Review: The Dreamers

By Mike Burnett
BBC News

Bertolucci's The Dreamers is set in 1968 Paris

Sex, politics and cinema are the themes of director Bernardo Bertolucci's latest film The Dreamers.

Set during the 1968 Paris riots, it tells the tale of an American student's erotic relationship with a French girl and her brother.

Adapted from Gilbert Adair's novel The Holy Innocents, this is a well-crafted movie with plenty to say.

But Bertolucci tries to pack too much in and often leaves the viewer wondering where it is all going.

The turbulent politics of the time and numerous references to classic cinema almost act as a distraction from the main focus of the story - what happens when three arty adolescents are left to their own devices.

Homesick

Michael Pitt, looking strangely reminiscent of Leonardo DiCaprio, plays the lead character Matthew, who is spending a year studying in Paris.

Lonely and homesick, Matthew is delighted to be befriended by the sultry Isabelle (Eva Green) and her politically-outspoken brother Theo (Louis Garret), who share his love of cinema.

The young American comes to stay at their apartment while the parents are away and before long becomes immersed in mind games and a sexual journey of self-discovery.

Certainly not much is left to the imagination as some of the scenes are pretty graphic, but Bertolucci conveys with great sensitivity the emotions that underlie their actions.

Using clips from such film classics as Band A Part (1964) and A Bout de Souffle (1960), he also shows how easily the three detach from reality and go into their own private world, only to be yanked back down to earth by events outside.

Overall, The Dreamers is an interesting ménage a trois of sex, politics and cinema but the transition from book to movie is never easy and, with so much crammed in, some of the intensity and focus has been lost.

The Dreamers is released in cinemas on 6 February.