In 1968 Paris, during the student riots in response to cofounder Henri Langlois' ouster from the Cinematheque Francais, a young American film buff befriends a likeminded brother and sister who have a way too comfortable relationship with each other. After the siblings' parents leave for vacation, the trio begin playing movie oriented sex games, while they ignore the riot which has taken on a new leftist meaning and keeps growing right outside their window. As the American begins to grow affectionate for the girl, he discovers that the brother may be more militant than he leads on, and she will always have an unnatural attachment to him. The Dreamers is daring and very adult filmmaking from Bernardo Bertolucci, a director who has specialized in such provocative adult geared films. Written for the screen from his novel, Gilbert Adair's work is fascinating to watch due to its movie literate script and characters, as well as its adult material which is rare to find these days where adult films are often mistaken for ones that have to do with jokes about bodily functions. Instead, we have a well written and realized film that expects a lot from its three young stars, Michael Pitt, Eva Green, and Louis Garrel, who pull off their complex roles amazingly. I felt the film lost its footing for awhile towards the midsection, but regained it for a fantastic ending. The Dreamers is challenging, stimulating, and welcome cinema when in an era when many studio offerings are none of the above.
