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The Dreamers Director: Bernardo Bertolucci Rated: R Screening Palace Nova from April 29  Three students drink wine, discuss movies and play games during the Summer of 1968 in Paris, while outside the apartment there's a revolution going on. Bernardo Bertolucci's nostalgic revisiting of the student riots based on the novel 'The Holy Innocents' begins with the closing of the Cinematheque and dismissal of its director, filmmaker Henri Langlois, using news footage from the time as well as the real Langlois playing himself. Matthew (Michael Pitt), a young American in Paris, who spends more time at the cinema than studying, meets twins Isabelle (Eva Green) and Theo (Louis Garnel), also avid filmgoers, at the initial protest. They invite him to stay in their home while their parents are away. Matthew is confused by the physical intimacy the twins share but is seduced by their games and joins in when they act out scenes from movies and challenge each other to dares. Bertolucci intercuts his film with footage from remarkable films from the past including 'Freaks' ("Gooble Gabba. We accept you, one of us.") and 'Breathless' and sets up scenes to duplicate the films he's paying homage to. This is masterful filmmaking. It looks wonderful and film buffs will be particularly entertained. Director of Photography Fabio Cianchetti previously worked with Bertolucci on 'Beseiged'. The soundtrack evokes the era, including tracks by Jimi Hendrix, The Doors, Janis Joplin and Edith Piaf. There are some sexually explicit scenes featuring naked bodies, urination, and masturbation, which may upset the fainthearted, but the players discuss the voyeuristic nature of film and other possible criticisms are dealt with in the dialogue, for example, the incestuous nature of the twins' relationship is confronted by Matthew, allowing the audience to feel less perturbed because it is being addressed by his character. As we are watching the friends romp we are aware that outside the tensions in the city are building, garbage is piling up, students are demonstrating and workers are joining in the strike. Purists who don't watch TV, they seem oblivious until a brick comes through the window and forces them to notice what's happening in the streets. Is this simply nostalgia or is Bertolucci, who made 'Last Tango In Paris' and 'Stealing Beauty', prompting us to consider our own lives and attitudes in these troubled times? Highly recommended.  |
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