The Dreamers
Short description
The Dreamers takes place in Paris in 1968, where French siblings Isabelle and Theo are left on their own while their parents are away. They invite Matthew, an American exchange student they meet at a cinema, into their family apartment. There the three shut out the world and set rules for a series of psychological and sexual games that grow increasingly intense, drawing them into a shared obsession with film and into an exploration of their own identities, while student demonstrations and strikes build in the streets outside.
Bernardo Bertolucci directed the film, from a screenplay by Gilbert Adair, released in 2003 between Stealing Beauty and Besieged among the director's other work. Michael Pitt plays Matthew, Eva Green plays Isabelle and Louis Garrel plays Theo. Jeremy Thomas produced. The film is a drama with romantic elements, set in a period of political upheaval.
The film had a budget of about 15 million dollars and took roughly the same amount at the worldwide box office. It holds a rating of 7.1 out of 10 on IMDb from around 142,000 votes, and 7.2 out of 10 on TMDB from over 3,000 votes. The film critics' rating stands at 6.5 out of 10 from 163 reviews, somewhat below the audience scores.
What's left behind the scenes
- Leonardo DiCaprio was considered for the role of Matthew. He declined the offer due to filming "The Aviator".
- The scene in which the heroes run through the Louvre quotes a scene from Jean-Luc Godard's film "Band of Outsiders".
- Jake Gyllenhaal was initially considered for the role. He turned it down due to the abundance of explicit scenes.
- The majority of scenes depicting the sexual relationship between Matthew and Theo were not included in the film. The filmmakers considered them too provocative. This is a significant difference between Bertolucci's film and Ader's novel.
- Throughout the film, the characters consciously recreate scenes from their favorite films or repeat characteristic gestures of their favorite movie heroes. For example, the scene in which the heroes run through the Louvre is a repetition of the run through the Louvre in Godard's "Pierrot le Fou." The scene where Isabelle and Theo, after running in the Louvre, repeat the phrase “We accept him. He’s one of us” recreates a scene from Tod Browning’s “Freaks” (1932). Isabelle says that her first words in English were New York Herald Tribune – the first line of the American woman in Godard’s “Breathless.” The suicide attempt is accompanied by footage of Musette’s suicide from Bresson’s film of the same name. Other films quoted by the characters include Bresson’s “Ladies of the Bois de Boulogne,” Chaplin’s “City Lights,” Buñuel’s “The Golden Age,” Hawks’ “Scarface,” Wilder’s “Sunset Boulevard,” “Blonde Venus” with Marlene Dietrich, “Queen Christina” with Greta Garbo, and “Top Hat” with Fred Astaire. In the cinema, the film’s characters are watching Samuel Fuller’s cult film “Shock Corridor.” Posters for films by Ingmar Bergman (“Persona”), Godard (“Chine”), and Antonioni (“Blow-Up”) hang in the apartment. All the music in the film is taken from other films.
- The film is based on Gilbert Adair's novel "The Holy Innocents" (1988) and two other books by the author. He also wrote the screenplay for the film.
- The scene in which Isabelle's hair caught fire was unplanned. Eva Green was supposed to lean forward to kiss Matthew goodnight, but her hair accidentally ignited from a candle on the table. Eva didn't make a big deal of it and acted so naturally that Bertolucci decided to keep the scene, as he felt it fully demonstrated the madness of what was happening.
- Bernardo Bertolucci's film received the most restrictive rating in the US – NC-17.
- The film 'The Dreamers' does not feature original music. All the music in the film is taken from other films.
Similar movies
Auditions in India
Casting calls in USA
Castingi w Polsce
Кастинги в Україні
