

Country:

France | UK | Italy

Language:

English | French

Color:

Black and White | Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital

Certification:

Peru:18 | Taiwan:R-18 | Canada:18 (Nova Scotia) | Canada:18A (British Columbia) | Canada:R (Alberta/Manitoba/Ontario) | Iceland:16 | Hungary:18 | Israel:18 | USA:TV-MA (TV rating) | Argentina:16 | Australia:R | Brazil:16 | Canada:16+ (Québec) | Denmark:11 | Finland:K-15 | France:-12 | Germany:16 | Hong Kong:III | Ireland:18 | Italy:VM14 | Japan:R-18 | Malaysia:(Banned) | Netherlands:16 | New Zealand:R18 | Norway:15 | Portugal:M/16 | Singapore:R21 (cut) | South Korea:18 | Spain:18 | Sweden:15 | UK:18 | USA:NC-17 (original rating) | USA:R (cut)

Filming Locations:

Paris, France

Company:

Recorded Picture Company (RPC)

Trivia:

The scene where Isabelle's hair catches fire happened unplanned. Eva Green was supposed to lean forward and kiss Matthew goodnight but accidentally caught her hair on fire on the candle on the table. She didn't let it worry her and acted so natural that Bernardo Bertolucci decided to leave it in as he felt it demonstrated perfectly the cross over in the film that things are about to get a bit crazy!

Goofs:

Continuity: When Matthew returns to the room to discover Theo in bed with Isabelle, Isabelle's expression and hair keeps changing position during shots.

Quotes:

[first lines]
Matthew: The first time I saw a movie at the cinématèque française I thought, "Only the French... only the French would house a cinema inside a palace."

Movie Connections:

References Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid (1969)

Soundtrack:

Night in the Throne Room

A romantic confession of a great filmmaker

Paris, May 1968. Revolution breaks out and the world seems to be in a critical turning point, but inside the four walls of an apartment, three youngsters experience their very own revolution.

Yes, it's true. In the year 2004, one of the best cinematic experiences is offered by Bertolucci. Many are those who'd thought that he had nothing more to give, but with THE DREAMERS, the creator is reborn and next to his heroes he witnesses again the passage from adolescence and innocence to the age of responsibilities. A great fan of cinema himself, he doesn't hesitate to pay a number of tributes, just like Godard used to do in the past and Tarantino very recently. As he puts his view into the eyes of his protagonists, the girl and the boys seem to live inside the movies they adore. They're playing with lines from known films, they imitate characters, they put themselves into the sequences they love.

Despite their young age, all three actors not only do they show that they're worth of starring in a Bertolucci film, but they also go even further giving in every scene the necessary vividness and realistic tension. Ignoring the cosmogony taking place in the streets, they surrender to their own cosmogonic changes, to the wild sexual awakening, to the game between friendship and love, pleasure and pain. Eventually they commit themselves to the struggle between the game itself and real life. And that's where the heroes violently return in the thrilling final sequences in order to face their duty towards history.

THE DREAMERS is by far one the best motion pictures of the year, so daring but at the same time so energetic that seems able to touch anyone as a pure and romantic confession of a great filmmaker.