The Dreamers (2003)

If you don't like this, we can't be friends.

A Masterpiece!

I think this is a new genre that they're all sort of working their way through it and haven't got all the kinks worked out yet but it's a genre that works for me.

Actress is magnificent and exudes a hypnotic screen presence in this affecting drama.

In the spring of 1968, three planets -- Sex, Politics and the Cinema -- came into alignment and exerted a gravitational pull on the status quo. In Paris, what began as a protest over the ouster of Henri Langlois, the legendary founder of the Cinematheque Francais, grew into a popular revolt that threatened to topple the government. There were barricades in the streets, firebombs, clashes with the police, a crisis of confidence. In a way that seems inexplicable today, the director Jean-Luc Godard and his films were at the center of the maelstrom. Other New Wave directors and the cinema in general seemed to act as the agitprop arm of the revolution.

Overally, it was not a bad movie. Cinematographically it was a good movie, the camera angles were impressive sometimes. The idea giving references to the movies was creative and significant for the movie's course.However, I think, the story was weak. There were disconnections in the story. The plot does not fulfill the expectations of the audience. Compared to the other movies of Bertolucci, the messages given were hazy and loose. Other than that, I did not like the political messages -which were really given too clearly- of the movie such as the idea that favors individualism over collectivism, or raw anti-violence discourse. In the last scene, the movie establishes a cause and effect relation between the violent behaviors of the protesters and the intervention of the police forces. Therefore, in a way, it justifies the police intervention and damages the political legitimacy of the protesting side.

It's 1968. Matthew (Michael Pitt) is an American student in Paris to study French. He ends up spending his free time watching French cinema. He meets twins Théo (Louis Garrel) and Isabelle (Eva Green) at the Cinémathèque Française protesting the firing of Henri Langlois by the government. Matthew stays with them while their parents are away. They spend all their time together and then the student riots begin.This was the first thing I saw from Eva Green and she is completely magnetic. She owns the screen. She even exceeded the veteran at the time Michael Pitt. It's a big debut. The mixing with the old film clips would have been great except I recognize only a few of them. This meanders too much for me. It's lazy hazy summer of love.

Set against the backdrop of the 1968 student riots in Paris, The Dreamers is a film of political and sexual awakening during a time when a spirit of revolution was in the air. Matthew is an American exchange student who meets two siblings, Theo and Isabelle, shortly after arriving in Paris. The trio bonds over a shared love for cinema, and the film is laced with numerous references to film classics and the French New Wave, making it in some ways a film about film. But it's also a film about revolution and breaking established social boundaries. Living in a large house while the sibling's parents are away, the three central characters engage in ideological struggle that reflects the social turmoil going on outside. Theo is a Maoist who supports the student's radical demonstrations while Matthew believes their efforts are futile. Simultaneously Matthew and Isabelle develop a sexual relationship that Theo must come to terms with. In the end, the varying ideologies of the characters come to a head and they are each forced to make a choice about the direction of their lives. The film is passionate and alive with a revolutionary spirit, and at the decisive moment, it upholds a radical approach. Michael Pitt, Eva Green, and Louis Garrel each turn in exceptional and brave performances in this film that is directed with subtly and nuance by Bernardo Bertolucci.